Mechanical Properties and Corrosion Behavior of AA5754-AA6061 Dissimilar Aluminum Alloys Welded by Cold Metal Transfer

The trend of using lightweight materials in the automotive industry brings along the necessity of dissimilar welding of aluminum alloys such as AA5754 and AA6061. Hybrid structures in automobiles are subjected not only to mechanical forces but also corrosive effects of the environment. In this study, cold metal transfer welding, which is suitable for welding thin sheets and dissimilar materials, was applied to join AA5754 to AA6061. It was aimed to investigate the effect of weld heat input on mechanical properties and corrosion rate measured by the Tafel extrapolation method in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution at room temperature. The tensile strength of AA5754-AA6061 joints tended to reduce with increasing heat input. Corrosion test results showed that the increased heat input decreased the corrosion resistance and caused intergranular corrosion besides pitting corrosion.