Spot Welding Aluminum To Steel

However in order to weld aluminum to steel special techniques are required.

Spot welding aluminum to steel. Again i have no experience just quoting what seemed like a good manual on spot welding i found. The arc welding of these steel aluminum transition inserts can be performed by the normal arc welding methods such as gmaw or gtaw. The challenges to spot welding of aluminum compared to steel include a tenacious and rapidly forming oxide layer of variable thickness and composition high electrical and thermal conductivities small increases in resistivity with temperature a narrow plastic range low melting temperatures and a high coefficient of thermal expansion. This type of electrical power is wanted for the big output current that spot welding requires.

The spot welding of the steel sheet to the steel side of the clad sheet and the aluminum sheet to the aluminum side of the clad sheet were successful. The friction welding family inertia direct drive and linear friction welding have produced aluminum to steel joints that exceed the strength of the aluminum alloy. Care should be taken to avoid overheating the inserts during welding which may cause growth of brittle intermetallic compounds at. One side of the insert is welded steel to steel and the other aluminum to aluminum.

Materials used in spot welding were a 0 8 mm thick eddq steel sheet a 1 0 mm thick aluminum magnesium alloy sheet and the 0 8 mm thick clad sheet which has a thickness ratio of aluminum steel 1 1. There are other welding processes that could weld steel and aluminum together but the aforementioned are two of the more common. Welding aluminum to steel is different from welding most other materials together. Use three phase electrical energy to spot weld aluminum.

Typically aluminum s high electrical and thermal conductivity requires about two to three times the amount of current and about one quarter of the weld time compared to spot welding steel. To avoid this you must isolate the other metal from the molten. So welding aluminum and steel together can be done. When metals such as steel copper magnesium or titanium are directly arc welded to aluminum very brittle intermetallic compounds start to form.

You can weld aluminum to most other metals relatively easily via adhesive bonding or mechanical fastening. You just need to use a more complex method. Used by permission from menachem kimchi assistant. Along with your basic welding supplies including safety gear you will also need some other things to help make the process easier and to successfully weld aluminum to steel.