Control of interfacial intermetallic compounds in Fe-Al joining by Zn addition

By Zn addition to the fusion zone, the interfacial intermetallic compounds (IMCs) of laser Al/steel joint changed from layered Fe2Al5 and needle-like FeAl3 to layered Fe2Al5−xZnx and dispersed FeZn10 with minor Al-rich amorphous phase. This resulted in an improvement in the joint strength and the change of failure mode.