Mechanical properties of dissimilar steel-aluminum welds

Knowledge of the properties of dissimilar welds is of great significance for the development of multi-material lightweight structures. In this study, stainless steel (1.4301) and aluminum alloy (6082-T6) sheets were welded in overlap configuration in keyhole mode. The resulting weld metals were investigated with respect to their mechanical properties. Several samples were cut out of different locations along the welds and their cross-sections were subjected to indentation testing and energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) analysis. Young's modulus E, yield stress σy, and strain hardening exponent n, were determined by means of reverse analysis of the indentation load (P) - depth (h) curves, allowing construction of true stress - true strain relations. An essential increase in yield stress in comparison to the one of the base alloys was observed inside the weld metal. In contrary, Young's modulus and strain hardening exponent of the welds were almost identical to corresponding values of the base steel metal. Due to the sensitivity of yield stress to the aluminum content, slight variations of the welding parameters lead to significant changes in elastic-plastic behavior of the weld metal.