Formation and Evolution Mechanism of Intermetallic Compounds of Friction Stir Lap Welded Steel/Aluminum Joints

Interfacial layers with brittle intermetallic compounds (IMC) greatly influence the performance of steel-aluminum friction stir lap welding (FSLW) joints. Thus, the formation and evolution of IMC between 7075-T6 aluminum alloy and galvanized DP590 steel in steel-aluminum FSLW joints were investigated. An FSLW numerical model was developed using the computational fluid dynamics method to analyze the interface temperature between the aluminum alloy and steel. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was conducted to observe the microstructure characterization and measure the IMC thickness. Phases among different joint zones were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). IMC layer formation was predicted by the effective Gibbs free energy model presented in this paper according to thermodynamic principles. The Monte Carlo method was utilized to predict the thickness of IMC layers. It was found that the IMC layer at the interface of the welded joint is composed of Fe₂Al₅, FeAl₃, and Al-Zn eutectic. The IMC thickness decreased from 4.3 μm to 0.8 μm with the increasing welding speed, which was consistent with the Monte Carlo simulation results.