Improve the impact property in a novel butt joint of Ti/Al dissimilar metals

The dissimilar metal welding joint is connected by the metallurgical bond of intermetallic compounds at the interface, which easily causes stress concentration at the interface and cracks continuously along the interface, resulting in low reliability in impact environments. A novel multi-layer plug and bolt connection for TC4/7A52 dissimilar metal butt joints is proposed in this manuscript and analyzes the influence mechanism of the structural design on impact toughness. The impact toughness of the Ti/Al composite butt joint is 30.3 J/cm², which is 2.6 times that of the 7A52 BM. The layered toughening design significantly reduces stress concentrations for the butt joint at impact for the Ti/Al composite butt joint. Upon impact, the Ti/Al composite butt joint does not fracture continuously at the V-notch and exhibits significant macroscopic plastic deformation. For the microstructure of each TC4 and 7A52 layer in the impact fracture, more intragranular slip systems are activated and show a higher dislocation density. Therefore, this structural design can enable dissimilar metals to absorb more impact energy during the impact process.