Interface characterization and mechanical properties of dual beam laser welding-brazing Al/steel dissimilar metals

The DP590 steel to AA7075 Al-alloy with lap configuration is successfully joined by dual beam laser welding-brazing without using filler metal. Through the introduction of the derived laser beam, the wetting angle, wetting distance and the thickness of intermetallic compound (IMC) layer are well improved and controlled. It is found that the wettability of liquid Al on steel improves with the increase of laser power, i.e. the wetting angle decreasing from 25.3 degrees to 17.8 degrees and the wetting distance increasing from 2.17 mm to 3.19 mm as the laser power increasing from 1.0 kW to 1.6 kW. Two kinds of IMC exist at brazing interface, one is eta-phase (Fe2Al5) with flatten morphology closing to the steel side and the other is theta-phase (FeAl3) with needle-like morphology adjacent to the welding-brazing seam. The thickness of IMC layer increases from 8.37 mu m to 12.12 mu m with increasing laser power from 1.0 kW to 1.6 kW. Tensile test shows that both the wettability and the IMC thickness have influence on the welding-brazing joint strength. Poor wettability and too thick IMC layer will result in lower strength and fracture occurred in brazing interface. The optimal joint tensile strength of 123.7 MPa on average is achieved with the laser power of 1.4 kW.