Characteristics of microstructure and fatigue resistance of hybrid fiber laser-MIG welded Al-Mg alloy joints

In this study, the microstructures, mechanical properties and fatigue strengths of the hybrid laser-MIG welded joints were investigated. The detailed microstructures of the hybrid welded joints were carried out using OM and TEM. The causes of the strengths loss of the hybrid welded joints were studied from aspects of solute strengthening, precipitates hardening, and grain boundary strengthening. The fatigue strengths of the hybrid welded joints, MIG welded joints, and base metals were investigated. The results showed that the fatigue strength of the hybrid welded joints was better than that of the MIG welded joint. The conditional fatigue strength (N-f > 10(7)) of the hybrid welded joints could reach up to 84.6% of the base metal's conditional fatigue strength (130 MPa). The fatigue fracture surfaces were examined by SEM, and the result showed that the main reason for the decrease of the fatigue strength was porosity. (C) 2014 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.