Wire arc additive manufacturing of stainless steel/aluminum bi-metal using roll-bonded transition joint

Abstract

Wire arc additive manufacturing was employed to produce an AISI316L stainless steel/AA5183 aluminum bi-metal wall using a bi-layer steel/aluminum transition joint fabricated by roll bonding. The transition joint was utilized to minimize the contact between molten aluminum and steel. The study explored the effect of three heat-input levels used for aluminum deposition on the microstructure and mechanical performance of the steel/aluminum interface in the wall. At the minimum heat-input, no defects or Al-Fe intermetallic compounds were observed at the interface, resulting in the highest bi-metal wall fracture strength (∼42 MPa) due to the absence of brittle intermetallic compounds.