Microstructure and Mechanical Behavior of Sc Doped Filler Rod in TIG Welding Dissimilar Al Mg Alloys

The present work reports about the effect of cast scandium doped ER5356 filler rod in Tungsten Inert Gas welding of dissimilar Aluminium Magnesium alloys. The grain refinement effect on weld microstructure by transition metal scandium was investigated with optical and scanning electron microscope. Additionally, XRD analysis, tensile strength (global and component joint) and microhardness were tested on weld samples. The microstructural examination in weld fusion zone observed fine grain size and suppressed dendrite arm spacing. The formation of Al3Sc precipitate in weld fusion zone due to scandium inclusion in filler was identified and resulted in improving the weld strength significantly. The higher joint efficiency of 92.5% was achieved in the global joint of weld samples. The failure location of global joint tensile samples identified the weld fusion zone is stronger than AA5052 base material. Further weld strength was evaluated with component joint by micro tensile test, which results in 70MPa enhancement in UTS values and validating the accurate weld strength. However, the elongation of the tensile test sample reduced marginally for the weld. The fracture mechanism of the weld joint observes decrease in ductility. The significant increase in hardness of the weld fusion zone was evident due to doping of scandium compared to the other zones of the weld.