Mechanical performance and corrosion behaviour of diffusion-bonded A5083 aluminium and A36 mild steel with gallium interlayer

• Main Authors: Ismail, Asmawi, Othman, Nurul Husna, Mustapha, Mazli, Mohamed Saheed, Mohamed Shuaib, Abdullah, Zaki, Muhammed, Musa, Mohamed Saat, Asmalina, Mustapha, Faizal
• Format: Article
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2022
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/102155/; https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/18/6331

This article investigated the mechanical performance and corrosion behaviour of a diffusion-bonded A5083 aluminium/A36 mild steel dissimilar joint with a Gallium (Ga) interlayer. The bonding parameters were the bonding temperature (525 and 550 °C), holding time (60 and 120 min) and surface roughness (800 and 1200 grit). Property characterisation was achieved using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, Vickers microhardness tester, Izod impact tester and potentiodynamic polarisation testing. The results revealed that the significance of the bonding parameters was in the order bonding temperature > surface roughness > holding time. Increasing the bonding temperature resulted in an increase in the impact strength and a corresponding reduction in the corrosion rate and microhardness. However, increasing the grit size decreased the microhardness and a corresponding increase in the impact strength and corrosion rate. The impact strength and corrosion rate decreased with the increasing holding time while the microhardness followed a reverse trend. It was also discovered that incorporating the Ga interlayer resulted in a 67.9% improvement in the degradation rate.