Role of zinc layer in resistance spot welding of aluminium to steel

M.R. Arghavani, M. Movahedi, A.H. Kokabi

PII: S0264-1275(16)30500-7
DOI: doi: 10.1016/j.matdes.2016.04.033
Reference: JMADE 1677

To appear in:

Received date: 11 February 2016

Revised date: 19 March 2016
Accepted date: 11 April 2016

Please cite this article as: M.R. Arghavani, M. Movahedi, A.H. Kokabi, Role
of zinc layer in resistance spot welding of aluminium to steel, (2016), doi:
10.1016/j.matdes.2016.04.033

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Role of zinc layer in resistance spot welding of aluminum to steel

M.R. Arghavani, M. Movahedi* and A.H. Kokabi

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Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, P.O. Box

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11365-9466, Azadi Ave., Tehran, Iran

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*Corresponding Author, Tel: +98 2166165224, E-mail address: m_movahedi@sharif.edu

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Abstract
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Effects of zinc layer on microstructure and mechanical behavior of resistance spot welds
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of aluminum to galvanized (GS-Al joint) and low carbon steel (PS-Al joint) were
explored. The results showed that although nugget ‘volume’ in PS-Al joint was larger, the
nugget ’diameters’ of PS-Al and GS-Al joints were almost the same in size since the
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melted zinc layer was pushed towards the outer regions of the nugget. Melting and
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evaporation of zinc coat led to reduction of Al-Fe intermetallic layer thickness. Presence
of zinc also reduced the fixture-induced tensile stress. Utilizing carbon steel fixtures
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during welding caused a sensible vibration in the joint members. The vibration resulted in
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fragmentation and decrease of the intermetallic compounds at the joint interface.

Moreover, while PS-Al joints showed higher strength than that of GS-Al ones at the
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welding currents less than 12 kA, fracture load of GS-Al welds exceeded PS-Al joints
beyond 12 kA. Low welding current resulted in an incomplete joint at GS-Al welds.
However, lower induced tensile stress, as well as the formation of intermetallic layer with
the thickness smaller than the critical value (~5.5 m) in GS-Al joints, led to superior
mechanical properties at high welding currents.

Keywords: Resistance spot welding; Aluminium; Carbon steel; Galvanized steel;

Intermetallic; Shear-tensile load

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1. Introduction

Because of suitable mechanical properties and low cost of steel as well as aluminium low
density and high corrosion resistance, steel/aluminium bimetallic parts can be applicable

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in various industries such as automotive and aerospace. However, joining between

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aluminium alloys and steels by fusion welding methods faces to technological and
metallurgical limitations. Significant difference between their melting point and thermal

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conductivity as well as the formation of brittle intermetallic compounds (IMCs) such as

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Fe2Al5 and FeAl3 at the joint interface are some obstacles resulting in low quality welds
[1-6]. Moreover, difference between aluminium and steel thermal expansion coefficients

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and specific heats leads to high residual stress at the joint region. The residual stress and
simultaneous presence of brittle IMC layer at the joint interface may result in cracking
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inside the weld zone [7]. Resistance spot welding (RSW) is a commonly used process in
welding of car bodies and therefore, some research works have been conducted on the
RSW of aluminium alloys to steel sheets.
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Qiu et al. [8-11] tried to improve the quality of Al-5052/SPCC dissimilar resistance spot
welds by a SPCC steel cover plate placed on the aluminium sheet. Use of cover plate
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resulted in generation of more heat at the aluminium side of the joint and thus made RSW
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of aluminum alloy and steel possible under relatively low welding currents. They reported
that the IMC layer thickness, nugget diameter and ultimate shear-tensile load increased
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with raising the welding current. Despite the steel sheet, aluminium was melted during the
passage of the electrical current. A continuous Al/Fe IMC layer was formed with the
maximum thickness at the central region of the weld nugget. They related variation in
IMC thickness to the temperature distribution at the welded region, where the central
region experienced the highest temperature [8]. The IMC layer at the central region
consisted of two layers. One layer identified as FeAl3 and formed next to the aluminium
base sheet had needle-like morphology and the other one, Fe2Al5, was tongue-like
orientated toward the steel base metal. Oikawa et al. [12] utilized an aluminium clad steel
sheet between Al-5·5Mg aluminium alloy and EDDQ steel in order to decrease reactions
between the base sheets. Their results showed that a defect-free joint formed and the
strength of the joint improved using the transition material. Sun et al. [13] applied a

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similar approach to Oikawa et al. [12] for RSW of 1.4 mm SAE1008 mild steel sheet to 2
mm 5182-O aluminum alloy sheet. Zhang et al. [14] worked on RSW of galvanized high
strength steel and 6008-T66 aluminium alloy. They reported that two intermetallic phases
of Fe2Al5 and Fe4A113 (FeAl3), both containing Zn, were formed at the joint interface with

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tongue-like and needle-like morphologies, respectively. They did not investigate the

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effects of Zn on the interfacial microstructure and joint strength. Since, zinc interlayer may

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improve the joint properties by forming a good metallurgical bond at the weld interface

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[15], there are a few studies which have investigated the effect of zinc layer on the
properties of the joints made using other fusion welding processes rather than RSW. For

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instance, Ma et al [16] investigated joining of galvanized high strength steel to aluminum
using two-pass laser welding. They mentioned that Zn interlayer resulted in thinner Al-
rich IMC layers at the weld zone and improved mechanical properties of the welds. Their
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results also showed that a part of aluminum at the weld zone dissolved in zinc and the
remaining aluminum formed Fe-rich IMCs with suitable toughness and mechanical
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properties [16].
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Therefore, presence of zinc layer may affect the characteristics of the Al/steel resistance
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spot joints; little work has been performed on this field. Therefore, the present work aims
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to investigate the role of zinc layer in RSW of aluminium to steel through comparison of
microstructures and mechanical properties of the resistance spot welds between aluminium
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and low carbon as well as galvanized steels.

2. Experimental Procedures

Al-5052, St-12 (DC 01) and low carbon galvanized (ASTM A653 CS- Type B- G60)
sheets with the thicknesses of 2, 1 and 1 mm, respectively, were used in the present study
as the base materials. The zinc coat layer on the galvanized steel was pure zinc (> 99 wt.%
Zn) with the thickness of ~10 μm. The mechanical properties of the base sheets are given
in Table 1. The Chemical compositions of Al-5052 and steel sheets are given in Table 2.
The sheets were cut into the dimensions of 105 mm × 45 mm and the overlap length was
set to 35 mm (Fig. 1-a) according to AWS D8.9 standard [17]. Acetone was used to clean

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the surfaces of the sheets before welding. All the specimens were prevented from
distortion during welding by a carbon steel fixture (ferromagnetic material) shown in Fig.
1-b. In order to investigate the effect of the magnetic properties of the fixture on the
formation of vibration during welding, the same fixture was prepared from austenitic

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stainless steel (nonmagnetic material) and used. Al-5052 sheets were completely fixed on

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the steel sheets using the fixture before welding in a configuration that Al-5052 sheets

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were placed on top of the steel sheets during welding. For RSW of the samples, copper

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electrodes with the diameter of 6 mm were used. The pre-squeeze time, welding current,
welding time, post-weld holding time and electrode force were 50 cycles, 9–14 kA, 20

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cycles, 20 cycles and 3 kN, respectively. Alternating current (AC) was used for welding
the specimens. It should be mentioned that no weld nugget formed at welding current less
than 9 kA. Welding currents more than 14 kA were also not applicable because of sever
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expulsion and the welding equipment limitation. A nomenclature system shown in Table 3
was used to simplify naming the specimens.
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The imposed stress due to application of the fixture during welding (Fig. 1-b) was
evaluated by measurement of the distortion of the base sheets after welding with and
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without fixture. To this end, aluminium sheets with the dimensions of 200 mm × 50 mm
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were placed on the steel sheets (galvanized and low carbon steel) with the same size and a
spot weld was made at the center of the samples for each of the joints. After welding, the
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obtained distance between the aluminium and steel sheets at the end of the joints was
measured as a criterion for distortion.

Mechanical strength of the joints was investigated by shear-tensile and cross-tension tests
using an Instron tensile testing machine under the crosshead speed of 5 mm min−1. During
the shear-tensile tests, alignment shims were used to reduce the eccentricity of the loading
path (Fig. 1-a). As all the specimens fractured with the interfacial mode, medium nugget
diameters were measured from the fracture surfaces.

Stereo, optical and field emission scanning electron microscopes (FESEM) equipped with
an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to observe and characterize the

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microstructures of aluminium and steel sheets as well as the Al/Fe IMCs at the weld zone.
The cross-section of the St-12 sheets was etched by 2% Nital etchant solution. The Al
sides of the welds were also electro-etched by the Barker etchant solution (2.5 Vol%
fluoroboric acid in water) and the grain structures were observed by optical microscope

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under polarized light. In order to investigate crack propagation path during shear-tensile

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test, cross-sections of the weld nuggets were observed by optical microscope after fracture

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of the specimens.

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3. Results and discussion MA
3.1. Macro and microstructural characterization of weld zone

3.1.1. Weld cross-section and nugget diameter

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The macroscopic cross-sections of the weld nuggets for both PS-Al-I10 and GS-Al-I10
joints are shown in Fig. 2. As can be seen, while the steel sheet was just affected by the
produced heat with no indication of melting, Al-5052 sheet was melted during welding
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and formed the weld nugget with columnar grains (Figs. 2c and d). Referring to Figs. 2a
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and b, weld nugget in PS-Al joint had larger volume than the one in GS-Al joint. It seems
that the welding heat devoted to melting of aluminium in GS-Al joint was lower than that
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in PS-Al joint due to lower galvanized steel/Al-5052 contact resistance [18] and heat
consuming by melting of the zinc coat on the galvanized steel.

Fig. 3-a depicts the nugget diameter variations with welding current. Since weld was not
created in GS-Al joint at 9 kA welding current, the nugget diameter of this sample was not
presented in Fig. 3-a. Both PS-Al and GS-Al joints showed relatively the same nugget
diameter at a given welding current. It should be noted that the terms of nugget diameter
and nugget volume used in this article have different meanings. While nugget volume
presents the volume of the melted zone inside the aluminium sheet (as shown by broken
lines in Figs. 2-a and b), the nugget diameter is the diameter of the region at the interface

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of two sheets in which joining occurs. The nugget diameters were measured after fracture
of specimens in shear-tensile test as shown in Figs. 3-b and c. It is worth noting that
although the nugget volume in PS-Al joint was larger, the nugget diameters of PS-Al and
GS-Al joints were relatively the same in size since the melted Zn layer was pushed

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towards the outer regions of the nugget due to the pressure of the electrodes and

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subsequently formed the metallurgical bonds between the aluminium and steel sheets.

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Traces of molten Zn at peripheral region of the nugget in GS-Al joints are shown in Fig. 3-

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b.

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3.1.2. Al-Fe intermetallics

Fig. 4 shows the microstructure of the joint interface in GS-Al-I10 specimen. The welding
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heat resulted in the formation of IMC layer at the interface of the joints consisting of two
distinct layers. The layer with a needle-like morphology formed next to the aluminium
alloy is FeAl3 and the tongue-like layer orientated toward the steel is Fe2Al5 [8, 19].
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Similar intermetallic layers were also observed in PS-Al joints. Effect of welding current
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on the IMC layer thickness is presented in Fig. 5. In PS-Al joints, IMC layer thickness
increased by enhancement of the welding current in such a way that the increasing rate
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reduced with increase in heat-input. However, in GS-Al joints, intermetallic thickness first
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increased with enhancement of the welding current up to 12 kA and then decreased

beyond it. On the other hand, GS-Al joints had intermetallic layers with lower thickness at
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almost all welding currents in comparison to PS-Al joints. Increase in intermetallic

thickness with welding current was an expected trend since there is a direct relationship
between welding current and nugget heat input. However, decreasing trend of the IMC
layer thickness in high welding currents should be more discussed. There may be three
factors decelerating intermetallic growth rate in GS-Al joints:

1- Zinc coat decreases the contact resistance between steel and Al-5052 [18]. A significant
amount of zinc layer may be melted at the Steel/Al-5052 interface leading to the reduction
of the interfacial contact resistance. Therefore, due to presence of Zn coat, lower heat is
generated in RSW of galvanized steel to aluminium sheets.

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2- Zinc coat on galvanized steel surface consumes some of the generated heat for melting
and evaporating. At low welding currents, Zn coat melts (at ~419 oC) mostly and its latent

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heat consumes a part of the generated heat. Enhancement of the welding current up to 12

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kA leads to the increase in the generated heat during welding and compared to it, the Zn
melting latent heat gets negligible. Thus, the heat devoted to the intermetallic growth

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increases. At higher welding currents (13 and 14 kA), Zn layer may evaporate (at ~907

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C). Since the latent heat of zinc vaporization (~1782 kJ/kg) is much higher than the
melting latent heat (~101 kJ/kg), evaporation consumes more welding heat and therefore,

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the heat devoted to the intermetallic growth decreases. Fig. 6 shows the formation of gas
porosity near the joint interface and inside the aluminium at high welding current (14 kA)
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due to evaporation of Zn coat.

3- By utilizing fixtures, a sensible vibration observed in the joint members during the
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passage of the welding current. It should be noted that in primary experiments, when the
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fixtures were not used for welding, the mentioned vibration was not perceptible.
According to the authors’ knowledge, this phenomenon has not been reported in the
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literature. It seems that an alternating magnetic field produced from the alternating
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welding current results in a significant vibration between two plates of the carbon steel
fixtures and consequently this vibration transfers to the joint members. The more is the
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welding current, the stronger is the vibration. For more investigation, a nonmagnetic
austenitic stainless steel fixture was used instead of ferromagnetic carbon steel fixture. By
replacing carbon steel fixture with austenitic stainless steel fixture, no vibration occurred
during welding. This may be a confirmation for the mentioned hypothesis; however, it
must be more studied in the future works. The vibration produced in the joints led to
fragmentation and separation of pre-formed Fe-Al intermetallic from the interface and
scattering inside the molten aluminium. The Al-Fe intermetallic detached from IMC layer
at the joint interface are shown in Fig. 7. As can be seen, these particles were located near
the welding interface. In addition, the eroded Fe atoms [20] by the aluminium melt
gathered in the aluminium grain boundaries during solidification and formed the Al-Fe
IMCs. Fig. 8 shows Al-Fe intermetallic network formed in the aluminium grain

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boundaries of GS-Al-I14 specimen. Referring to Fig. 8, at high welding currents, a

continuous network of IMCs was formed in aluminium grain boundaries. The EDS
analysis from this phase presented in Fig. 8 approved the simultaneous presence of Al and
Fe atoms in the phase. The mentioned phenomena may result in the formation of

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intermetallics inside the aluminium weld nugget and reduce the IMC thickness at the joint

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interface of both PS-Al and GS-Al joints.

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Another point is that there was a significant jump in the IMC thickness of GS-Al joint by
increase in the welding current from 10 kA to 11 kA. This significant increase is addressed

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by an arrow in Fig. 5. The microstructure of GS-Al-I10 and GS-Al-I11 specimens is
shown in Figs. 9-a and b, respectively. As can be seen, there was an incomplete joint
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between Al-5052 and galvanized steel in GS-Al-I10 due to the inadequate heat generated
during welding. However, a complete joint with a continuous IMC layer at the interface
was formed due to enhancement of welding current by 1 kA (GS-Al-I11 specimen). So, a
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sensible jump in IMC thickness and mechanical properties was expected in this condition.
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It should be mentioned that despite the discontinuity of the IMC layer at the joint interface
of the GS-Al specimens welded with the currents less than 11 kA, IMC layers were
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continuous in PS-Al specimens even at low welding currents.

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3.2. Mechanical properties of the joints

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Influence of welding current on the ultimate shear-tensile load of the joints is shown in
Fig. 10-a. Generally speaking, the ultimate shear-tensile load increased with enhancement
of the welding current for both PS-Al and GS-Al joints. Main reason for increase in
ultimate shear-tensile load was increase of the weld nugget diameters.

It is worth mentioning that PS-Al ultimate shear-tensile load variation vs. welding current
had lower gradient in comparison to GS-Al joints. Referring to Fig. 10-a, fracture loads of
GS-Al joints were lower than that of PS-Al joints at welding currents less than 12 kA.
However, by increase in welding current, GS-Al ultimate shear-tensile load exceeded PS-
Al ones. There can be two major reasons for this behavior:

1- Increase of IMC thickness in PS-Al joints more than critical value

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Increase in IMC layer thickness has the potential of causing poor mechanical properties in
Fe-Al dissimilar joints because of intermetallic brittleness. Referring to Figs. 5 and 10, it
seems that there is a critical value for Al-Fe intermetallic thickness (~ 5.5 m) at the

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welding current of 12 kA. For the thickness less than critical value, increase in the IMC

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thickness may lead to the reinforcement of the metallurgical bonds between the sheets.
However, thicker IMC weakens the joint strength via encouraging crack propagation with

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lower required load inside the brittle IMC layer. It is noteworthy that for the PS-Al joints

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welded with welding currents beyond 12 kA, simultaneous increase of the weld nugget
compensates the decrease of the fracture load due to the formation of thick intermetallic

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layer and consequently, the ultimate shear-tensile load remains relatively constant (Fig.
10-a). On the other hand, for the GS-Al joints, decrease in the IMC layer thickness at the
currents more than 12 kA (Fig. 5), as well as the increase in the nugget diameter, resulted
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in the dramatic increase of the ultimate shear tensile load (Fig. 10-a).
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2- Higher imposed tensile stress in PS-Al joints

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Fig. 11 shows the joints distortion after resistance spot welding of the samples without
using the fixture. However, when fixture was employed during welding, the free edges of
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the specimens were prevented from displacing and consequently, an internal tensile stress
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might be imposed perpendicular to the joint interface as depicted schematically in Fig. 12.
As it is obvious in Fig. 11, distortion in the GS-Al joints was less than that in PS-Al ones.
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The more was the distortion without fixture, the larger was the imposed tensile stress by
using the fixture. Therefore, when the specimens were joined with the fixture, the imposed
tensile stresses in GS-Al joints were lower. The imposed stress may also be higher with
enhancement of the heat input. There were also some evidences that showed higher
imposed stress in PS-Al joints could harm the joints integrity. Fig. 13 indicates cracking at
the interface of PS-Al welds. The cracking may be caused by the imposed tensile stress
during welding. Thus, it is expected that GS-Al joints have superior mechanical properties
during shear-tensile test.

There was also a significant increase in ultimate shear-tensile load for GS-Al joints when
the welding current changed from 10 kA to 11 kA as indicated in Fig. 10-a.

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As mentioned previously, incomplete joint formed after welding with low heat input (Fig.
9-a). But, by increase in welding current, the joint became complete (Fig. 9-b). So, it was
expectable that ultimate shear-tensile load increased significantly from GS-Al-I10 to GS-
Al-I11.

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Referring to Fig. 10-c, ultimate cross-tension loads were significantly lower than ultimate
shear-tensile loads and welding current had no meaningful influence on the ultimate cross-

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tension load. Higher fracture load of shear-tensile mode in comparison to cross-tension

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one may be justified as follows:

The notch around the weld nugget in shear-tensile test experiences mode II loading

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condition of fracture mechanics; however, in cross-tension test, it experiences mode I.
During mode II loading, driving force for crack propagation is low and plastic deformation
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is encouraged. In other words, fracture in shear-tensile test can be considered as the shear
overload of the weld nugget rather than the crack growth inside it. High hardnesses and
thus high yield stresses of Al/Fe IMCs cause the need for high load for fracture of the
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joint. In mode I loading, driving force of the crack propagation is significant while the
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plastic deformation is hindered. Indeed, crack growth inside the weld nugget plays an
important role in fracture. Brittleness and low fracture toughness of Al/Fe IMCs reduce
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the load required for crack propagation at the joint interface and therefore decrease the
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fracture load in cross-tension test in comparison to shear-tensile one [21].

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Fig. 10-b illustrates the fracture energy calculated from the area under the shear-tensile
load-displacement curve. Effect of welding current on the fracture energy is also shown in
Fig. 10-c. As can be seen, the fracture energy variations with welding current had the same
trend as the ultimate shear-tensile load except in the samples welded by 13 kA. This
exception was related to more displacement of PS-Al-I13 compared to GS-Al-I13 sample.

3.3. Joint Fracture

All the samples welded in this study failed in interfacial mode. Fig. 14 shows the crack
propagation path during shear-tensile test in central and peripheral regions of the weld
nuggets. In both PS-Al and GS-Al joints, the crack started growing from peripheral

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regions of the weld nugget and then passed mostly through IMC layer at the joint
interface. Afterward, as crack reached to the central regions of the nugget changed its path
towards the inside of the aluminium sheet next to the interface (Figs. 14-b and d). At
peripheral regions of the weld nugget, there is a mix mode of shear and tensile stresses at

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the tip of the notch around the nuggets. As IMC layer is weak in tensile stress, the crack

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passes through and near the intermetallic layers. By increasing crack length, tensile stress

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reduces. Therefore, the crack propagates from aluminium due to higher IMCs shear

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strength [22].

4. Conclusions
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In the present research, Al-5052 sheets were resistance spot welded to galvanized and low
carbon steel sheets and the following results were obtained:

1- While the steel sheet was not melted during passage of the welding current, Al-5052
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sheet was melted and formed the weld nugget. PS-Al joint had larger weld nugget volume
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than the one in GS-Al joint. It was related to lower galvanized steel/Al-5052 contact
resistance and heat consuming by melting of the zinc coat on the galvanized steel.
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2- Compared to PS-Al joints, GS-Al joints had also intermetallic layers with lower
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thickness. In PS-Al joints, IMC layer thickness increased by enhancement of the welding
current. However, in GS-Al joints, intermetallic thickness first increased with raising
welding current up to 12 kA and then decreased beyond it. Increase of IMC thickness with
welding current was due to more heat generated at the joint interface. However, decreasing
trend of the IMC thickness at high welding currents in GA-Al joints was correlated to
evaporation of zinc coat and vibration during welding.

3- Utilizing carbon steel fixture caused a sensible vibration in the joints may be due to an
alternating magnetic field produced from the alternating welding current. The vibration led
to fragmentation and separation of intermetallics from joint interface.

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4- Ultimate shear-tensile loads of GS-Al welds were lower than that of PS-Al welds at
welding currents less than 12 kA. However, by increase in welding current, fracture load
of GS-Al welds exceeded PS-Al ones. Low welding current resulted in an incomplete joint
at GS-Al welds and consequently decreased the mechanical strength in comparison to PS-

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Al joints. However, lower induced tensile stress as well as the formation of intermetallic

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layer with the thickness smaller than tha critical value (~5.5 m) in GS-Al joints at high

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welding currents led to superior mechanical properties than PS-Al ones.

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5- Ultimate cross-tension loads were significantly lower than the ultimate shear-tensile

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loads.

6- Generally, change in the fracture energy with welding current had the same trend as the
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ultimate shear-tensile load.
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the resistance spot welding behavior of automotive sheet steel materials. AWS D8.9-97.
Miami, ML (USA): AWS; 1997.
[18] Zhang H, Senkara J. Resistance welding: fundamentals and applications: CRC press;

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2011.
[19] Shao L, Shi Y, Huang J, Wu S. Effect of joining parameters on microstructure of
dissimilar metal joints between aluminum and galvanized steel. Materials & Design.
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2015;66:453-8.
[20] Lin S-b, Song J-l, Ma G-c, Yang C-l. Dissimilar metals TIG welding-brazing of
aluminum alloy to galvanized steel. Frontiers of Materials Science in China. 2009;3:78-83.
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[21] Pouranvari M, Marashi S. Critical review of automotive steels spot welding: process,
structure and properties. Science and Technology of welding and joining. 2013;18:361-
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[22] Chang B, Shi Y, Lu L. Studies on the stress distribution and fatigue behavior of weld-
bonded lap shear joints. Journal of Materials Processing Technology. 2001;108:307-13.
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Tables

Table 1: Ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the base metals used in this work

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Material UTS (MPa) YS (MPa) Elongation (%)

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Al-5052 250 197 11.5
St-12 288 155 42

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Galvanized Steel 364 273 32

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Table 2: Chemical compositions of St-12, galvanized steel and Al-5052 sheets (Wt. %)
Material Fe C Si Mn P S Cr Mg Al

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St-12 Base 0.06 0.01 0.23 > 0.02 > 0.02 - - 0.05

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Galvanized
Base 0.05 0.01 0.19 > 0.02 > 0.02 - - 0.05
Steel

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Al-5052 0.23 - 0.12 0.02 - - 0.14 2.17 Base

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Table 3: Nomenclature system for naming specimens and joints

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Specimen Joint Specimen Joint

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Current Current

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Galvanized Low Carbon
GS-Al-I9 9 KA PS-Al-I9 9 KA
Steel/Al-5052 Steel/Al-5052

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Galvanized Low Carbon
GS-Al-I10 10 KA PS-Al-I10 10 KA

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Steel/Al-5052 Steel/Al-5052
Galvanized Low Carbon
GS-Al-I11 11 KA PS-Al-I11 11 KA
Steel/Al-5052 Steel/Al-5052

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Galvanized Low Carbon
GS-Al-I12 12 KA PS-Al-I12 12 KA
Steel/Al-5052 Steel/Al-5052
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Galvanized Low Carbon
GS-Al-I13 13 KA PS-Al-I13 13 KA
Steel/Al-5052 Steel/Al-5052
Galvanized Low Carbon
GS-Al-I14 14 KA PS-Al-I14 14 KA
Steel/Al-5052 Steel/Al-5052
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Figures

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Figure 1: a Shear-tensile specimen and b Schematic of the carbon steel fixture used for
limiting the distortion and c Cross-tension specimen.
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Figure 2: Weld nugget cross section of a GS-Al-I10 and b PS-Al-I10 (The red dotted line
shows nugget diameter and white broken line represents nugget volume), c Microstructure
of aluminum weld nugget, HAZ and aluminum base metal in PS-Al-I10 and d Heat
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affected zone of steel sheet in PS-Al-I10.

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Figure 3: a Nugget diameter variation with welding current, b and c: Weld nugget after
shear-tensile test in GS-Al-I10 and PS-Al-I10 specimens, respectively.
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Figure 4: FE-SEM image of IMC layer in GS-Al-I10 specimen.

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Figure 5: Influence of welding current on IMC thickness (The significant increase in IMC
thickness is addressed by the arrow).
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Figure 6: Gas porosity formation inside aluminum weld nugget of GS-Al-I14 specimen.
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Figure 7: Detached Al-Fe intermetallics from the joint interface in PS-Al-I14 specimen.

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Figure 8: a and b: Intermetallic network in aluminium grain boundary in GS-Al-I14

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specimen at two different magnifications, c: EDS analysis result of the intermetallic from
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the point addressed by the arrow.

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Figure 9: a: Incomplete and b: Complete formation of IMC layer at the interface of GS-

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Al-I10 and GS-Al-I11 specimens, respectively.
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Figure 10: a ultimate shear-tensile load and ultimate cross-tension load vs welding current,
b Shear-tensile load-displacement curve and calculation of fracture energy and c Shear-
tensile fracture energy vs. welding current.
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Figure 11: Welding distortion in a GS-Al-I12 and b PS-Al-I12 joints.
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Figure 12: Schematic representation of a: Distortion after welding without fixture; b

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Imposed tensile stress after welding with fixture.

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Figure 13: a: Cracking at the IMC layer of PS-Al-I14 specimen and b: IMC layer without

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Figure 14: Macroscopic image from the cross-section of the nugget in steel member after
fracrture of specimen in shear-tensile test: a and b: GS-Al-I13, c and d: PS-Al-I13
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Graphical Abstract
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Research Highlights

 Role of zinc layer in resistance spot welding of aluminum to steel was explored.

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 Melting and evaporation of zinc coat led to reduction of IMC layer thickness.

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 Presence of zinc reduced the fixture-induced tensile stress.

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 Utilizing carbon steel fixtures caused a sensible vibration in joint members.

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 Fracture load of GS-Al welds exceeded PS-Al joints beyond 12 kA.

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