Common non-ferrous metals

• Aluminum
• Titanium
• Nickel

Attractions:
Low density
High environmental resistance
Low DBTT
Applications in aerospace, automobile, chemical, petro-chemical, and
several other industries
 Non-Heat-Treatable Al Alloys
• Alloy Designation
• 1xxx: Pure aluminum (1050, 1200)
• 3xxx: Al-Mn (3003, 3005)
• 4xxx: Al-Si (4032, 4043)
• 5xxx: Al-Mg (5053, 5083)
• Temper Designation
• O : Annealed
• H : Cold worked
• H1(CW)
H18 (full hard) H16 (3/4 hard)
H14 (1/2 hard) H12 (1/4 hard)
• H2 (CW + partially annealed)
• H3 (CW + stabilization treatment)
 Heat-Treatable Al Alloys
• Alloy Designation
– 2xxx: Al-Cu (2014, 2219, 2090 (contains Li))
– 6xxx: Al-Mg-Si (6061, 6262)
– 7xxx: Al-Zn-Mg (7020, 7075 (contains Cu))
• Temper Designation
– O : Annealed
– T : Thermally treated (T1 – T10)
– T3 (ST + CW + NA)
– T4 ( ST + NA)
– T6 ( ST + AG)
– T7 (ST + overaged)
– T8 ( ST + CW + AG)
 Age Hardening
• Conditions
– Sloping solvus
– Coherency strains
• Strengthening depends
on Al-Cu phase diagram
– Coherency strains
– Precipitate Vol.%
– Size and distribution

Strengthening precipitates in Al 2219

 Age Hardening
• Solution treatment
– Heat to dissolve all the
coarse second phase
particles
– Rapidly cool to achieve
supersaturation Prior to ST After ST After Aging
• Aging treatment
– Heat and soak to form
precipitates with desired
morphology
Peak aged
Hardness

Underaged Overaged
Time
Typical aging curve
 Welding of Al Alloys
• Special considerations
– Tenacious oxide layers
– High reactivity
– High thermal conductivity
– High coefficient of expansion
– Large solidification shrinkage
– Hydrogen solubility
• Processes
– GMAW
– GTAW
– PAW
H Solubility in Pure Al
• Polarity
– Cathodic cleaning
– AC
– Variable polarity (PAW)
 Non-Heat-Treatable Al Alloys
• More weldable than heat-
tratable alloys
• Weldability issues
– Hot cracking
– HAZ softening
• Hot cracking
– Certain compositions are
more susceptible
 Hot Cracking
• Occurs during terminal stages
of solidification
– Grain boundary liquid films
– Shrinkage stresses
• Susceptibility increases with
– Solidification range Solidification cracking
– Impurities
– External restraint Small amounts of terminal liquid –
no cracking
• Crucial factor: amount and
Large amounts of terminal liquid –
distribution of terminal liquid no cracking (back-filling)
– Composition
A critically small amount of
– Surface tension and wetting terminal liquid is problematic
– Grain structure
Thank You!

Questions?
 Non-Heat-Treatable Al Alloys
Hot cracking is a not a serious issue

Base Filler
1xxx 1xxx (1100, 1188) and 4xxx (4043, 4047)
3xxx 1xxx, 3xxx, and 4xxx
4xxx 1xxx and 4xxx
5xxx 5xxx (5183, 5356, 5556) and 4xxx
(Low Mg) Caution: Mg2Si formation
5xxx 5xxx
(High Mg) Caution: Mg3Al2 network
Special considerations
Dissimilar welding or welding with dissimilar fillers: Dilution can result in a
susceptible weld composition
EBW or LBW: Loss of Mg can result in a susceptible weld composition
 Non-Heat-Treatable Al Alloys
• Problem: HAZ softening
– Annealing  recrystallization
and grain growth
• How serious is this problem?
– Depends on how strong is FZ
• Recommendation
– Minimize heat input
– High-energy density processes

YS profiles across Al 5083 welds

 Heat-Treatable Al Alloys

• Serious hot cracking problems

– Multiple alloying elements
– Greater amounts of alloying additions
– Stronger base metals
• Solutions
– Non-heat-treatable Al alloy fillers
– Fillers with higher solute content (large volume of terminal liquid)
– Fusion zone grain refinement
 Heat-Treatable Al Alloys – Filler Selection
Base metal Filler wire
Al-Cu (2219, 2014, (i) High-Cu fillers (2319) (corrosion problems)
2024) (ii) Al-Si (4043, 4047) and Al-Si-Cu (4145)
Al-Mg-Si (6061) (i) Al-Si (4043) (dilution < 50%)
(ii) Al-Mg (5356) (dilution < 30%)
Al-Zn-Mg (No Cu) (i) Al-Mg (5356, 5183)
(7005, 7020, 7039) (ii) Al-Si
(iii) Al-Zn-Mg (less Zn, more Mg)
Al-Zn-Mg (with Cu) Al-Si and Al-Mg fillers
(7075, 7178) Avoid welding in critical applications

Considerations: Hot cracking, strength, and corrosion

Some compromise on joint efficiency unavoidable
 Grain Refinement
Fine, equiaxed structures are more resistant to hot cracking
Problem film formation less likely due to increased GB area
Popular techniques: Pulsing, MAO, and Inoculation

No inoculation With Ti

Al-Li alloy 2090 GTA welds (with 2319 filler)

 Liquation Cracking
• Occurs in PMZ/HAZ
– Grain boundary melting
– Stresses
• Why more of a problem in Al
alloys?
– Wide PMZ (wide solidification
range and high K)
– Large shrinkage
– Large thermal contraction
(large CTE)

Al-Cu alloy 2219

 Grain Boundary
Liquation
• Eutectic reaction
• Constitutional liquation
• Segregation
 Liquation Cracking
Solutions
• Fine grained base metals Fine grains
• Low heat inputs and high energy density
processes
– Minimize HAZ/PMZ width
• Low melting fillers
– PMZ solidification precedes WM solidification

Coarse grains
Effect of BM grain size
on liquation cracking
 HAZ in Al-Cu and Al-Mg-Si alloys
• HAZ response
– Base material type and
temper
– Precipitate formation,
coarsening, and
dissolution
• A portion of HAZ gets
overaged
– Post-weld aging further
overages
– ST + A required for
restoring HAZ properties
 HAZ in Al-Zn-Mg alloys
• HAZ does not get
overaged
– Sluggish precipitation
kinetics
– Properties improve
with time due to
natural aging

HAZ hardness profiles in Al 7146-T4

 Titanium Alloys
• Titanium crystal structures
– HCP (α) at low temperatures
– BCC (β) at high temperatures
• β ↔ α allotropic transformation
– Occurs at 882˚C in pure Ti
– Transformation mode
• Slow cooling  Diffusional (α)
• Fast cooling  Martensitic (α′)
– Alloying elements influence transformation temperature
• Alloying elements
– α stabilizers (Al, O, N, C, Sn)
– β stabilizers
• Isomorphous (Nb, Mo, V, Ta)
• Eutectoid (Cr, Ni, Co, Fe, Mn, Cu, Si, Pd, H)
– Neutral elements (Zr, Sn)
 Classification of Titanium Alloys
• CP Titanium
– Different grades depending on oxygen
content (up to 0.4%)
– Pd additions for improved corrosion
resistance (Grades 7) Metastable Stable
α α+ β
• α alloys alloy β alloy β alloy
alloy
– Ti-3Al-2.5V (half-alloy)

Temperatur
– Ti-5Al-2.5Sn β
• Near-α alloys
– Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo α+β
– Ti-6Al-5Zr-0.5Mo-0.25Si (IMI685)

e
– Ti-5.8Al-4Sn-3.5Zr-0.7Nb-0.5Mo-0.3Si-
0.06C (IMI 834) α MS
• α-β alloys
– Ti-6Al-4V
– Ti-8Al-1Mo-1V β Stabilizer Concentration
– Ti-4Al-2Sn-4Mo-0.5Si (IMI550)
• Metastable β alloys Pseudo binary section through a β
– Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-6Mo isomorphous phase diagram
– Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al
– Ti-15V-3Cr-3Al-3Sn
– Ti-15Mo-2.7Nb-3Al-0.2Si (Beta 21S)
• Stable β alloys
– Ti25V-15Cr-0.2Si (Ti-40)
 Welding of Titanium Alloys
• Extremely reactive and sensitive to contamination
– GTAW, GMAW, PAW
– High purity shielding gases
– Backing and trailing gas arrangements
– Glove box welding
• No serious hot cracking problems
– Matching fillers possible
• Limited availability of filler wires
• Undermatching fillers with generous reinforcement
• Go for EBW and LBW
• Most alloys suffer from poor weld ductility
 Weldability of Titanium Alloys
Material Weldability issues

CP Ti and α alloys Weldable

Good ductility (α′ forms, but it is not brittle (low β
stabilizing elements))
Near-α and α+β alloys Weldable
Inferior ductility (large amount of α′)
Metastable β alloys Weldable
Good as-welded ductility
Low strength
Segregation problems
 Ductility Problem in α+β alloy welds
Ti-6242, As-welded FZ TEM, As-welded

Base metal
Ti-6242, As-welded
TEM, As-welded

Grain refinement with

current pulsing

Ti-6242, PHWT
 Nickel alloys
• Copper and nickel have complete solubility
– Monel with 30-45% copper
• Ni-Cr (Nimonic) and Ni-Cr-Fe (Inconel) alloys
– Solid solution strengthened
– Corrosion and oxidation resistance
• Precipitation hardened alloys (with Al, Ti and Nb)
– High temperature service
• Hastelloys (Ni-Cr-Mo and Ni-Mo alloys)
– Precipitation hardening
– Excellent corrosion resistance
 Welding of Ni-superalloys
• SS alloys are generally weldable
• PH alloys
– Solidification cracking
– HAZ softening
– Strain-age cracking
– HAZ liquation cracking or HAZ microfissuring
– Inferior weld ductility and toughness
 Strain-age cracking

• A type of reheat cracking

• Rapid precipitation of
strengthening phases
upon reheating
• Often occurs in the HAZ
• Cracking tendency
increases with Al+Ti
content
Ti+Al content Vs. Strain-age cracking
 Fracture features

Grain boundary
embitterment
Aging contraction
 HAZ microfissuring

Intergranular
Not easy to detect
Extensively studied
 Causes
• GB liquid films + tensile stress
• Constitutional liquation of NbC and/or
Laves phases
• S and/or B segregation to grain
boundaries
 Aggravating factors
• Presence of carbides, Laves, delta phases
• Impurities (C, B, S, P)
– Equilibrium and non-equilibrium segregation of B
• Coarse grain size
• High heat input
• Nail-head welds
• Multi-pass welding
 How to control?
• Weld in ST condition
• Use fine-grained materials
• Control of B, S, P and Si levels
• Avoid very high temperature solution treatments
– Use water quenching
• Use low heat inputs
• Control weld shape. Avoid nail-head formation
– Use cosmetic weld pass
 Segregation and Intermetallic
Formation
• Segregation  intermetallic formation
• Loss of alloying elements
• Loss of ductility and toughness
• Example: Inconel 718
IN 718
GTA Weld
Laves phase
Nb segregation
980ST
1080ST
1080 ST, BM