Direct joining of thermoplastic ABS to aluminium alloy 6061-T6 using friction lap welding

ABSTRACT

A thermoplastic ABS and an aluminium alloy 6061-T6 were joined using friction lap welding (FLW). The joint characteristics were evaluated to investigate the effects of 6061-T6 surface and the welding parameters on the joint properties. ABS and 6061-T6 were joined via an interfacial MgO layer. The voids generated by thermal decomposition would affect the strength of the joint. Owing to the small temperature range between the melting point and the thermal decomposition point of ABS, controlling the welding temperature is the key to the success of the 6061-T6/ABS FLW process. The relationship between the 6061-T6 surface after welding and the adhesion properties of ABS and 6061-T6 under different processing parameters was investigated.

KEYWORDS:

• friction lap welding
• dissimilar materials jointing
• thermoplastic
• aluminium alloy
• ABS
• interface microstructure
• adhesion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

ORCID

Mengjia Xu http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2311-3310

Bosheng Liu http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1744-3169

Yunqiang Zhao http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9471-4490

Zhenmin Wang http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1579-2923

Zhibo Dong http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4021-7346

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant [number 51705303] and [number 51375173]; State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and Joining, Harbin Institute of Technology under Grant [number AWJ-20-M03].