Abstract
The main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and cold metal transfer arc welding (CMTAW) processes on microstructure and mechanical properties of AA8011-H18 aluminum alloy joints. The AA8011-H18 alloy sheets of thickness 3 mm were welded in butt joint configuration using conventional GMAW and CMTAW processes. The optical microscopy was employed for analyzing the microstructure of weld metal (WM) and heat-affected zone (HAZ) of the developed joints. The tensile properties and hardness of welded joints were evaluated using universal testing machine (UTM) and Vickers microhardness testing machine. The GMAW and CMTAW joints disclosed the joint efficiency of 58.33 % and 75.98 %, respectively. The CMTAW joints showed 30.25 % and 27.28 % improvement in tensile and yield strength compared to GMAW joints. However, there is a loss of 20 % ductility in CMTAW joints compared to GMAW joints. The superior tensile strength of CMTAW joints is correlated to microstructural refinement of WM and reduced grain growth in HAZ. It alludes to the wire retraction mechanism, which help to regulate the droplet transfer and lower the heat input.
Funding source: Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation
Award Identifier / Grant number: FENU-2023-0013
About the authors
Dr. Tushar Sonar is working as a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Welding Engineering, South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia. He is a recipient of the prestigious ISRO RESPOND research fellowship for the years 2017 to 2021. He completed his PhD Manufacturing Engineering (Welding) from Annamalai University in the year 2021. He has eight years of research work experience. His research interest included welding and joining, additive manufacturing, surfacing, coating, corrosion, and high entropy alloys.
Dr. Mikhail Ivanov is working as a Professor and Head of the Department of Welding Engineering, South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia. He is recipient of many prestigious awards in Russia including Gratitude of the Minister of Education and Science of the Chelyabinsk Region, Honorary Diploma of the Rector for active participation in the preparation of high-quality applications for competitions and grants and Honorary Worker of Education of the Russian Federation. He completed his PhD in technical sciences (foundry) from South Ural State University in the year 2007. His research interests include welding and joining, hot tears, cold cracks, and simulation of welding phenomena.
Dr. Srinivasan Sambath is working as Principal in Sri Venkateswara College of Technology, Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, India. He completed his Ph.D. in Manufacturing Engineering from Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India in the year 2010. His research areas are metal joining, corrosion, composite materials, and welding.
Dr. Chinnasamy Rajendran is working as Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology,Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. He completed his Ph.D. Manufacturing Engineering (Welding) from Annamalai University in the year 2017. His research areas are metal joining, corrosion, composite materials, tribology, and additive manufacturing.
Mr. Natarajan Ramachandran is working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. His research areas are metal joining, additive manufacturing, automation, and robotics.
Dr. Padmanaban Senthil Kumar is working as Professor in Department of Mechanical Engineering at B V Raju Institute of Technology, Narsapur, Telangana, India. He completed his graduation at Madras University, postgraduation at Bharath University, and PhD Manufacturing Engineering (Metal Matrix Composite) at Annamalai University in the year 2002, 2005, and 2017, respectively. His research areas are metal joining, corrosion, composite materials, tribology, and nano fluids.
Dr. Muralimohan Cheepu is working as Research Manager in Starwelds Inc. Research Institute, Busan, South Korea.. He has received several honours, including best researcher from KWJS, Delcie Durham Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineers from SME, trusted reviewer from the Institute of Physics in the UK and best paper from materials and welding conferences. He completed his PhD Mechanical Engineering (Welding) from Kyungsung University, Busan, South Korea in the year 2018. He worked as Research Professor in Pukyong National University, Busan, South Korea for 2 years.
Dr. Jinyang Xu is working as Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. . He was awarded the Shanghai Pujiang Scholar by the Shanghai Municipality in 2017. For his notable research in the field of materials processing & manufacturing, he was honoured with the IAAM scientist medal of the year 2020 and received the best paper awards at the CJUMP2017 and the ISGMA2015 conferences. He received his PhD Mechanical Engineering from Arts et Métiers ParisTech, France in the year 2017. His research interests focus on composites machining, numerical modeling, micro/nano cutting, and surface texturing.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
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Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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Research funding: This research work is funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (Grant No. FENU-2023-0013).
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Data availability: The data that supports the findings of this study is available within the article.
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