Corrosion and wear resistance of the Al/steel dissimilar weld metals by using multi-principal filler materials

Abstract

Abstract Multi-principal filler materials via a high-entropy design have been reported to successfully finish the dissimilar metal joining of Al alloy to steel and to reduce the amount of Fe-Al IMCs in weld metals. However, few studies have concentrated on the corrosion and wear resistance of the Al/steel dissimilar weld metals by using multi-principal filler materials. In this study, the joining of Al 6061 alloy to 304 stainless steel served as the research object. Three types of filler materials including CoZnCuMn0.8Si0.2, FeCoCrNiMn, and AlSi12 powders were used. The effects of multi-principal filler materials on the corrosion behavior and wear resistance of the weld metals were evaluated. It was found that the weld metals by using multi-principal filler materials presented the contents of chemical elements in the range of 5–35 at%. The thermodynamic environment with a low ΔG mix was formed in the weld metals. Compared to the AlSi12 sample, the FeCoCrNiMn sample had excellent corrosion resistance in NaCl solution, whereas the CoZnCuMn0.8Si0.2 sample had excellent corrosion resistance in HCl solution. Moreover, the weld metals by using multi-principal filler materials had a better wear resistance compared to that of the AlSi12 sample. The wear loss of the CoZnCuMn0.8Si0.2 and FeCoCrNiMn samples was 4.5% and 11.4% of that of the Al 6061 alloy, respectively. Abrasive wear was the main wear mode for the weld metals by using multi-principal filler materials.