Effect of Activating Flux on the A356 and 6061 Aluminum Alloy GMA Welds

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of activating fluxes on the weld bead geometry, hot cracking susceptibility and mechanical property of A356 and 6061 aluminum alloy dissimilar welds in the gas metal arc (GMA) welding process. In this activated GMA welding process, there were nine single-component fluxes used in the initial experiment to evaluate the penetration capability of butt-joint GMA welds. The grey relational analysis (GRA) was employed to obtain the better weld bead geometry of welds that were considered with multiple quality characteristics. Based on higher grey relational grade (GRG), four single-component fluxes were selected to create mixed-component flux in the next stage. The experimental results showed that the GMA welds coated with activating flux were provided with better geometry of dissimilar welds. The experimental procedure of activated GMA welding process not only produced a significant increase in tensile strength of welds, but also improved the hot cracking susceptibility of aluminum alloy welds.