Study on interface and mechanical property of laser welding of NiTi shape memory alloy and 2A12 aluminum alloy joint with a TC4 wire

Abstract

2A12 aluminum alloy had the advantages of light weight and high strength. It could be used to manufacture the skin of the hypersonic aircraft. Due to the thermal deformation of fuselage and wing under long-term thermal and mechanical load, the accuracy of flight control was reduced. The shape memory effect of NiTi shape memory alloy (SMA) could be used to reduce the thermal deformation by realizing the laser welding of NiTi SMA and 2A12 aluminum alloy. According to previous studies on laser welding of NiTi SMA and TC4, the tendency to crack for the welded joints could be reduced by placing the laser beam on the side of TC4. Therefore, TC4 wire was used as the filling material. As the TC4 wire was constantly sent into the molten pool to absorb laser energy, the melting amount of NiTi SMA and 2A12 aluminum alloy were reduced. It was beneficial to reduce the formation of brittle intermetallic compounds. There were mainly the fusion zone (FZ), NiTi SMA/FZ interface, and the 2A12 aluminum alloy/FZ interface in the welded joints. With the increase of laser power, the growing distance of Ti2Ni phase also increased. In addition, the Ti-Al intermetallic compounds and the fracture load of joints firstly increased and then decreased. When the laser power was high, Ni-Al intermetallic compounds increased. This caused the decrease of fracture load of welded joints. Besides, pores caused by the burning of elements in the FZ would also weaken the fracture load of welded joints. When the laser power was 2.4 kW, more Ti-Al intermetallic compounds appeared at the interface and the maximum fracture load of welded joint was 211 N mm−1. The fracture mode was intergranular brittle fracture. The heat affected zone (HAZ) with optimal mechanical properties basically retained the shape memory effect of NiTi SMA.