Investigation of hot cracking susceptibility in welding of AA5052 aluminium alloy
S. Omprakasam, K. Marimuthu, J. Yoganandh, R. Raghu
Abstract
The present research work focuses on the investigation of hot cracking susceptibility of TIG-welded AA5052 aluminum alloy with two filler materials ER4043 and ER5356, respectively. Welded samples were undergone Houldcroft testing to estimate the solidification cracking susceptibility in the weldment. Microstructural characterization, microhardness testing, X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscope examination were performed on the weldments. The solidification cracking is not identified while using ER4043 since it has relatively narrow freezing range. High crack sensitivity of 29% is found when welding was performed using ER5356. Hardness for the specimens welded with ER4043 filler material showed 106 ± 3 HV and 116 ± 2 HV in heat affected zone (HAZ) and fusion zone (FZ), respectively, but the specimens welded with ER5356 filler material showed higher hardness of 160 ± 2 HV and 150 ± 4 HV in HAZ and FZ, respectively. The specimens welded by ER4043 and ER5356 showed the formation of Mg2Si at FZ.