SPECIAL JOINING TECHNOLO GY

EFFECTS OF MULTIMATERIAL
LIGHTWEIGHTING ON MATERIAL
JOINING TECHNOLOGY
Multimaterial lightweight design requires new materials, new joining processes and new joining concepts.
Intensive research and development activities on the part of all market players, in some cases also in joint projects,
is driving technology development forward. For the welding technology specialists from Fronius, the focus is on
high process speeds, easy parameterisation, minimised thermal input and excellent gap-bridging ability.

44

AUTHORS

HEINZ HACKL
is a Member of the Management
Board and Head of Research and
Development at Fronius International
in Wels (Austria).

JRGEN BRUCKNER
is Key Account Manager Automotive
in the Welding Technology division of
Fronius International in Wels
(Austria).

BACKGROUND

Legislation that explicitly mandates

lower CO2 emissions from motorised
private vehicles is necessitating more
and more lightweight construction concepts. According to a recent study by
Drucker Worldwide in collaboration
withthe European Aluminium Association (EAA), between 1990 and 2012 the
amount of aluminium going into the
average car almost tripled, from 50 to
140kg. This is forecast to increase to
160kg, or even as much as 180 kg per
car by 2020. As well as the lightweight
material aluminium, ever-larger quantities of high-strength steels and as yet
to a lesser extent carbon-fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) are tending to
beused.
Add-on parts such as engine bonnets
and wings made of aluminium are now
state of the art in modern car body construction. Car bodies made entirely of
aluminium, with the exception of a few
components, are limited to the luxury
or sports car segment, largely for reasons of cost.

els as well, many car body concepts tend

to make use of a multimaterial mix. One
example of the changing multimaterial
mix in passenger cars is shown in .
One of the many areas in which this
developmental trend is repeatedly posing
new challenges is that of material joining technology. This is, after all, a key
competency when it comes to realising
new vehicle concepts. The following two
combinations are typical examples of
mixed-material joins used in lightweight
construction: joins between steel and
aluminium, and joins between steel and
plastic or fibre-composite material.
Nowadays, it is common for homogeneous lightweighting joints to be made
with mechanical joining processes and
bonding, and for bimetal joints to be
made with combined joining processes
(also known as hybrid joins). Due to
theever more frequent use of multimaterial combinations, these joining technologies have gained considerably in
significance, and as a proportion of the
processes used in car body construction, atthe expense of classic thermal
joining processes.

MULTIMATERIAL MIX

THERMAL JOINING

To make lightweighting possible on

large-volume (small and mid-size) mod-

Although thermal joining processes still

have the advantages of cost efficiency

The changing multimaterial

mix in passenger vehicles [1]

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SPECIAL JOINING TECHNOLO GY

Punch-riveted or flow-drilling
screw (FDS) joints
with adhesive between
steel and aluminium

Adhesive

Adhesive
Steel

Aluminium

Hybrid join as seen in the example of the Audi TT [2]

and great manufacturing compatibility,

material combinations present thermal
material joining technology with some
very considerable challenges.
Nevertheless, interest in making steelto-aluminium joints using classic thermal joining has continued unabated.
Since as long ago as the 1960s, repeated
attempts have been made to find ways of
creating this bimetal joint.
For a joint of this type, there are several special points that need to be
remembered, and a number of problem
issues to be solved.
These points are:
: a large difference in the fusing
temperature
: At room temperature, the solubility of
aluminium in steel is either very low
or non-existent. This leads to the for-

mation of intermetallic phases (IMP),

which exhibit extremely high hardness values of 1000 HV [1] and more.
: substantial differences in the thermal
expansion coefficient
: abrupt changes in the electrochemical
potential.
The use of combined material joining
technologies such as punch-rivet bonding,
or threaded joints with adhesive, can provide very elegant solutions to all these
problem issues. Firstly, the rivet and/or
screw create a cold form-locked joint
between which no intermetallic phases
can form. Secondly, the use of anadhesive
also creates a solid join in which the adhesive layer provides corrosion protection
(by preventing direct contact between the
steel and the aluminium), and which also
enhances the strength of the joint.

Hybrid sheet in unshaped state

46

Examples of this type of join in practice are found in the bodywork of the
Audi TT, :
This type of production process can be
divided into four separate process steps:
: applying the adhesive
: positioning the parts to be joined
: mechanical joining
: curing of the adhesive.
For the production sequence, these four
process steps mean more work and
higher costs. Moreover, in order to make
optimum use of the hybrid join, a number of constructional aspects need to be
taken into account [3].
It would be desirable here to have a
joining technology that reduces the number of steps in this process from four to
ideally just one, thereby minimising the
work needed in the production sequence.
Thanks to recent technical advances
and developments, classic thermal joining technology can now offer just this.
The first simple aluminium-to-steel
joints (lap welds and butt welds) were
made around 20years ago, initially by
MIG welding but later also using the
laser process.
To make a joint of this type, two fundamental preconditions must be met: the
joining process used must be one with
low thermal input, and the steel sheet
must be coated (usually galvanised). A
low thermal input process is required
because the thickness of the intermetallic
phase (IMP) that forms is directly proportional to the heat input, which means that
this must be kept as low as possible. The
(usually galvanised) coating on the steel
sheet acts as a flux, ensuring optimum
wetting of the steel sheet.
Very many investigations were carried
out to determine the optimum preconditions for creating a reproducible join that
meets the above requirements. Due to the
properties of the intermetallic phase [4], a
thermally joined connection of this type
has extremely differentiated properties.
This makes it necessary to pay careful
attention to the constructional design, in
the same way as with hybrid joining.
One solution that meets these criteria
is the reshapable hybrid sheet developed
in a collaborative project between steelmakers Voestalpine and Fronius International from 2004 onwards. The aim was
to make a high-formability steel and aluminium semi that end-users (OEM) can
use in an car body in a similar way to a
tailored blank, .

 Ballhead pins, cylindrical pins,

prints, pike pins (from top to bottom)

To achieve optimum results, particular attention was paid to the following

points:
: Optimising the use of the CMT (Cold
Metal Transfer) process, which serves
as the basis for fabricating this joint.
Using this process makes it possible to
limit the thickness of the intermetallic
phase (IMP) to values of <3m.
: Optimising the hybrid sheets seam
geometry, so as to ensure its reshapeability and its mechanical and
technological properties (Rm; Rp02),
and to eliminate the tendency to form
crevice corrosion. This makes it possible
to achieve a symmetrical stress distribution under load, and to have no gaps
that would give corrosion a foothold.
: Optimising the filler metal both to
ensure reshapeability and to minimise
susceptibility to corrosion. The filler
metal developed and found to be suitable in the course of very many trials is
an aluminium alloy with 3 % silicon
and 1 % manganese (AW 4020). This
alloy ensures the necessary reshapeability and low susceptibility to corrosion, and has a positive influence on
the composition of the intermetallic
phase (IMP).

Numerous investigations on prototypes

have demonstrated that forming radii of
up to 5mm can be achieved that meet
the mechanical-technical requirements.
As well as the CMT process, steel-toaluminium joints can also be made
using laser welding, friction stir welding
or spot welding processes such as the
Delta Spot Process [5].
In all these processes, with the exception of laser welding, it is only possible
to produce lapped joints, with their
accompanying disadvantages of unsymmetrical stress distribution and the need
to seal the gap that forms in the joining
zone against corrosion. For this reason,
even greater attention must be paid to
constructional design aspects when
these technologies are used.
There is a second major group of bimetal
joints which are becoming increasingly
significant for lightweight construction.
Already well established in aeronautical applications, fibre composites are
now increasingly being used in automotive lightweighting. However, the high
cost of these materials means that they
have so far only been used on luxury
limousines and, in particular, sports
supercars. In the not-too-distant future,

however, small amounts will also start

being used on volume models as well.
What makes these fibre-reinforced
plastics interesting is their weight-specific properties.
One problem encountered here, however, is local force application. Metallic
anchorages are often attached as a
means of solving this issue by enabling
local force peaks to be distributed
throughout the entire component.
The beginnings of this lightweight
mode of construction go back to the
plastic-metal hybrids that started being
used in automotive manufacturing in
theearly 1990s. With front-end modules,
forexample, these are now in standardised use in production.
In this approach, a light-gauge sheet
component is systematically reinforced
by injection moulding. The advantage of
this over an all-metal approach is that it
enables the weight to be reduced by 30
to 40 % without reducing either structural strength or rigidity.
Whereas overmoulding and overextrusion are often used on plastic-metal
hybrids, when it comes to joining fibre
composite-plastics onto metallic materials, riveted or pinned connections are
the main methods used. Among the
main advantages here are the high
degree of reproducibility and the familiar, easily manageable process control.
The disadvantages are the many working steps such as drilling, placing the
rivets and performing the tolerance
compensation, all of which cost time
andmoney. An alternative for making
joints of this type is the pin material
joining method, which is based on the
Cold Metal Transfer (CMT) process.
With this technique, metal surfaces
can be structured in such a way that

Welding a pin array onto a turned part (left); metal-plastic (middle); turned part encapsulated in plastic (right)
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SPECIAL JOINING TECHNOLO GY

these pins act as form-locked anchorages

in various different geometries. This is
illustrated in .
If large numbers of pins are welded
onto a metal surface, fibre-composite
semis can be draped around these pins.
This creates a loose form-fit between the
metal and the fibre-composite semis; following resin infusion and a heating
phase, this form-fit is then transformed
into a permanent join.
RESEARCH PROJECTS

As part of the Take Off research projects

Innovative design principles for lightweight composite compounds in aeronautical structures (Project No. 815867)
and Composite+composite joints with
enhanced damage tolerance (Project
No.830384), this pin-based joining
method is compared to a standardised
rivet-based joining method. The investigations and results are to be published
inthe near future. This pin technology
can also be used for joining metal to
plastics or other non-metallic materials.
All these joints make use of the same
principle: first the pins are welded onto

48

the surface, and then form-fitted with

the material to be joined. As well as
being draped with fibre materials, the
pin array can also be encapsulated or
pressed into solid materials, .
The pins are between 3 and 10mm
long on highly heat-conductive metals
such as aluminium and copper, and
between 1.5and 5mm long on poorly
conductive metals such as steel and
CrNi. Depending on the application, the
welding system takes between 0.5 and
1s to attach and melt off each pin. The
pin process currently functions with
steel, CrNi, aluminium and copper filler
metals [7].
OUTLOOK

Multimaterial design calls for new materials, new joining processes and new
joining concepts. Technological development is being driven ahead by intensive
research and development activities on
the part of all market players also collaboratively in some cases.
Todays welding systems for thermal
joining already have a high degree of
technical sophistication. A comprehen-

sive understanding of the processes

involved, and even faster and more
accurate process control, are the main
focus of development work at present.
Intensive utilisation of electronics, and
especially of digital technology, may
be expected to bring about further
technological advances. High process
speeds, easy parameterisation, minimised thermal input and excellent gapbridging ability will be the tangible
results that can be attained in the production field.
REFERENCES
[1] Radscheit, C.R.: Laserstrahlfgen von
Aluminium mit Stahl. Ph.D. thesis, 1996, BIAS
[2] Mller, S.: Fgetechnologien im Karosseriebau
Status und Trends. Prsentation Sattledt, 2008
[3] Henning, F.; Moeller, E.: Handbuch Leichtbau,
Teil IV Fgetechnologien im Leichtbau. HanserVerlag Mnchen, Wien, 2011
[4] Agudo, L.; Jank, N.; Wagner, J.; Weber, S.;
Schmaranzer, C.; Arenholz, E.; Bruckner, J.; Hackl,
H.; Pyzalla, A.: Investigation of Microstructure and
Mechanical Properties of Steel Aluminium Joints
Produced by Metal Arc Joining. In: steel research
int. 79 (2008), No. 7
[5] Jank, N.; Staufer, H.; Bruckner, J.: Schweiverbindungen von Aluminium mit Stahl eine
Perspektive fr die Zukunft. In: BHM (2008),
No. 5, pp. 189-192

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About the Author

He has worked together with international partners to offer numerous seminars preparing
students for construction projects abroad.