International Workshop on Thermal Forming and Welding Distortion, Bremen, April 22-23, 2008

1
Analysis of the Thermodeformed State of Laser Brazed-Welded
Ti-Al Beam Structures by Means of Mathematical Modeling
Vladimir Makhnenko and Alexey Milenin
Paton Electric Welding Institute of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
11, Bozhenko str., Kyiv, 03680, Ukraine
Dissimilar titanium-aluminum constructions find their application in shipbuilding,
automotive and airspace industries, but the welding of these metals faces most of the
problems those are typical for dissimilar construction joining because of physical
incompatibility and sufficient difference of some properties of titanium and aluminum.
One of the most efficient ways of joining of these metals is brazing-welding. The
physical processes during such technological cycle are complex and interrelated so the
use of mathematical modeling on the basis of up-to-date numerical methods for
optimization of brazing-welding parameters is reasonable.
To trace the development of the deformed state of Ti-Al beam structures (airframe
units) during their laser brazing-welding and heat treatment the complex of computer
programs with friendly interface has been developed. With the help of this problem-
oriented software the different ways of minimization of residual deformations of
dissimilar constructions have been investigated.
1 Introduction
The use of dissimilar elements gives an opportunity to obtain the unique set of
exploitation characteristics of different constructions and to extend their working life.
The permanent connected welded dissimilar construction units are of special type
because of their evident benefits and objective difficulties in manufacturing [1-2].
Titanium, aluminum and their alloys are characterized with valuable properties such as
high corrosion resistance and low weight to strength ratio. For this reason they are
widely used as construction materials in different industries. Naturally there is necessity
to connect the elements made from titanium and aluminum with welding. Moreover low
density of aluminum makes it reasonable to replace the parts of titanium constructions
those are not much loaded and not exposed to high temperatures at exploitation for
aluminum ones. Such designing approach is used in shipbuilding, architecture,
automotive and airspace industries [3].
One of the most efficient ways of joining of titanium and aluminum elements is brazing-
welding. This technique consists in following: the sufficient difference of the liquidus
temperature of titanium (1668
0
C) and aluminum (668
0
C) allows to carry out the
welding process with such parameters of heat input, that aluminum part of construction
melts whereas the titanium one remains solid; liquid aluminum spreads over the
surface of solid titanium and forms the brazed-welded contact [4].
Analysis of the Thermodeformed State of Laser Brazed-Welded Ti-Al Beam Structures by
Means of Mathematical Modeling
2
But the welding of Ti-Al joints faces the most of physical and technological difficulties
those are typical for dissimilar metals welding. It concerns the risk of defects formation
(intermetallic layers, hot cracks), structural transformations and weakening of heat
affected zone, galvanic effects, degradation because of contamination and so on. As
for the thermomechanical properties of the titanium and aluminum, they are of sufficient
difference that causes some peculiarities of stress and strain state kinetics of the
dissimilar construction during welding, heat treatment and its further exploitation.
To avoid the formation of the unwanted thermodeformed state of the welded Ti-Al
construction the corresponded optimization of the welding cycle and postwelding
treatment should be done. The most efficient way of optimization of the complex
production processes in welding and related technologies is to use the mathematical
modeling of interrelated multidimensional problems by means of up-to-date numerical
methods with corresponded experimental qualification, verification and validation.
Such complex approach has been applied for the optimization of the laser brazing-
welding of the Ti-Al beam construction of the aviation purpose. Particularly problem-
oriented software Dissimilar Weld Software that allows to carry out the numerical
investigation of butt and overlap brazing-welding of Ti-Al beam constructions has been
developed.
2 Technology of the laser brazing-welding of Ti-Al beam construction
The brazing-welding technology under consideration that has been developed in
Bremer Institut fr angewandte Strahltechnik (BIAS, Bremen, Germany) for
manufacturing of Ti-Al units of aviation purposes is as follows [5]: the construction
being welded is one meter flanged beam made from titanium alloy Ti6Al4V and
aluminum alloy AA6056 T6 (figure 1 a); joining is carried out with two symmetrical
welding heat sources, those are moving along the construction (figure 1 b). Because
of sensitivity of such process to the changing of welding parameters, the choice of the
welding heat source is determined from point of view of its high stability and
controllability; laser beam welding satisfies such requirements.
Laser beams melt the aluminum edge (that is somewhat thicker for not to use filler
wire), liquid aluminum under gravitation flows down, wets the titanium surface and
forms brazed-welded joint. Moving unit with laser focusing system moves along the
specimen and makes the longitudinal welded seam.
The basic technological parameters of the welding process are as follows:
power of each heat source q 1750 W;
welding heat source motion rate v 4.33 mm/sec;
welding spot diameter d 5 mm;
pressing force of moving unit F
1
754 N;
distributed pressing force F
q
4.41 N/mm;
axial force F
z
376 N.
International Workshop on Thermal Forming and Welding Distortion, Bremen, April 22-23, 2008
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Figure 1: Simplified geometry of Ti-Al beam construction cross-section (a) and
technology scheme of brazing-welding (b): 1 laser welding heat source,
2 plunger, 3 supporting table
3 Main principles of mathematical modeling and problem to be
considered
As the main aim of the numerical research under consideration is the prediction of the
thermodeformation state of the Ti-Al beam construction during its brazing-welding and
heat treatment, the processes to be taken into account are kinetics of temperature field
and distribution of stresses and strains.
The processes during such welding cycles could be modeled within the limits of so
called 2D-X-model, when the state of cross-sections is determined with corresponded
two-dimensional kinetics laws and some correlation to bend them in third dimension is
added. Such approach allows to optimize the numerical researches those require
sufficient computer resources, e. g. mathematical and computer modeling of the
physical fields kinetics in the bodies with the sufficient difference of transport
coefficients in different parts. As the both thermal conductivity and thermomechanical
characteristics of titanium and aluminum are of sufficient difference (Table 1), the use
of adapted 2D-X-model of thermodeformed state kinetics for prediction of current and
residual state of dissimilar beam construction is reasonable.
For description of heat conduction at crystalline bodies influenced with surface heat
sources (sinks) in two dimensional case thermal conductivity equation with spatial and
temperature dependent kinetic coefficients (thermal conductivity and capacity C) are
numerically solved:
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( ) , , , , , , , , ,
, , , , , , , , ,
T x y z t T x y z t T x y z t
C x y z T x y z T x y z T
t x x y y

c c c | | | | c c
= +
| |
c c c c c
\ . \ .

Within the limits of the mathematical model under consideration the surface
input/output is described with the corresponded boundary condition: heat sink is
specified with the Newtons low, as for the heat input it has been accepted that the
Analysis of the Thermodeformed State of Laser Brazed-Welded Ti-Al Beam Structures by
Means of Mathematical Modeling
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energy flux is characterized with Gauss distribution. The main feature of the given
technology is the different efficiency of laser welding heat source above the titanium
and aluminum because of their different reflectivity.
Table 1: Comparison of the thermokinetic and mechanical properties of titanium
alloy Ti6Al4V and aluminum alloy AA6056 at different temperatures [7-8]
20
0
C 100
0
C 200
0
C 300
0
C 400
0
C 500
0
C 600
0
C
Thermal conductivity, W/(mm
0
C)
Ti6Al4V 0.0059 0.0072 0.0086 0.0100 0.0114 0.0128 0.0142
AA6056 0.11 0.12 0.14 0.15 0.16 0.18 0.20
Yield strength, MPa
Ti6Al4V 1060 870 720 630 570 460 350
AA6056 220 213 200 188 140 100 20

The technique of the numerical determination of stresses and strains during the
welding and postprocessing is based on the numerical solution (using finite element
method) of corresponding problems of the nonstationary thermoplasticity by means of
the successive tracing of the elastic-plastic deformations development starting with
primary state before the welding and finishing with the final state after the cooling and
unloading of specimen. The thermodeformed state in each cross-section described
with the approach of plain deformation. On the basis of Hooke's law and plastic yielding
law, the correlation between strains and stresses are expressed as follows:

A +
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
A +
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ +

=
A + |
.
|

\
|
+ +

=
d
G
d d
d K
G
d d
d K
G
d d
xy
xy
xy
yy
yy
yy
xx
xx
xx

2
) (
2
) (
2

where
xx
,
yy
and
zz
are components of stress tensor, =1/3(
xx
+
yy
+
zz
), G is shear
modulus, K is a modulus of volume compression, is a function of relative elongation,
is scalar function, the value of which depends on state of strain and stress in every
region of workpiece being welded (treated).
It should be noted, that the influence of creep strain on deformation state is neglected
and as for the welding it is reasonable because the time of strains development is
short. But heat treatment sometimes is supposed to be long enough and in such cases
this mathematical model is inapplicable. Within the limits of current numerical
investigation it is considered that all technological processes are fast enough and the
creep flow has not time to develop.
To extend the capability of the mathematical model next relationships are added to
conventional 2D-model of stress and strain kinetics
International Workshop on Thermal Forming and Welding Distortion, Bremen, April 22-23, 2008
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( )
( )

= =
A + A + A = A

, , , 1 , ,
; ,
y x
0
y x n M ndxdy y x
y x y x
n zz
zz zz

where
zz
is the strain increment,
0
zz
is the strain increment along the axis fibre
(x,y)=(0,0);
x
,
y
are the curvatures of the beam axis in the planes zx and zy
correspondently; M
1
main vector, M
x
, M
y
components of the main moment of forces,
those are applied to the one of the ends of the beam under consideration.
Particularly, the calculation of curvature distribution along the axis of the welded beam
construction allows to estimate its current and residual bending state that is sufficient at
dissimilar joints welding cycle optimization.
Both brazing-welding of titanium and aluminum and heat treatment of such dissimilar
constructions have some features those should be taken into account at numerical
investigation. First of all it concerns the sufficient difference thermokinetic and
mechanical properties of titanium and aluminum (see Table 1) that requires fine time
and space partitioning for correct calculation. On the other hand the reduce of
partitioning leads to higher requirements to the used computer power and increase of
numerical research time. Sufficient difference in properties of used materials causes
the high gradients of physical fields (temperatures, stresses, strains), so actually the
dissimilar joint is the stress and strain concentrator and it should be taken into account
at optimization of welding cycle and postprocessing.
4 Results of the numerical investigation
Within the limits of developed mathematical and computer models the influence of main
technological parameters of brazing-welding and postweld treatment of titanium-
aluminum flange beam on thermodeformed state of dissimilar constructions of such
type has been investigated.
As it can be seen in figure 2, the bending deformation of the given construction after
brazing-welding (see technological parameters hereinabove) the residual bending state
and the longitudinal tensile stresses are sufficient.

Figure 2: Distribution of residual stresses
zz
(a) and bending displacements (b)
along the welded dissimilar specimen under consideration
Analysis of the Thermodeformed State of Laser Brazed-Welded Ti-Al Beam Structures by
Means of Mathematical Modeling
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First approach to avoid such sufficient bending deformations is to optimize the
geometry parameters of the construction being welded. The change of position of the
dissimilar joint (i.e. the relation of the lengths of titanium and aluminum parts of the wall
of flanged beam) has the influence on the residual bending state. Figure 3 illustrates
the dependence of the maximum bending of the flanged beam on the length of titanium
part of beam wall (the total length of the wall is the same for all cases equals to the one
shown in figure 1). This dependence is characterized with local extremum that means
that shift of the welding joint both towards the titanium flange and aluminum one gives
an opportunity to diminish the residual bending of dissimilar beam.

Figure 3: Dependence of maximum bending of Ti-Al construction axis on the length
of titanium part of the flanged beam wall (with corresponding change of
aluminum part for constant distance between flanges)
This phenomenon is explained with sufficient difference of the thermomechanical
properties of used materials, therefore the changing of parts relation has sufficient
effect on the total stiffness of construction whereas internal forces remain the same
because of the locality of thermal action.
As for both similar and dissimilar materials butt welding there is such position of the
welded joint when the internal forces caused with nonuniform heating are balanced and
the final bending deformations of beam construction are of minimal value; the more
significant the difference of properties of the welded parts is, the greater the shift to
stronger part should be for equilibrium state of the welded parts.
The titanium alloy Ti6Al4V is much stronger then aluminum alloy AA6056 T6 (see
Table 1), so it is evident that in case of their use for butt welded beam constructions
manufacturing the equilibrium position of dissimilar contact is near the titanium edge.
For this particular construction the equilibrium position is too close to the titanium
flange that makes it is impossible to make such optimum construction using the
technology under consideration.
Another way to decrease the residual bending is to change the parameters of welding
heating and forces in technological attachment. But as the heat input should remain
constant to insure the formation of welding joint of high quality, the variation of welding
heat source technological characteristics has small influence on residual state of strain.
As for the increase of force value during welding plastic flow of metal in the region of
International Workshop on Thermal Forming and Welding Distortion, Bremen, April 22-23, 2008
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sufficient temperatures can not change sufficiently even at rigid clamping of the
specimen. So this approach is not effective enough.
To improve the welded Ti-Al beam construction under consideration postwelding heat
treatment (HT) is reasonable to use. It allows to diminish the stresses of high value in
the region of dissimilar contact and to straighten beam axis. The main disadvantage of
the use of HT is that additional production stage leads to increase of cost of
manufacturing and final product.
Local HT is more preferable because it could be carried out with the same production
accessories and technique but using lower heating effect. Within the limits of given
numerical investigation for local HT it has been proposed to use lower heat input (to
avoid overheating and melting) but with low welding source motion rate and defocused
laser beams (welding spot diameter about 8 mm) for more uniform heating of heat
affected zone and the forces sufficient for rigid clamping of dissimilar beam to
supporting table. The increase of temperature causes the decrease of yield stress of
material and corresponding decrease of residual fields of stresses and strains.
Figure 4 demonstrates the influence of local HT with different laser welding sources
motion rate and with different power on residual bending state of the Ti-Al beam (state
of the welded specimen before HT corresponds to the basic welding regime) and
maximum bending displacements. It can be seen, that in peripheral regions of the
welded seam and heat affected zone there is lowering of residual longitudinal stress.
But in the region of the maximum heating (near to the level of titanium edge where the
welding sport center is positioned) with the growth of the heat input corresponding
formation of the area of high stresses is observed. As for the residual bending state
within the limits of the given ranges of variation welding source motion rate and power
sufficient decrease of the bending deformation is possible to obtain.

Figure 4: The influence of Ti-Al beam welded construction local heat treatment of
different technological parameters on stresses
zz
distribution (a) and the
maximum bending of its axis (b)
Total HT is more effective way of lowering of residual stresses and strains levels
because it allows to heat the welded specimen uniformly. In present work modeled
technique of total HT is supposed as follows: the welded Ti-Al beam construction is
positioned to the furnace with the atmosphere of shielding gas (e.g. argon) and with the
Analysis of the Thermodeformed State of Laser Brazed-Welded Ti-Al Beam Structures by
Means of Mathematical Modeling
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help of force attachment its axis is straightened; then it is heated up to some
temperature with subsequent air cooling. As the processes of creep flow are accepted
to be negligible (it means that the time of total HT is small enough) the only variable
parameter is the temperature of HT.
Influence of this type of postwelding treatment of the Ti-Al beam construction under
consideration on its state of strain and stress is given in figure 5. The curve in
figure 5 b is characterized with the extremum point near to the heating temperature
310
0
C. In case of temperature in furnace lower than 310
0
C decrease of bending
deformations is related with decrease of residual stress (reason is the same as for the
local HT). Higher temperatures of heating lead to formation of high stresses in the
areas of dissimilar construction those have been unstressed after the welding (see
figure 5 a) and therefore the bending of the Ti-Al beam increases.

Figure 5: The influence of considered dissimilar welded construction total heat
treatment of different temperatures on stresses
zz
distribution (a) and the
maximum bending of its axis (b)
To reduce the value of residual stresses cold treatment is of practical interest. As a
result of such technological operation stress value cycle complete the hysteresis loop
and the state of stress in high stressed regions decreases. Figure 6 shows the
distribution of stress tensor component
zz
in the region of the welded dissimilar joint
depending of the cooling temperature. It can be seen that such approach is rather
effective but from point of view of manufacturing costs isnt rational.
For effective numerical researches of brazing-welding of Ti-Al constructions of different
types, their postweld treatment and analysis of calculated data, the problem-oriented
software package Dissimilar Weld Software has been developed (figure 7). It allows
to carry out the investigation of welding of butt and lap Ti-Al joints with/without filler wire
to study the kinetics of temperature, stress, and total and plastic strains fields.
Developed and programmed physical models give an opportunity to estimate
intermetalic layers formation risk from the point of view of possible exploitation
properties of considered dissimilar construction degradation. Other option of this
software is the possibility to estimate the risk of hot cracking in the region of the
aluminum part of welded joint. To simplify the analysis of calculated database
International Workshop on Thermal Forming and Welding Distortion, Bremen, April 22-23, 2008
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Dissimilar Weld Software supports the 2D-distirbution of physical fields under
consideration, animation of their kinetics, building of graphs and so on.

Figure 6: The influence of Ti-Al beam welded construction cool treatment of
different temperatures on stresses
zz
distribution

Figure 7: Starting window of Dissimilar Weld Software (a) and an example of
calculated data visualization (temperature field at butt brazing-welding)
5 Acknolegements.
The authors of this research appreciate the contribution of Dr. Thomas Pretorius and
his colleagues from BIAS that has been made to validation of developed mathematical
models.
6 Conclusions
1. 2D-X-model for numerical investigations of thermodeformation state kinetics of
Ti-Al beam constructions at brazing-welding and postweld treatment has been
developed; within the limits of this model the influence of brazing-welding, local and
Analysis of the Thermodeformed State of Laser Brazed-Welded Ti-Al Beam Structures by
Means of Mathematical Modeling
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total heat treatment and cold treatment on the state of stress and strain of considered
construction unit (flanged dissimilar beam) has been investigated;
2. it was shown that Ti-Al beam constructions could obtain sufficient bending
deformations and high residual longitudinal tensile stresses caused with sufficient
difference in physical properties of titanium and aluminum;
3. the effect of dissimilar construction geometry changing on its thermodeformed
state after brazing-welding has been investigated; it was shown that characteristic
influence on the residual bending of dissimilar construction has welding joint position
and with variation of this geometry parameter decrease of residual deformed state
could be achieved;
4. numerical investigations of postweld treatment of different types has been
carried out; efficiency of local and total heat treatment application to reduce the
residual bending of dissimilar beam and to decrease the level of residual stresses in
the region of welded joint was shown;
5. for efficient numerical investigation of brazing-welding of lap and butt titanium-
aluminum beam joint corresponded problem-oriented software package with friendly
interface Dissimilar Weld Software has been developed.
7 References
1. Light-weight structures produced by laser beam joining for future applications in
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Materials Processing Technology 115, 2001
2. Characterization and Properties of Dissimilar Metal Combinations of Fe/Al and Ti/Al-
Sheet Materials. /F. Wagner, I. Zerner, M. Kreimeyer et al// Proc. ICALEO 2001, LIA
Congress Proceedings, Orlando, USA.
3. V. Sabokar, V. Zamkov, L. Kireev. Features of argon-arc and diffusion welding of
titanium and aluminum. Avtomaticheskaya Svarka, 1, 1998.
4. V. Ryabov. Welding of aluminum with other metals. Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 1983.
5. M. Kreimer, F. Vollertsen. Processing titanium-aluminum hybrid joints for aircraft
applications. Proceedings of the Third International WLT-Conference on Lasers in
Manufacturing 2005, Munich, June, 2005.
6. Numerical Methods of the Predictions of Welding Stresses and Distortions. /
V. Makhnenko, E. Velikoivanenko, V. Pochinok at al// Welding and Surfacing Reviews,
Edited by B.E. Paton, vol. 13, part 1, 1999, Harwood academic publishers.
7. Material Properties Handbook. Titanium-alloys. ASM-International, 1994.
8. Physical properties of steels and alloys used in energetics. Edited by B.E. Neymark.
Energiya, 1967.