This study aims to experimentally explore the possibility to join the two pieces of low-carbon steel and Cu-Ni alloy as the cladding material into a thick clad steel plate during a Friction Stir Lap Welding¡]FSLW¡^process without a probe. Two methods are employed to enhance the welding strength. Firstly, a layer of nickel is coated on the low-carbon steel to prevent it from oxidizing during the welding process. Secondly, the surface of the low-carbon steel is knurled to increase the contact area between the welding surfaces. Experimental results show that Ni-coating can effectively prevent the generation of oxidation and improve the welding strength. According to the tensile test using a plate of Cu-Ni alloy with a thickness of 4 mm, the welding strength of the clad steel plate with Ni-coating is about 2.3 times greater than that without Ni-coating. Moreover, according to the impact test, the clad steel plate with Ni-coating can absorb more impact energy than that without Ni-coating. This difference increases with increasing thickness of the plate. It is also found that the welding strength at the center of joints using the Ni-coating is greater than that at the substrate of copper-nickel alloy. For the clad steel plate with knurling, since it is difficult to fill the gap between the patterns of knurling, the increase in the contact area between the welding surfaces has been offset. Hence, the welding strength of the clad steel plate with knurling is less than that with Ni-coating.

No / Successful joining of dissimilar metals such as Al and Mg can provide significant advantages to the automotive industry in the fabrication of vehicle bodies and other important components. This study explores dissimilar joining of Al–Mg using a resistance spot welding process to produce microstructurally sound lap joints and evaluates the impact of interlayer composition on microstructural evolution and the formation of intermetallic compounds within the weld nugget. The results indicated that mechanically sound joints can be produced, with fine equiaxed and columnar dendrites within the weld nugget. The presence of intermetallic compounds was also confirmed by the variation in the microhardness values recorded across the weld zone.

Yes / Titanium alloys are known for their excellent corrosion resistance; however, low surface hardness results in poor wear resistance, which limits its potential application. This study employs a novel two-step process to embed a hard Ni coating containing a mixture of nanosized particles (Al2O3 and TiO2) into the surface of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy using an electric arc produced during the inert tungsten gas welding process. The surface of the sample was evaluated using Vickers Microhardness, Scanning electron microscopy, Energy dispersive spectroscopy and pin-on-plate wear testing. Microstructural analysis showed that impregnating the titanium surface with Ni/(Al2O3 and TiO2) nanomaterials resulted in the formation of a hard martensitic structure to a depth of approximately 2 mm below the surface. The changes observed are driven by modification of the surface chemistry and the presence of nickel, causing grain size reduction, solid solution strengthening and dispersion strengthening of the treated layer by the nanoparticles. The hardness of the treated layer increased by more than 180% when 40 nm Al2O3 and 30 nm TiO2 particles were embedded into the surface. Similarly, the wear resistance of the treated surface improved by 100%.

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