Search Results (38)

This study joins a 20 mm thick 5000-series aluminum alloy using hot-wire insertion combined with narrow-gap laser welding to evaluate the feasibility and welding characteristics of this technique. The findings indicate that weld formation is primarily influenced by the laser energy density and material deposition rate. A strategy for improving weld beads is introduced incorporating a reoriented laser spot during the final pass on narrow-gap joints. This approach improves penetration and produces defect-free joints. The optimal processing conditions result in complete joint formation with four welding passes. Microstructural analysis reveals that the aluminum matrix morphology evolves according to the local thermal history during welding. Measurements show that the weld region is slightly harder than the base metal, whereas slightly lower hardness is observed at the fusion line and inter-pass boundaries, which correlates with the microstructure result. Full article

Prefabricated components inevitably generate numerous assembly joints during installation, with each 1 mm increase in joint width correlating to a 15–20% elevation in the annual occurrence frequency of the frost formation risk. In the Inner Mongolia Region, the water migration at wall connection interfaces during winter significantly exacerbates freeze–thaw damage due to persistent thermal gradients. A coupled heat–moisture transfer model incorporating gas–liquid–solid phase transitions was developed, with the liquid moisture content and temperature gradient as dual driving forces. A validation against internationally recognized BS EN 15026:2007 benchmark cases confirmed the model robustness. The prefabricated sandwich insulation walls reconstructed with region-specific volcanic ash materials underwent a comparative evaluation of temperature and relative humidity distributions under varied winter conditions. Furthermore, we analyze and assess the potential for freezing at connection points and identify the specific areas at risk. Synergistic effects between assembly gaps and indoor–outdoor environmental interactions on wall performance degradation were systematically assessed. The results indicated that, across all working conditions, both the temperature and relative humidity at each wall measurement point underwent periodic variations influenced by the outdoor environment. These fluctuations decreased in amplitude from the exterior to the interior, accompanied by a noticeable delay effect. Specifically, at Section 2, the wall temperatures at points B2–B8 were higher compared to those at A2–A8 of Section 1. The relative humidity gradient remained relatively stable at each measurement point, while the temperature fluctuation amplitude was smaller by 2.58 ± 0.3 °C compared to Section 1. Under subfreezing conditions, Section 1 demonstrates a marked reduction in relative humidity (Cases 1-3 and 2-3) compared to reference cases, which is indicative of internal ice crystallization. Conversely, Section 2 maintains higher relative humidity values under identical therma. These findings suggest that prefabricated building joints significantly impact indoor and outdoor wall temperatures, potentially increasing the indoor heat loss and accelerating temperature transfer during winter. Full article

Reasonable welding methods are of great significance for optimizing the microstructure and ensuring the mechanical properties of welded joints. In this study, ultra-narrow gap welding (UNGW) and submerged arc welding (SAW) were employed to weld Q355E high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steel thick plates, and the microstructure and mechanical properties of the welded joints were systematically characterized. The UNGW welded joint exhibits superior comprehensive mechanical properties: a room-temperature tensile strength of 664 MPa with 43.1% elongation at fracture, along with higher microhardness and enhanced impact performance at −40 °C, all of which significantly outperform SAW welded joints. This advantage primarily stems from the faster cooling rate during UNGW, which promotes the formation of beneficial acicular ferrite in the joint microstructure. This study provides theoretical support and technical guidance for welding HSLA steel thick plates. Full article

Magnetic pulse welding (MPW) is a promising solid-state joining process that utilizes electromagnetic forces to create high-speed, impact-like collisions between two metal components. This welding technique is widely known for its ability to join dissimilar metals, including aluminum, steel, and copper, without the need for additional filler materials or fluxes. MPW offers several advantages, such as minimal heat input, no distortion or warping, and excellent joint strength and integrity. The process is highly efficient, with welding times typically ranging from microseconds to milliseconds, making it suitable for high-volume production applications in sectors including automotive, aerospace, electronics, and various other industries where strong and reliable joints are required. It provides a cost-effective solution for joining lightweight materials, reducing weight and improving fuel efficiency in transportation systems. This contribution concerns an application for the automotive sector (body-in-white) and specifically examines the welding of AA6082-T6 aluminum alloy with HC420LA cold-rolled micro-alloyed steel. One of the main aspects for MPW optimization is the determination of the process window that does not depend on the equipment used but rather on the parameters associated with the physical mechanisms of the process. It was demonstrated that process windows based on contact angle versus output voltage diagrams can be of interest for production use for a given component (shock absorbers, suspension struts, chassis components, instrument panel beams, next-generation crash boxes, etc.). The process window based on impact pressures versus impact velocity for different impact angles, in addition to not depending on the equipment, allows highlighting other factors such as the pressure welding threshold for different temperatures in the impact zone, critical transition speeds for straight or wavy interface formation, and the jetting/no jetting effect transition. Experimental results demonstrated that optimal welding conditions are achieved with impact velocities between 900 and 1200 m/s, impact pressures of 3000–4000 MPa, and impact angles ranging from 18–35°. These conditions correspond to optimal technological parameters including gaps of 1.5–2 mm and output voltages between 7.5 and 8.5 kV. Successful welds require mean energy values above 20 kJ and weld specific energy values exceeding 150 kJ/m². The study establishes critical failure thresholds: welds consistently failed when gap distances exceeded 3 mm, output voltage dropped below 5.5 kV, or impact pressures fell below 2000 MPa. To determine these impact parameters, relationships based on Buckingham’s π theorem provide a viable solution closely aligned with experimental reality. Additionally, shear tests were conducted to determine weld cohesion, enabling the integration of mechanical resistance isovalues into the process window. The findings reveal an inverse relationship between impact angle and weld specific energy, with higher impact velocities producing thicker intermetallic compounds (IMCs), emphasizing the need for careful parameter optimization to balance weld strength and IMC formation. Full article

K417G superalloy is widely applied in gas turbine components such as blades, vanes, and nozzles. In this work, the oxidation behavior and mechanism of K417G alloy prepared by wide-gap brazing were investigated in air at 800, 900, 1000, and 1100 °C. Microstructures of the bonded joints differ in the wide-gap braze region (WGBR) and base metal (BM). The surface and cross-sectional morphology, composition, and structure of specimens were analyzed by XRD, SEM, and EDS after oxidation tests. The experimental data demonstrate that the WGBR (wide-gap brazed region) exhibits markedly superior oxidation resistance compared to the BM (base material) under elevated-temperature conditions exceeding 1000 °C. This performance disparity is quantitatively validated by oxidation kinetics analysis, where the weight gain curve of the WGBR demonstrates parabolic oxidation kinetics, as evidenced by its significantly lower parabolic rate constant relative to the BM. The oxide layers of the BM and WGBR are similar after oxidation at high temperatures of 800–900 °C, and they consist of an outermost layer of NiO, a middle mixed layer of Cr₂O₃, and an innermost layer of dendritic Al₂O₃. However, when the temperature is between 1000 and 1100 °C, the NiO on the surface of the BM spalls of due to thermal expansion coefficient mismatch in coarse-grained regions, resulting in oxidation mainly divided into outer layer Cr₂O₃ and inner layer Al₂O₃ and TiO₂. Under high-temperature oxidation conditions (1000–1100 °C), a structural transition occurs in the oxide scale of the BM, with the underlying mechanism attributable to grain-coarsening-induced oxide scale destabilization. Specifically, the coarse-grained structure of the BM (characteristic grain size exceeding 50 μm) is exhibited. Therefore, the WGBR demonstrates outstanding oxidation resistance, as evidenced by the formation of a continuous Al₂O₃ scale with parabolic rate constants of about 1.38 × 10⁻³ mg²·cm⁻⁴·min⁻¹ at 1100 °C. Full article

Reactive bonding can overcome the issues associated with conventional soldering processes, such as potential damage to heat-sensitive components and the creation of thermomechanical stress due to differing coefficients of thermal expansion. The risk of such damage can be reduced by using localized heat sources like reactive multilayer systems (RMS), which is already a well-established option in the field of silicon or metal bonding. Adapting this process to other materials, such as low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC), is difficult due to their differing properties, but it would open new technological possibilities. One aspect that significantly affects the quality of the bonding joints is the pressure applied during the bonding process. To investigate its influence more closely, various LTCC samples were manufactured, and cross-sections were prepared. The microscopical analysis reveals that there is an optimum range for the bonding pressure. While too little pressure results in the formation of lots of voids and gaps, most likely in poor mechanical and electrical properties, too high pressure seems to cause a detachment of the metallization from the base material. Full article

Narrow-gap arc welding is an efficient method that significantly enhances industrial production efficiency and reduces costs. This study investigates the application of low-alloy steel wire EG70-G in narrow-gap gas metal arc welding (GMAW) on thick plates. Experimental observations were made to examine the arc behavior, droplet transition behavior, and weld formation characteristics of double-wire welding under various process parameters. Additionally, the temperature field of the welding process was simulated using finite element software (ABAQUS 2020). Finally, the microstructure and microhardness of the fusion zone in a double-wire, single-pass filled joint under the different welding speeds were compared and analyzed. The results demonstrate that the use of double-wire GMAW in narrow-gap welding yielded positive outcomes. Optimal settings for wire feeding speed, welding speed, and double-wire lateral spacing significantly enhanced welding quality, effectively preventing side wall non-fusion and poor weld profiles in the welded joints. The microstructure of the fusion zone produced at a higher welding speed (11 mm/s) was finer, resulting in increased microhardness compared to welds obtained at a lower speed (8 mm/s). This is attributed to the shorter duration of the liquid molten pool and the faster cooling rate associated with higher welding speed. This research provides a reference for the practical application of double-wire narrow-gap gas metal arc welding technology. Full article

The softening of aluminum–lithium alloy welded joints generally leads to a reduction in mechanical properties. In this study, a piece of 2A97-T3 aluminum–lithium alloy with a thickness of 2.8 mm was selected as the test material, and the tool and process used for wire-filled stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SSFSW) were developed. By increasing the bearing area of the softening zone, an equal-strength T-joint was manufactured. Good weld formation was obtained when the rotation speed was set to 2000 rpm and the welding speed ranged from 100 to 120 mm/min. The thickness of the softening zone was controlled by adjusting the reserved gap between the shoulder and the workpiece. The softening mechanism of the weld joint was revealed. The softening was attributed to the coarsening of the main precipitated phases (T1 and θ′ phases) in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) and the dissolution of precipitated phases in the thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ). Grain refinement in the nugget zone (NZ) led to a certain fine-grained strengthening effect, although the precipitated phase was almost completely dissolved. Due to the thermal effect of second-pass welding, the hardness value of the NZ and HAZ in the center of the skin further decreased, and the minimum hardness was approximately 70% that of the base material. Tensile testing results indicated that the softening effect was largely offset by the increased bearing area of the softening zone, resulting in the successful welding of high-strength Al-Li alloy T-joints with equal strength. The strength coefficient was found to be 0.977. Full article

A novel high depth-to-width ratio of 15:1 narrow-gap gas metal arc welding technique was developed for the welding of S500Q steel in a horizontal butt joint. The bead arrangement of the I groove was optimized to produce a high-quality connection with the upper sidewall of the joint. The microstructure and mechanical properties were observed and evaluated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, tensile testing, and micro-hardness and impact toughness testing at 1/5, 2/5, 3/5, and 4/5 thickness of the joint. The 3/5 T position exhibited the highest strength, which was attributed to the presence of finer carbide precipitates. The highest micro-hardness appeared at 4/5 T. The highest impact toughness appeared at 3/5 T. The formation of coarse granular bainite was the major reason for the decrease in impact toughness in other regions. A microscopic fracture at 1/5 T and 3/5 T was further analyzed. It was observed that the width of the fibrous zone at 3/5 T was significantly larger than that at 1/5 T. The radial zones at 1/5 T were observed to exhibit cleavage, with secondary cracks on the fracture surface. Full article

In this study, an effective numerical model was developed for the calculation of the deformation of laser-welded 3 mm 304L stainless steel plates with different gaps (0.2 mm, 0.5 mm, and 1.0 mm). The welding deformation would become larger when the welding gaps increased, and the largest deformation values along the Z direction, of 4 mm, were produced when the gap value was 1.0 mm. A larger plastic strain region was generated in the location near the weld seam, since higher plastic deformation had occurred. In addition, the tensile stress model was also applied at the plastic strain zone and demonstrated that a larger welding gap led to a wider residual stress area. Based on the above results, inherent deformations for butt and corner joints were calculated according to inherent strain theory, and the welding formation for the complex structure was calculated with different gaps. The numerical results demonstrated that a larger deformation was also produced with a larger welding gap and that it could reach the highest value of 10.1 mm. This proves that a smaller welding gap should be adopted during the laser welding of complex structures to avoid excessive welding deformation. Full article

In this study, friction stir welding (FSW) was employed to join AA3003-H18 sheets by incorporating in situ Al-Cu intermetallic compounds within the stir zone. The FSW process was carried out under three distinct conditions: (I) without applying powder, (II) by introducing Cu powder, and (III) by incorporating Cu-Al mixed powder (50 vol.% Cu, 50 vol.% Al). The powder was embedded into the gap between two sheets. Subsequently, two-pass FSW, involving both forward and backward movements, was conducted with a rotational speed of 1200 rpm and traverse speed of 100 mm/min across all three experimental conditions. In the second and third conditions, the formation of in situ intermetallic compounds occurred through a solid-state reaction between Cu particles and Al within the stir zone. Examination of the stir zone through optical and electron microscopic studies revealed that the utilization of Cu-Al mixed powder resulted in finer and more uniformly distributed Cu clusters and Al-Cu intermetallics than samples welded with Cu powder alone. Notably, the stir zone of samples incorporating Cu-Al mixed powder exhibited finely dispersed, completely gray Al-Cu intermetallic particles, whereas those with only Cu powder displayed predominantly coarse core-shell particles in the microstructure. The introduction of Cu-Al mixed powder during FSW resulted in a stir zone with an average hardness of 74 HB, showing a 14% increase compared to the cases where Cu powder alone was added (65 HB). Tensile tests, conducted in both transverse and longitudinal directions on the FSWed samples, did not exhibit a consistent trend across the three mentioned conditions. Transverse tensile strength consistently ranged between 107 and 110 MPa, with joint efficiency varying from 52% to 54%. However, the longitudinal tensile strength of the joint with added Cu-Al mixed powder (158 MPa) surpassed those welded with Cu powder alone (134 MPa). Full article

Bacterial biofilms, enigmatic communities of microorganisms enclosed in an extracellular matrix, still represent an open challenge in many clinical contexts, including orthopedics, where biofilm-associated bone and joint infections remain the main cause of implant failure. This study explores the scenario of biofilm infections, with a focus on those related to orthopedic implants, highlighting recently emerged substantial aspects of the pathogenesis and their potential repercussions on the clinic, as well as the progress and gaps that still exist in the diagnostics and management of these infections. The classic mechanisms through which biofilms form and the more recently proposed new ones are depicted. The ways in which bacteria hide, become impenetrable to antibiotics, and evade the immune defenses, creating reservoirs of bacteria difficult to detect and reach, are delineated, such as bacterial dormancy within biofilms, entry into host cells, and penetration into bone canaliculi. New findings on biofilm formation with host components are presented. The article also delves into the emerging and critical concept of immunometabolism, a key function of immune cells that biofilm interferes with. The growing potential of biofilm metabolomics in the diagnosis and therapy of biofilm infections is highlighted, referring to the latest research. Full article

This study aimed to explore the feasibility of using airborne acoustic emission in laser beam butt welding for the development of an automated classification system based on neural networks. The focus was on monitoring the formation of joint gaps during the welding process. To simulate various sizes of butt joint gaps, controlled welding experiments were conducted, and the emitted acoustic signals were captured using audible-to-ultrasonic microphones. To implement an automated monitoring system, a method based on short-time Fourier transformation was developed to extract audio features, and a convolutional neural network architecture with data augmentation was utilized. The results demonstrated that this non-destructive and non-invasive approach was highly effective in detecting joint gap formations, achieving an accuracy of 98%. Furthermore, the system exhibited promising potential for the low-latency monitoring of the welding process. The classification accuracy for various gap sizes reached up to 90%, providing valuable insights for characterizing and categorizing joint gaps accurately. Additionally, increasing the quantity of training data with quality annotations could potentially improve the classifier model’s performance further. This suggests that there is room for future enhancements in the study. Full article

With the increasing power and speed of laser welding, in-process monitoring has become even more crucial to ensure process stability and weld quality. Due to its low cost and installation flexibility, acoustic process monitoring is a promising method and has demonstrated its effectiveness. Although its feasibility has been the focus of existing studies, the temporal resolution of acoustic emissions (AE) has not yet been addressed despite its utmost importance for realizing real-time systems. Aiming to provide a benchmark for further development, this study investigates the relationship between duration and informativeness of AE signals during high-power ($3.5$ $\mathrm{k}$$\mathrm{W}$) and high-speed (12 $\mathrm{m}$/$\min$) laser beam butt welding. Specifically, the informativeness of AE signals is evaluated based on the accuracy of detecting and quantifying joint gaps for various time windows of signals, yielding numerical comparison. The obtained results show that signals can be shortened up to a certain point without sacrificing their informativeness, encouraging the optimization of the signal duration. Our results also suggest that large gaps (>$0.3$$\mathrm{m}$$\mathrm{m}$) induce unique signal characteristics in AE, which are clearly identifiable from 1 $\mathrm{m}$$\mathrm{s}$ signal segments, equivalent to $0.2$$\mathrm{m}$$\mathrm{m}$ weld seam. Full article

The Si atom diffusion behavior in Ni-based superalloys was evaluated based on first-principles calculations. Also, the site occupation of Si atoms as the melting point depressant elements in Cr, Mo, and W atom doped γ-Ni and γ′-Ni₃Fe supercells was discussed and Si atom diffusion behaviors between both adjacent octahedral interstices were analyzed. Calculation results indicated that formation enthalpy (∆H_f) was decreased, stability was improved by doping alloying elements Cr, Mo, and W in γ-Ni and γ′-Ni₃Fe supercells, Si atoms were more inclined to occupy octahedral interstices and the diffusion energy barrier was increased by increasing the radius of the doped alloy element. Especially, two diffusion paths were available for Si atoms in the γ′-Ni₃Fe and Si diffusion energy barrier around the shared Fe atoms between adjacent octahedral interstices and was significantly lower than that around the shared Ni atoms. The increase of interaction strength between the doped M atom/octahedron constituent atom and Si atom increased Si atom diffusion and decreased the diffusion energy barrier. The Si atom diffusion behavior provides a theoretical basis for the phase structure evolution in wide-gap brazed joints. Full article