19.10.2023 - Aluminium Association

Innovative aluminium alloys and welding technologies address many industry challenges like import substitution. It was mentioned at the 7th Innovations in Welding and Surfacing for the Manufacturing Aluminium and Aluminium Alloy Products Conference. The conference was part of the business programme of the 22nd International Exhibition of Welding Materials, Equipment, and Technologies. The Aluminium Association organised the conference with support from UC RUSAL, the Institute of Light Materials and Technologies, and the ITE Group.

Among the advanced technologies exhibited, friction stir welding (FSW) gained much attention. The FSW technology is available in Russia, including large FSW joints (up to 6 m). Friction stir welding significantly reduces material deformation during welding, enhances job safety, and enables the welding of dissimilar metals and thick parts (10...14 mm), even at extremely high rates (up to 5 m/min). This technology is already successfully used in innovative sectors, such as bridge construction. The Borskoy Volgorechye bridge components were made by FSW from alloy 1565ch. The bridge located in Bor, Nizhny Novgorod Region, was opened in May of this year. Aluminium hopper railcars, road and rail tankers, and other products are manufactured with FSW.

Alexander Drits, Head of Business Development and New Technologies, Samara Metallurgical Plant (SMZ), notes that FSW exhibits unique properties in water. Using the 1901T1 alloy as an example, he examined the mechanical properties of the joints welded in water and air, and after heating above 170 degrees. FSW of 10 mm thick 1901T1 alloy plates in water enhances the ultimate strength of the joint and stir zone, ductility, impact toughness of the weld, and corrosion resistance of the entire weld. In water, FSW forms a stir zone with an average particle size of 5.33 μm, whereas the average particle size in the seam after welding in the air is 9.12 μm.

For the conference photos, please navigate to this link.

Heating after FSW to 170 °C for 2 hours does not result in significant grain growth or changes in the width of the heat-affected zone. Ageing reduces the strength of the base metal, joint, and weld metal by 13...17%, increases ductility and impact toughness by 33...35%, and doubles the resistance to intergranular corrosion.

Dr. Ivan Grushin, ILMiT Project Manager, spoke at the conference about the advantages of advanced aluminium wires for additive technologies. These advantages include the size of the parts (up to 5 m or more), high 3D printing speed (up to 10 kg/h), and relatively low cost of equipment and materials compared to other options. Wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is used in shipbuilding and aerospace including even space rocket engines. Domestic master alloys (aluminium + transition metals and rare-earth elements Al-Mg-Zr-Sc and Al-Cu) provide the required material properties at every production stage, and ensure excellent properties of the end product.

The conference speakers were experts from leading Russian companies and industry research institutes including Bauman University, Samara Metallurgical Plant, Moscow Polytechnic, Kawasaki-Polytech, Space Transport Systems, PNIPU, ILMiT, and Avial.

“We’ve noticed a growing interest in the aluminium welding conference, which has now been held seven times. Innovative aluminium alloys and cutting-edge welding technologies can provide a significant boost to the aluminium industry and its related sectors”, noted Elena Asanova, Head of Market Coordination and Interaction, Aluminium Association.