1.How to weld copper and aluminium?

The aluminium and copper can be welded by using the method

brazing.
1.Brazing is a metal-joining process in which two or more metal
items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal
into the joint, the filler metal having a lower melting point than
the adjoining metal.
2.Brazing aluminium to copper is common in the refrigeration
industry where copper tubes are brazed to aluminium roll-bond
panels or tubes.
3.However, when copper is brazed to aluminium and the heating
process takes too long, the copper will diffuse into the
aluminium at the joints.

4.A low melting Al-Cu alloy (Al-Cu33 eutectic temperature

548C) is thus formatted, and this could lead to erosion by
perforation.
5.Therefore, during the brazing process, the flame should
never be directly applied to the joint, because the heat should
be transferred by conduction through the parts to be brazed. As
soon as the filler metal begins to melt, the flame must be quickly
removed.
Issues with brazing:- copper to aluminium is that the
aluminium has a much lower melting point than copper (Al: app.
650C; and Cu: above 1000C). Therefore, the flame is usually
directed on the copper. Nevertheless, once the heat transferred
from the copper to the aluminium reaches the melting range of
aluminium, it will start to burn down very fast, while the copper
is still taking the heat. The formation of the above mentioned
low melting Al-Cu alloy accelerates the destruction of the
aluminium components.

Consequently, flame Brazing of aluminium to copper is a

delicate process and requires some experience. But it is used by
many companies for large scale production. But it is next to
impossible in furnace brazing. There are no conventional
furnace designs which will cool quickly enough to halt the
continual formation of the aluminium-copper eutectic. For this
reason, brazing copper to aluminium in a furnace is not
practiced.
Ways to provide filler metal: Use of Al-Si filler alloy (Al-Si 12 AA4047). Standard
procedure like in flame brazing of aluminium to aluminium
just a little bit faster to avoid burn-through.
Rely on the formation of Al-Cu alloy during the brazing
cycle. If this method is used, a support provided by a thin
Stainless Steel tube along the interior joint area can provide
additional structural integrity.
A pre-heated copper tube is inserted very fast into an
aluminium tube. The mechanical energy released will generate
additional heat. Abrasion of surface oxide by the inserted tube
promotes the formation of Al-Cu filler alloy. This process works
with and without flux (however, results are better with flux).

2.What is the best method of welding magnesium alloys?

1.Magnesium alloys have strength equal to that of mild steels.
They can be rolled into plate, shapes, and strip. Magnesium can
be cast, forged, fabricated, and machined.
Applications:-As a structural metal it is used in aircraft. It is
used by the materials-moving industry for parts of machinery
and for hand-power tools due to its strength to weight ratio.
Magnesium can be welded by many of the arc and resistance
welding processes, as well as by the oxy fuel gas welding
process, and it can be brazed.
2.Magnesium like aluminium is produced with different
tempers. These are based on heat treatment and work hardening.
The strength of a weld joint is lowered in base metal, in the
work-hardened condition, as a result of recrystallization and
grain growth in the heat-affected zone. This effect is minimized
with gas metal

3.Arc welding because of the higher welding speed utilized.

This is not a factor in the base metals that are welded in the soft
condition.
issues:-Magnesium possesses properties that make welding it
different than the welding of steels. Many of these are the same
as for aluminium. These are:
Magnesium oxide surface coating.
High thermal conductivity.
Relatively high thermal expansion coefficient.
Relatively low melting temperature.
The absence of colour change as temperature approaches the
melting point.
Magnesium has high thermal heat conductivity and a high
coefficient of thermal expansion. The welds produced between
similar alloys will develop the full strength of the base metals,
however, the strength of the heat-affected zone may be reduced
slightly.

The four most commonly used electrode wires for gas metal arc
welding (GMAW) and filler metals (when used) for gas tungsten
arc welding (GTAW) are ER AZ61A, ER AZ101A, ER AZ92A
1)Friction stir welding
Two dissimilar magnesium (Mg) alloy sheets, one with low
aluminium (AZ31) and another with high aluminium (AZ91)
content, were successfully joined by friction stir welding (FSW).
The effect of process parameters on the formation of hot cracks
was investigated. A sound metallurgical joint was obtained at
optimized process parameters which contained fine grains and
distributed (Mg17Al12) phase within the nugget zone. An
increasing trend in the hardness measurements has also
confirmed more amount of dissolution of aluminium within the
nugget zone. A sharp interface between nugget zone and thermo
mechanical affected zone was clearly noticed at the AZ31 Mg
alloy side (advancing) but not on the AZ91 Mg alloy side
(retreating). From the results it can be concluded that FSW can
be effectively used to join dissimilar metals, particularly difficult
to process metals such as Mg alloys, and hot cracking can be
completely eliminated by choosing appropriate process
parameters to achieve sound joint.
.

2)Gas Metal Arc Welding of Magnesium

The gas metal arc welding process is used for the medium to
thicker sections. It is considerably faster than gas tungsten arc
welding. Special high-speed gear ratios are usually required in
the wire feeders since the magnesium electrode wire has an
extremely high melt off rate. The normal wire feeder and power
supply used for aluminium welding will be suitable for welding
magnesium.

Other Welding Processes

The resistance welding processes can be used for welding
magnesium, including spot welding, seam welding, and flash
welding. Magnesium can also be joined by brazing. Most of the
different brazing techniques can be used. In all cases, brazing
flux is required and the flux residue must be completely
removed from the finished part. Soldering is not too popular
since the strength of the joint is relatively low.

3.How to weld two tubes of non-ferrous alloys?

The process involved in welding the tubes of non ferrous alloys
are as follows:
In the known methods of producing non-ferrous tubing, it is
usual to form a strip of non ferrous metal like aluminum into a
tubular shape withthe edges of the strip lying flat against one
another, and then make a seam weld of the edges, using
resistance welding, the welding

current passing from one welding electrode to the other through

two thicknesses of the strip and; of course, the adjoining faces.
These methods have proven to produce an inferior union or
bonding of the metal or a variation in wall thickness. Also, as in
the case of the lap joint, the outside wall is not smooth and
therefore objectionable.
According to the present invention, a method of forming tubing
by welding together two surfaces of non-ferrous metal such as
aluminum, aluminum alloy, copper or the like, comprises the
steps of, first eliminating all oxides and foreign elements from
adjoining surfaces to be welded; second welding the surfaces,
for example, by electric arc welding in an inert gas shield, such
as argon; and third applying transverse pressure to the weld
during its transformation from a solid-to a molten-to a solid
state.
No flux is necessary during the welding step and actually it is
undesirable. The edges of the tubular strip are welded in butting
relation thus forming smooth internal faces and eliminating
waste of material as in other types of joints
Some of the methods that involved in the welding of the tubes of
non-ferrous metals and their alloys are:
1.Oxy fuel Gas welding process
2.Electric welding process

3.Arc welding process

4.Resistance welding process
It is known that the particularly copper and its alloys among the
non ferrous alloys, requires experience. The strong tendency of
these metals to oxidize and their high heat sary to take
precautions which in the welding of ferrous metals.
Noon ferrous alloys are usually welded by gas welding
processes employing an oxyacetylene torch. Such gas welding
is, however, diflicult to carry out, as it requires close control of
the flame of the welding torch and normally requires preheating
of the pieces to be joined. This not only renders it necessary that
the welding be perbut the preheating of the pieces to be joined,
which often is to a red heat, is unpleasant to the operator and
also tends to cause uncontrollable tensions and strains in the
welded product, particularly if the pieces joined are large.

Electric welding processes are also known for non ferrous

alloys. These processes employ electrodes of a material which is
the same or similar to that welded, or use a filler rod of such
material. The electric welding processes for copper and its alloys
are best carried out with exactly controlled welding machines, so
that they are normally only suitable for mass production. Even
then many difficulties are encountered with electric welding.
Either the seams require subsequent the strength of the the
material joined.
Simple cylindrical sections of aluminum can be pressure
welded. The parts to be welded are clamped in dies and pressure
is applied before the application of heat, and subsequently the
cold pressure weld is fused by the application of heat, for
example, by electric arc welding.
The welding electrodes employed in accordance with the
invention can be coated or uncoated. The coatings can contain
numerous materials. For example, the coating materials may be
selected from the oxides, carbonates, carbonyls, silicates,
chlorides, fluorides and other compounds of metals and nonmetals. In order to produce a protective gas, organic substances
can be added. The slag produced by the coating can be acid or
basic. Its character is primarily determined by its contents of
SiOz (acid) and Q (basic).

Either alternating current or direct current can be employed for

the arc-welding in accordance with the invention.

4.How to weld a tube to a plate made of non ferrous

alloys?
The methods which involve in welding a tube to a plate made of
non ferrous alloys are as follows:
1) Oxy Fuel Welding:
As we know that oxy-fuel welding contains three types of
flames that are source of heat for fusion welding and out the
stated three flames, the oxidizing and the reducing flames have
the least temperature. Moreover, the torch can be twisted in to
any direction. Thus, the above stated methods are appropriate
methods for welding non-ferrous alloys as they have less
melting point as compared to ferrous metals. Moreover
oxidizing flame may also form few oxides in some alloys that
may form as protective coating and thus strengthen the welded
joint.

2) Shielded Metal Arc Welding:

Metal arc welding especially DC type weldings can be used to
weld both ferrous as well as non-ferrous metals and it can be
used to make both deep as well as shallow joints in any direction
due to its easy usable electrode holder, moreover the electrode in
the smaw can be used of any metal. Thus, using dcep welding
for shallow welds it could be done.

3) Flux Cored Arc Welding:

This method of welding could be useful only in case of nonferrous alloy that is constituted of nickel.The FCAW process
combines the versatility of Sheild Metal Arc welding SMAW
with the continuous and automatic electrode-feeding feature of
Gas Metal Arc welding GMAW.The higher weld-metal
deposition rate of the FCAW process (compared with that of
GMAW) has led to its use in the joining of sections of all
thicknesses.The use of tubular electrodes with very small
diameters has extended the use of this process to workpieces of
smaller section size.
4) Friction Welding:
This method uses the heat generated due to the friction on the
metal surface and it takes the metal the metal into the plastic
deformation state and then the welding phenomenon occurs. The
tube is rotated on the sheet or
the plate and thus the friction is generated which is necessary for
the plastic deformation of the tube and the plate which is
required for welding.