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ISSN 1392–1207. MECHANIKA. 2019 Volume 25(2): 107–113

Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Aluminium Alloy

AW6082-T6 Joints Welded by Double-Sided MIG Process before and
after Aging
Saulius BASKUTIS*, Audrius ŽUNDA**, Raimondas KREIVAITIS***
*Kaunas University of Technology, Studentų str. 56, 51424 Kaunas, Lithuania, E-mail: saubask@ktu.lt
**Vytautas Magnus University, Studentų str. 11, 53361 Kaunas region, Lithuania, E-mail: audrius.zunda@vdu.lt
***Vytautas Magnus University, Studentų str. 11, 53361 Kaunas region, Lithuania, E-mail: raimondas.kreivaitis@vdu.lt
http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.mech.25.2.22008

1. Introduction solidification. The results of many hardness tests show

that, when welding with TIG, MIG technology, the heat
Most aluminium alloys are malleable, ductile, affected zone (HAZ) area hardness is usually higher than
lightweight, enabling them to be manufactured in a variety the center of the seam, but closer to the base metal (BM),
of ways such as extrusion, stamping, hot and cold rolling, possibly due to annealing, the hardness reaches the value
pressing, forging, bending, etc. Furthermore, many of alu- of the fusion zone (FZ) [3, 4]. The fracture morphology
minium alloys can be readily welded. Lightweight alumin- and the microhardness distribution of double-pass joint
ium alloy structures (especially thin-walled) are often have been examined by Li et. al. [10]. It was determined
welded using specialized methods, such as friction stir that the lowest hardness is in the fusion zone and the weak
welding (FSW) or bifocal hybrid laser welding (BHLW) region of the welded joint was partly melted zone (PMZ)
and other techniques. For larger structures inert gas shield- near the front toe. In order to decrease the heat effect on
ed processes, such as metal inert gas arc welding (MIG) or the microstructure of the PMZ, the heat input of the second
tungsten inert gas arc welding (TIG) are more commonly pass should be decreased while the energy density should
used. MIG welding is very popular in the field of non- be increased. In order to avoid the influence of the heat of
ferrous metal welding [1]. Today’s pulsed MIG technology the second pass on the mechanical parameters of the first
enables welders to easily create weld beads of just the right pass weld, Feng et. al. [11] used two industrial robots in
size to eliminate excess heat input, over-welding which his research to make the weld on both sides simultaneous-
influence the quality of the weld seam. The pulsed MIG ly. The effects of welding speed and power on weld geom-
welding uses relatively low background current, therefore etry by double sided arc welding of aluminium alloy sheet
the current is insufficient to melt the fillet rod but the pulse was studied by Kwon and Weckman [12]. It was stated that
of high current melts the filler metal and projects this as a there were no significant changes in hardness of the BM,
spray of droplets giving excellent metal transfer enabling HAZ and weld metal. A comparison of microhardness
to give desirable weldment at low average welding cur- testing results in two-pass and single-pass laser welded
rents [2]. samples was done by Harooni et. al. [13]. The results
6082-T6 aluminium alloy belongs to Al-Mg-Si showed that two-pass welded samples had a higher hard-
series alloys, is a medium strength alloy with excellent ness due to grain refinement since the grains were under-
corrosion resistance, highest strength of the 6xxx series gone two periods melting and solidification. Yi et. al. [14]
alloys and widely used in welded structures. Furthermore, described the effect of current on the morphology of Al
the magnesium silicide (Mg2Si) provides ability to become alloy in double-pulsed metal inert gas welding process.
alloy heat treated for improved strength. In the various The results demonstrated that the welding bead width and
works, the general tendency is quite clear that the proper- depth of the joint increase with increasing the average
ties of a mechanical joint after welding in one way or an- current. Mechanical properties of the butt joints using
other depend on the welding modes and the initial proper- MIG/TIG double-side arc welding have been investigated
ties of the material [3-6]. by Zhang et. al. [15]. The testing results showed that weld
Many welded aluminium alloys, including the formation, especially the formation of back weld due to
AW6082-T6 alloy, tend to produce hot cracks, especially if double-side arc welding, was improved obviously. Exper-
the welding procedures are not carefully controlled. It has iments carried out by Ye et. al. [16, 17] proved that excel-
been observed that Mg and Si increases the susceptibility lent weld appearance was achieved by double-sided weld-
of the alloy to hot cracking and that the concentration of ing-brazing at a lower welding input. Aging influence on
Mg and Si is often higher near the cracks [4, 7]. Studies hardness of 6082-T6 aluminium alloy was investigated by
also show that the structure of the extruded aluminium Prabhukhot and Prasad [18]. The results showed that heat
alloy 6082, aged in a salt bath at 620oC, has a lower degree treatment and artificial aging process are responsible for
of recrystallization of grain growth and that Mg and Si change in hardness of alloy.
concentrations are higher at the grain boundaries [8]. Fur- However, although considerably studies have
thermore, one of the most severe problems in welding al- been reported in published literature about double-pass
uminium alloys is the development of hydrogen gas po- welding and artificial or natural aging, studies on micro-
rosity during solidification [9]. Hydrogen gas porosity hardness and microstructure changes after the second pass
occurs as the dissolved hydrogen cannot escape during and after long-time natural aging still appears not exhaust-
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ively documented. Therefore, in this study the influence of a turn to crack, particularly in the HAZ due to relatively
the second pass welding on the microhardness and micro- high heat input. This phenomenon is known as liquation
structure of the first pass welding has been analysed. cracking. To avoid cracking mechanism in the HAZ,
6xxxx series aluminium alloys require a MIG filler metal
2. Materials and experimental equipment containing 5% Mg. Therefore, as a filler rod aluminium
welding wire ER5356 with a diameter of 1.00 mm contain-
The base material used in this work is AW6082 ing approximately 5% of Mg was chosen for the welding.
aluminium alloy in the form of 10 mm thick plates in T6 The chemical compositions of the base material and filler
condition. AW6082-T6 aluminium alloy must be welded rod are reported in Table 1.
with care, because with less than 1% Mg and 1% Si, it has
Table 1
Chemical composition of aluminium alloy AW6082-T6 and filler metal
Components, %
Material
Si Fe max Cu max Mn Mg Cr max Zn max Ti max Al
Base metal AW6082-T6 0.7-1.3 0.5 0.1 0.4-1.0 0.6-1.2 0.25 0.2 0.1 bal.
Filler rod ER5356 0.25 0.4 0.1 0.05-0.2 4.5-5.5 0.05-0.2 0.1 0.06-0.2 bal.

Compared to the ER4043 filler rod, which is also Pulsed MIG welding technology was chosen since
used for AW6082 aluminium alloys welding, the ER5356 it is suitable for both thin and thick plates due to modified
metal has higher ductility, higher crack sensitivity, higher spray transfer process. Modular MIG/MAG inverter weld-
shear strength, higher tensile and lower penetration. The ing machine Phoenix 355 Progress Pulls TDM with sepa-
plates of AW6082-T6 aluminium alloy have been cut into rate wire feeder was used to produce double-sided butt
the sizes of 200 x 100 x 10 mm. Double-V butt joint con- weld joints.
figurations (Figs. 1 and 2) have been done to prepare weld-
ed joints.

Fig. 2 Dimensions of double -V butt joint plates

Fig. 1 Configuration of double -V butt welding joint: b≤3
mm, α≥60o, 6≤t≤15 mm, c≤2 mm Pre-welding grinding and chemical cleaning with
acetone has been done before the welding. The main pa-
The preparation of the plates for welding has been rameters of welding are listen in Table 2.
accomplished according to the standard BS EN ISO 9692-
3:2001 [19].
Table 2
Main parameters of welding
No of weld- MIG welding MIG welding Welding speed, Filler rod Heat input,
Groove angle, o
ing mode current, A voltage, V mm/min speed, m/min kJ/mm
1-1* 135 13 343 11.4 0.24
2-1 150 14 372 12.9 0.27
3-1 165 15 425 14.4 0.28
4-1 180 17 485 15.8 0.30
70
1-2 135 13 343 11.4 0.24
2-2 150 14 372 12.9 0.27
3-2 165 15 425 14.4 0.28
4-2 180 17 485 15.8 0.30
*the first number indicates the test number and the welding parameters, the second is the seam number

The weld pool, as well as the electrode was pro- Etching has been performed by Flick’s chemical reagent
tected from the atmosphere, so the argon was used as (2 ml HF (48 %), 3 ml HCl (conc.), 195 ml H2O. Speci-
shielding gas and flow rate was 18 l/min. After welding mens’ etching has been done at room temperature until the
standard cutting, mechanical polishing and etching proce- required contrast was reached whereas deposits were re-
dures have been used to prepare cross-sectional macro- moved with HNO3 then washed in warm water and dried.
graphs. Grinding was done with SiC water-cooled paper Vickers microhardness tests have been conducted
and polishing with 9, 3 and 1-µm diamond emulsion on a on CSM microhardness indentation tester with a 50 g load.
Trident polishing cloth. For this purpose, grinding and Microhardness measurements were carried out at 3 mm
polishing machine Tegramin 20 (Struers A/S) was used. depth from the face and root side of each cross section of
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the welds. A constant strain rate setting 1/P (dP/dt) of carefully control the temperature of the weld between weld
2 min-1 and a pause of 10 s has been set at maximum load. passes, not to use excessive preheating, and to avoid wide
Microstructures of the joints have been analysed using weave passes which will result in too much heat input.
optical microscope Nicon Eclipse E1000 with magnifica-
tion from x50 to x1000 and scanning electron microscope 3.1. Analysis of microstructure
(SEM). The Everhart-Thornley detector (ETD) and black-
scattered electron detector (BSE) were used in SEM. The microstructure of the seam zone after MIG
welding traditionally has a specific structure. As in the
3. Results and discussion case of many alloys, it consists of well-developed colum-
nar structures, which grew epitaxial from the solid-liquid
The weld material zone was a mixture consisting boundary or PMZ grains (Fig. 4, white arrows) along the
of melted base metal and 5356 filler rod with an as-cast fusion boundary up to the surface. In addition, the structure
dendritic cell structure. It is known that 6xxxx aluminium of the transition deep from the surface is different. Analys-
alloys have strong over-aging tendency during welding, ing the images made by the optical microscope of the alloy
especially in fully aged condition (T6) [20]. During weld- AW6082-T6 seams, the microstructure of the long, centred
ing the adjacent metal to the fusion zone (FZ) is exposed to towards the seam surface oriented grain has been observed
heat and the heat affected zone (HAZ) as isothermal zone (Fig. 4, seam area). Fig. 4, a shows a new weld seam (NS)
can be divided into two subzones (Fig.3). The zone of and Fig. 4, b shows the old seam (OS) after one year of
higher temperature near to weld pool, called partially melt- natural aging.
ed zone (PMZ), is approached by solubilisation maintain- It has been noticed that the structure looks like
ing that the cooling rate is high. In PMZ the microstructure layered (the boundaries of the layers in Fig. 4 are shown in
of the material will tend to age in natural manner. By de- black arrows). Moreover, the pores are clearly visible in
creasing the temperature toward the base metal (BM), the the structure (Fig. 4). Such a structure is typical for all
second subzone appears that it is called as over-aging zone investigated welded joints under different welding current.
(OAZ). OAZ as the lower temperature zone near to the BM Also, it has been observed that in all cases in the FZ there
is exposed to various temperatures where the aging phe- are different sizes of porosity. When welding in lower
nomena and over-aging occurs. In the case of HAZ, the modes (135, 150 A) the pores are larger and closer to the
resulting temperature is between two well defined tempera- seam surface, while welding in higher mode (165, 180 A),
tures, i.e. the artificial aging temperature of the alloy and the pores are smaller and closer to the root of the seam.
the melting temperature of the alloy. Due to the thermody- By analysing SEM images, it can be seen that the
namic instability of the precipitates, a microstructural structure of FZ is abundant in various shapes and sizes of
transformation occurs. The famous reaction that take place grains. Often small grains are predominant, which form
in second subzone of the Al-Mg-Si alloy is where the over- line cluster structures, and also occur in dendrites for-
aging in the HAZ is produced by the transformation of mations (Fig. 6, a). In the HAZ predominates irregularly
semi coherent needles β’’ (needle shape) precipitates into shaped grains (Fig. 5, a). The white spots visible on SEM
rods β’ (rod shape) precipitates [21, 22]. BSE are Mn12Si7Al5 grains. Black grains are pure alumini-
6xxxx aluminium alloys are heat treatable be- um inserts in the matrix and micropores. The fine-grained
cause of a phenomenon called precipitation hardening. clusters (Fig. 6, a) or dendritic structure (Fig. 5, a) is clear-
Heat treated aluminium alloys do not harden due to mar- ly visible in the FZ, and the fragments of porosity is visible
tensitic transformation, like steel does. In precipitation in the FZ under welding with higher energy (Fig. 6, b).
hardening of aluminium alloys, one metal can be dissolved Increasing the welding current increases the temperature of
in another and solubility generally increases with heat in- the weld pool and thus increases the hydrogen absorption
put and considerably reduces at lower temperatures. Com- rate of molten metal. Visible different intensities of gray
binations of magnesium and silicon dissolve in 6xxxx alu- zones – grains of different concentrations of Al solid solu-
minium as it is heated. tion (Fig. 5 and 6, b).
In addition, it can be noted that when higher ener-
gy was applied, the size of these zones decreased. Greater
Mn12Si7Al5 or Mg2Si intermetallic grains, which are char-
acteristic of the BM and HAZ, have not been observed in
the FZ.
Non-metallic impurities and cracks can be ob-
served in the structure, but they are very negligible. Beside
long transverse cracks, many short microcracks were ob-
served a little apart from the PMZ. The reason of these
cracks is likely to be due to Mg diffusing from the weld
reinforcement above the cracked area into the HAZ. More
Fig. 3 Schematic representation of the microstructural detailed seam structure changes in aging studies are
changes of the welded joint zones planned in the future. However, it can now be stated that
the effect of re-heating (aging) can be seen in the structure
The HAZ of welds in heat treated alloys differs of the observation of the boundaries of the so-called layers:
significantly from non-heat treatable alloys. In the heat in the old seams, boundaries of the layers are widespread,
treated alloys the strength of the HAZ can be significantly or they are not clearly expressed (Fig. 4, b).
weaker if excessive heat input is used. It is very important
 110

a b
Fig. 4 Microstructure of the welded joint (optical images, x50) under welding current 135 A: a – NS, b – OS

a b
Fig. 5 Microstructure of the HAZ of the welded joint (SEM images, x1200) under welding current 135 A: a – SEM with
ETD, b – SEM with BSE

a b
Fig. 6 Microstructure of the FZ of the welded joint (SEM images, x1200) under welding current 180 A: a – SEM with
ETD, b – SEM with BSE

3.2. Hardness measurements microhardness examination. Microhardness was measured

according to the scheme shown in Fig. 7, a. The distance
After the welding the first seam in each of the between the measuring points is 0.3 – 0.5 mm, and the
welding modes the specimens were cut at perpendicular distance between lines is 0.3 mm. When the seam was
direction into the segments and samples were made for welded on the second side of double -V butt joint plates,
 111

specimens were also cut out and samples were made for due to the fact that HAZ is closer to the BM, the tempera-
microhardness tests. Microhardness was measured accord- ture is lower and it is not sufficient for partial phase transi-
ing to the scheme shown in Fig. 7, b. tion. Closer to the FZ, the temperature is sufficient, which
leads to partial dissolution of fine precipitates.
Analysis of microstructures showed that the con-
centration of the fine precipitation is more in BM than that
in HAZ. This indicates that mechanical properties of dif-
ferent zones after welding will be different.
a b It can be noted that under welding current 135 A
Fig. 7 Diagram of microhardness measurement, where FS (Fig. 8, a) and 150 A, the change in microhardness be-
– first seam, OS – old seam and NS – new seam: a – tween FS (first single sided seam) and OS (the same seam
for first welded seam, b) for new welded seam FS only after the second seam NS is welded) positive, i.e.
hardness increased. Whereas, in the case of 165 A and 180
For double-side seam samples microhardness A (Fig. 9, a), the FS hardness in point of OS has decreased.
measurements were repeated after a year according to the Furthermore, it can be concluded that increasing the weld-
scheme shown in Fig. 7, b. The results of the microhard- ing current, the width of the FZ increases, while the HAZ
ness examination showed that in all cases reheating during decreases. Hence, heat treatment causes reduction in hard-
the welding of the second seam affected more or less the ness. This is confirmed by the fact that the softened area
hardness of the HAZ of the first weld. was formed in the fusion zone because the precipitates
In the BM structure the Mg2Si precipitates, 6082 disappeared due to welding heat input.
Al solid solution and Mn12Si7Al5 precipitates are dominat- Interestingly, after repeating microhardness tests
ed [23]. During the welding process, under the influence of after a year of natural aging, it has been observed that the
temperature, intermetallic mixtures are split into petty fac- hardness increase in the HAZ zone has disappeared (Fig. 8,
tions and mixed. Part of them recovers under artificial or b - 9, b). Hence, aging time, as well as heat treatment, af-
natural aging. Due to reversion of Mg2Si precipitates pre- fects the hardness decrease. At longer ageing time precipi-
sent in aluminium matrix, in all cases the hardness de- tates start to coarsen and strengthening effect decreases.
creases in HAZ. In the HAZ zone, hardness is highest in
the PMZ, because this zone has fine grains compared the
FZ. A significant difference for the microhardness of FZ
and HAZ with respect to BM has been observed during the
measurement of the first seam (FS) (Fig. 8, a - 9, a). This is

b
Fig. 9 Microhardness distribution on the cross-section of
joint under welding current 180 A, where FS – first
seam, OS – old seam and NS – new seam: a- before
aging, b- after one year of natural aging

b 4. Conclusions

Fig. 8 Microhardness distribution on the cross-section of The microstructural properties and microhardness
joint under welding current 135 A, where FS – first distributions examining of zones of the welded joints have
seam, OS – old seam and NS – new seam: a- before
aging, b- after one year of natural aging
 112

been studied in the present research. Following conclu- Mg-Si aluminium alloys fabricated by a modified
sions can be drawn. strain-induced melting activation process, Metals 8(1),
1. This study suggests that care must be taking in 3:1-15
using welding current because it is the one of the most https://doi.org/10.3390/met8010003.
influential parameters on the size and distribution of the 9. Luijendijk, T. 2000. Welding of dissimilar aluminium
precipitates and also on weld pool geometry, HAZ dimen- alloys, J. of Materials Processing Technology 103:29-
sions and herewith microhardness of the welded joint 35.
zones. 10. Li, Q.; Wu, A.; Zhao, Y.; Wang, G.; Yan, D.; Wu,
2. From research result is obvious that the reduc- H. 2015. Fracture behavior of double-pass TIG welded
tion of microhardness was caused by the structural instabil- 2219-T8 aluminum alloy joints under traverse tensile
ity due to coarsening and over-ageing of the precipitates in test, Trans. of Nonferrous Metals Society of China
HAZ. The area of HAZ close to the fusion zone, known as 25:1794-1803.
PMZ is harder than the rest of the HAZ. The area of HAZ https://doi.org/10.1016/S1003-6326(15)63785-2.
close to the base is softer than the rest of the HAZ or BM 11. Feng, Y.; Chen, J.; Qiang, W.; Wang, K. 2016. Mi-
due to the fact that welded seam is under the impact of crostructure and mechanical properties of aluminium
relatively high temperature and rapid cooling rate. alloy 7A52 thick plates welded by robotic double-sided
3. Summarizing the results, it can be stated that coaxial GTAW process, Materials Science & Engineer-
the artificial aging of the AW6082-T6 double-sided joints, ing A673: 8-15.
in the first welded seam after the welding of the opposite http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2016.07.011.
side seam takes place. This affects the structure and mi- 12. Kwon, Y.; Weckman, D. C. 2008. Double sided arc
crohardness of the HAZ of the first seam. The influence of welding of AA5182 aluminium alloy sheet, Science
natural long-term aging on the recovery process of the and Technology of Welding and Joining 13(6): 485-
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on the structure of the seam according to the data of this 13. Harooni, M.; Ma, J.; Carlson, B.; Kovacevic, R.
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ness of the weld seam zones is evident.

Keywords: double-sided welding, aluminium alloy, mi-

crohardness, microstructure, aging.

Received November 05, 2018

Accepted April 25, 2019