Durability of Single Lap Friction Stir Welded Joints between S355-J0 Steel and AA5083 Aluminum Alloy–Mechanical Tests

This study aims to investigate a friction stir welded joint between steel and aluminum alloy. FSW is nowadays one of the most interesting joining techniques due to the possibility of connecting materials and thicknesses that are difficult or impossible to weld with traditional techniques. The main advantage is that materials are not affected by thermal cycle problems during solidification and cooling, and the absence of fumes and pollution during the process favors the quality of the welded joint. The life of metal joints could be greatly reduced in a corrosive environment since the less noble material will tend to increase its corrosion rate, while the nobler one will reduce its electrochemical dissolution. Accelerated aging tests (i.e., salt fog test) are used to estimate the lifetime of metal joints in highly aggressive environments. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the durability at a long aging time in the salt spray test (according to ASTM B117) of carbon steel/aluminum alloy joints, obtained by FSW. In this first part, mechanical test results are reported. A deep metallographic and chemical investigation is going to be reported in part two. The current research work investigates the welding direction and residence time in the salt spray chamber. The breakage of all tested samples, evaluated after the tensile tests were carried out, always occurs at the interface of the joint, regardless of the change of direction of the weld on the advancing or retreating side. The welding direction influences the breakage of the joint only before the aging treatment. Specifically, specimens produced in advance are characterized by increased joint strength. On the other hand, the factor that influences the performance of the joints is the exposure time where, starting from the first point of aging, i.e., after two months, there is a decrease in the maximum load of 40%, and the effect of corrosion leads to a significant deterioration of the weld which remains almost similar until the last point of aging.