Deformation behavior of steel-to-aluminum tailor blanks made by laser/MIG hybrid and cold metal transfer brazing methods

In this paper, dual phase steel (DP780) and AA2024-T3 aluminum sheets were successfully butt-welded together utilizing laser/MIG hybrid and cold metal transfer (CMT) brazing methods. A comparative study was conducted between the brazed joints produced by both methods in terms of wetting length, intermetallic compounds (IMCs) layer thickness, fracture position, and fracture mode. The results of testing showed that the produced joints from each method introduced significantly different deformation behavior. In addition, better wetting length and lower IMCs layer thickness are not the only factors that improve the mechanical behavior of brazed joints. The susceptibility of the aluminum base metal and time of exposure to the heat sources during joining process are also important.