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Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / Welding Aluminum to Cast steel
- - By APM (*) Date 11-20-2003 22:28
What is the preferred method of welding Aluminum to Cast Steel
Parent - - By Neal Chapman (**) Date 11-21-2003 02:01
Unobtainium
Parent - By - Date 11-21-2003 03:01
Good one, Neal.
Mankenberg
Parent - By ssbn727 (*****) Date 11-25-2003 01:31
Hi Neal!
Did you hear about the recently rediscovered element aptly named:
"Administratium"?
If you want the description, I'll e-mail it to you!!!
APM, Welding in the normal sense will not work!!! Joining via a method of bonding like JW suggested will work... Explosion welding will fuse the dissimilar metals together but, then again - you're limited by the application and the process so, joining via BONDING is the way to go!!!

Respectfully,

SSBN727 Run Silent... Run Deep!!!
Parent - By OSUtigger (**) Date 11-21-2003 02:12
There is a special rod in your local industrial supply store. Its next to the frictionless bearings, massless ropes, and non-deflecting beams. Seriously, there is nothing to do this. Sorry about the sarcasm, but I am an ag engineer/welder who gets these questions all the time, and I have learned to find more colorful ways to answer them.
G. L.
Parent - By jwright650 (*****) Date 11-21-2003 11:01
Those two materials are too different to join by welding. Maybe another type of joining will work for your application, like some sort of 3M Epoxy?
John Wright
Parent - - By RonG (****) Date 11-21-2003 17:46
Boys, be nice now. Maybe AMP made a type o graphical error.

Uh! I don't belive I a qualification in that Unobtainium process. Could you elaborate please.
Parent - By jon20013 (*****) Date 11-21-2003 17:54
You guys are terrible! Seriously, we did something similar while building Army tanks and welded steel to aluminum by doing plug welds ~ it works! Naturally the steel components that were to be welded to the aluminum had a beveled plug hole. Also, with a fast as technology is racing along in our industry it wouldn't surprise me if there is already a process or filler that will do this!
Parent - - By TimGary (****) Date 11-21-2003 18:41
Hi APM,
If you elaborate a little further on what the application is, we may be more helpful.
I have used 1" x 2" x 10' long strips of steel and alum that were bonded together by a process called "explosion bonding", in order to attach alum superstructure bulkheads to steel decks on ships.
Often steel and alum are attached together using bolts with a rubber gasket in between to stop dissimilar metal corrosin problems.
As far as a simple welding process is concerned, there isn't one.
Those two metals are like oil & water, they don't mix.

Tim
Parent - By jwright650 (*****) Date 11-21-2003 19:26
http://www.muggyweld.com/steeltoal.html
This link tells of a solder that joins aluminum to steel.
John Wright
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 11-21-2003 19:29
Tim,
Are you referring to Decocouple by Dupont?
John Wright
Parent - - By TimGary (****) Date 11-21-2003 21:35
Hi John,

I've been searching through my old documents, trying to find the info on those strips, but haven't been able to.
I remember the word "couple" was in the brand name somewhere, but I don't think this was a DuPont product.
The word Dynocouple is ringing a bell, but I'm not sure.
I guess my memory is not what it used to be...

Tim
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 11-22-2003 12:28
Hi Tim,
I found the article and here's the link. Is this the stuff you had referred to? "Detacouple"
http://www.sname.org/forums/feedback/messages/1537.html

John Wright
Parent - By TimGary (****) Date 11-22-2003 22:20
Hi John,
Yes, that sounds like the same stuff.

Tim
Parent - By jwright650 (*****) Date 11-21-2003 19:33
Here's another link to consider...
http://www.thefabricator.com/xp/Fabricator/Articles/Fabricating/Fabricating03/03web295.xml
John Wright
Parent - By billvanderhoof (****) Date 11-22-2003 07:04
Years ago you could get cheap "mag" wheels that consisted of a steel rim with a cast alloy center. I turned one over once and sure enough the center was welded to the rim. I have no idea what was used. I suppose that as long as the steel was cratered and then filled the two parts would at least be keyed together. Not something I would have much confidence in though.
Bill
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 11-22-2003 11:02
Another article from Dana Corp. joins steel yokes with an aluminum driveshaft. Check it out....http://www.dana.com/technology/innovative/
John Wright
Parent - By Mike W (**) Date 11-23-2003 20:41
I have a set of Cragar SS wheels in the back that have the alumunum center attached to the steel rim. How they did that I never figured out. They never came apart but as usual the chrome started to rust.
Parent - By Niekie3 (***) Date 11-30-2003 13:57
Hi

I believe that you should be able to braze them together, using Al braze. If it is not possible to make a typical brazed joint, you can try the following:

1) Silver solder a "butter" layer onto the steel. (Use a very high percentage Silver alloy for this.)
2) Weld the Al to the Silver solder using an Al filler metal with GTAW. (Al and Silver do form solid solutions, but within limits.)

You will have to experiment a little, to get it right. Also, I am not sure what strength you need from the joint. If it needs to be a very high strength joint, the suggestion above may not be ideal. You will have to experiment to see if it works for your application.

Hope this helps.

Regards
Niekie Jooste
Fabristruct Solutions
Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / Welding Aluminum to Cast steel

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