Dissimilar metal joining of stainless

steel and titanium using copper as

transition metal

By
Deepanjan Majhee
Devashish Meena
Dheeraj Yadav
Devashish Jog
 Content
Introduction
Welding process control
Weld metal engineering
Experimental procedure and materials
Welding parameters
Results
Weld bead geometry
Hardness evaluation
SEM/EDS analysis
Mechanical strength
Conclusion
Introduction
Stainless steel Titanium Incompatibility- Brittle Intermetallic phases (IMCs)
forms (FeTi, FeTi2)

Enhanced by time-
temperature profile

To avoid IMCs:
Welding process control
Weld metal engineering
Welding process control
Principle: With lower heat input and interaction time, lower IMCS will be induced.
Studies made earlier:
Diffusion bonding: Produced a joint having reaction layer of79.9 m but it had a
tensile strength of 344.3 MPa and an elongation of 12.8 %.( D.poddar)
Friction Stir Welding: TiFe IMC compounds was detected
strength of the sample was attributed to the bimetallic vortices
that contributed to a mechanical interlock
Explosive welding: defect free joints, no IMCs were detected, but low flexibility
Keyhole Laser Welding: Flexible, still sound joint not obtained
 Weld metal engineering
Principle: Addition of a third metal that inhibits IMC
formation or modifies IMC composition to make it tougher.
Silver and silver alloys- low m,p and high compatibility
towards Fe
Nickel- m.p is higher than Ag, but very compatible with Fe
Ni- Ag combination
In this Study:
Copper: lower melting temperature vs mechanical
properties relationship.
IMC phases produced with Ti are tougher than the FeTi
IMC.
Schematics from the weldingbrazing
Cold Metal Transfer (CMT) welding process used - technique
modified GMAW, low heat input, flexible
Weld bead geometry
Traces of oxidation on top surface
Influenced by heat input or wire feed
speed
At low heat input , undercut at Fe-Cu
interface is observed
Hardness Evaluation

To locate position of IMC phases

Two samples failed at Fe-Cu interface

while one at Cu-Ti interface

IMC hardness and IMC volume

determining factors in failure of joint
 SEM/EDS Analysis
Different regions discussed earlier were subjected to
SEM / EDS Analysis :

The Stainless Steel Cu interlayer region

The Titanium Cu interlayer region
The Cu bead region
 The Stainless Steel Cu Interlayer

In the Interlayer places from where

spectrum were collected are marked with
letters (A to H).
Phase A is Stainless Steel with
composition very similar to the AISI 316L.
Phase B is the Cu from the welding wire,
but it is depleted from the silicon content
from the silicon content expected (~3%).
Phases C, D and H have again a
composition similar to AISI 316L with
traces of Si, Cu and Ti.
 Phase E is the lighter region present in the
internal part of the layer and mainly constituted
by Cu, Ti and Fe.

Phases F and G are the one with higher content

of Ti in the interlayer. The other main
constituents of these region are Fe and Cr with
traces of Si and Cr.

The Fe Ti composition in these phases can

justify the higher hardness present in the Fe-Cu
interlayer, due to the higher hardness shown by
the Fe-Ti intermetallics.
 The Cu-Ti Interlayer
Phase A is the Ti base plate with the same composition as
of the parent metal (Ti-6Al-4V).
Phase B mainly constitutes of Ti (67.9%) and Cu (18.43%).
It is the continuous layer between Ti base plate and the
Cu-Ti layer and can be identified using Cu-Ti phase diagram
 Phase C that appears black on the
SEM back scattered image is
mainly composed of Si and Ti.
This phase has 20% Si by wt.
while the CuSi3 wire only has 3%
of Si.
The phase C can be identified
using the Si-Ti binary phase
diagram.
 Phase D has a cellular structure and Phase E has an
inter-cellular structure.
From the Fe atomic proportion present phase D can be
estimated to the closest stoichiometric composition
being a ternary inter-metallic compound.
Phase D points to a binary phase compound of FeTi and
Ti2Cu.
Phase E can be evaluated using a binary phase diagram
of Fe-Cu.
 Phases F and H are mainly composed of Cu, Ti and Fe.
Phase G is only composed of Cu and Ti
As we move from Cu-Ti to the Cu bead Phase I was
observed on the back scattered image.
The main elemens o the Phase I are : Ti, Fe, Cu, Si and
Cr
A B C D E F G H I

Al 5.83 4.97 0.26 3.54 2.68 1.35 1.35 0.86 0.12

Si 0.40 19.79 0.76 0.61 1.14 0.11 8.97

S 0.09

Ti 90.07 67.90 66.62 49.43 56.92 41.43 8.21 31.93 33.01

V 4.10 5.39 5.37 3.70 2.97

Cr 1.22 1.41 1.64 1.28 7.16

Mn 0.10 0.71 0.32 1.25

Fe 2.69 0.87 6.52 15.47 0.91 8.59 29.86

Ni 0.22 0.41 1.85 1.70 2.11

Cu 18.43 5.88 34.13 39.80 37.05 88.83 55.24 14.54

 Cu Bead Region

The correct identification of the stoichiometric composition of the IMC phases

was not possible, due to multiplicity of important elements present within these
phases.
Due to high cooling rate, coring is observed on the IMC formed closer to
stainless steel.
Phases C and D have higher Ti composition as compared to phases A and B.
 Mechanical Strength

The Ultimate tensile Strength of each sample was calculated using the
thickest value for the cross-sectional area of each sample and the maximum
thickness of the sample.
The welded sample show an increase of tensile strength with the increase of
heat input.
The welding wire positioning does not seem to be a controlling parameter of
this welding pocess.
The samples present with higher tensile load also have the maximum strain.
The mechanical test results shows an increase in the ductility of the sample
as well.
 Conclusion
It was possible to join stainless steel and Ti using CuSi-3
welding wire.
The heat input was the dominant parameter in the process.
The inter metallic phase formation was not avoided.
The IMCs formed were more ductile in nature as compared to
Fe-Ti IMC.
The inter metallics are mainly present at the interfaces
between the parent metals and the Cu.
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