article · Journal of Magnesium and Alloys
Joining magnesium and aluminium alloys is desirable for developing lightweight structural components in transport, but conventional methods lead to brittle intermetallic compounds that weaken joints. Friction stir welding offers a promising solid-state alternative because of its lower heat input, yet harmful intermetallic phases such as Al3Mg2 and Al12Mg17 can still develop if heat levels are not strictly controlled. A review of existing literature reveals that most research centres on weldability, joint morphology, and mechanical strength, leaving gaps regarding environmental degradation and operational cracking. To overcome brittle compound formation, several advanced methods have emerged alongside process parameter optimisation. These include using zinc interlayers, electric current-assisted welding, and ultrasonic vibration-assisted welding, all of which help to suppress, reduce, or fragment brittle intermetallic layers and improve overall joint integrity.
Lightweight materials are essential for reducing emissions and energy consumption across modern transport sectors. Combining magnesium and aluminium alloys offers notable weight savings, but practical adoption relies on making reliable, crack-resistant joints. Identifying methods that prevent brittle compound formation gives engineers clearer routes to build stronger multi-material assemblies for vehicle and transit structures.
The findings are relevant to transport manufacturing, particularly automotive and aerospace sectors looking to deploy multi-material lightweight components. The apparent readiness is early-stage research to applied testing: while strategies like zinc interlayers and ultrasonic assistance show mechanical promise in laboratory settings, the abstract highlights a lack of data on operational cracking and environmental durability that must be resolved before commercial adoption can occur.
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Magnesium and aluminum alloys continually attract interest as lightweight structural materials for transport applications. However, joining these dissimilar alloys is very challenging. The main obstacle that hinders progress in dissimilar Mg-Al joining is the formation of brittle intermetallic compounds (IMCs). As a solid-state joining technique, FSW is an excellent candidate to attenuate the deleterious IMC effects in dissimilar Al-Mg joining due to the inherent low heat inputs involved in the process. However, the IMCs, namely Al3Mg2 and Al12Mg17 phases, have also been reported to form during Al-Mg dissimilar FSW; their amount and thickness depend on the heat input involved; thus, the weld parameters used. Since the heat dissipated in the material during the welding process significantly affects the amount of IMCs, the heat input during FSW should be kept as low as possible to control and reduce the amount of IMCs. This review aims to critically discuss and evaluate the studies conducted in the dissimilar Al/Mg FSW through a scientometric analysis and also with a focus on the strategies recently applied to enhance joint quality. The scientometric analysis showed that the main research directions in Mg/Al FSW are the technological weldability of aluminum and magnesium during FSW, structural morphology, and mechanical properties of dissimilar welded joints. Considering the scope of application of the aforementioned joints, the low share of articles dealing with environmental degradation and operational cracking is surprising. This might be attributed to the need for well-developed strategies for obtaining high-quality and sustainable joints for applications. Thus, the second part of this review is conventional, focusing mainly on the new strategies for obtaining high-quality Mg/Al joints. It can be concluded that in addition to the necessity to optimum welding parameters to suppress the excessive heat to limit the amount and thickness of IMC formed and improve the overall joint quality, strategies such as using Zn interlayer, electric current assisted FSW(EAFSW), ultrasonic vibration FSW (UVaFSW), are considered effective in the elimination, reduction, and fragmentation of the brittle IMCs.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.jma.2023.09.039
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