Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2017) 92:1923–1931

DOI 10.1007/s00170-017-0310-5

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Microstructure and fatigue behavior of resistance element welded

dissimilar joints of DP780 dual-phase steel to 6061-T6
aluminum alloy
Zhanxiang Ling 1 & Yang Li 1 & Zhen Luo 1,2 & Sansan Ao 1 & Zhanghua Yin 3 &
Yunlong Gu 4 & Qiang Chen 5

Received: 13 October 2016 / Accepted: 14 March 2017 / Published online: 23 March 2017
# Springer-Verlag London 2017

Abstract A novel resistance element welding was employed Keywords Resistance element welding . Aluminum alloy .
for dissimilar joining of electro-galvanized DP780 steel to Dual-phase steel . Microstructure . Microhardness . Fatigue
6061-T6 aluminum alloy. Compared with traditional resis- strength
tance spot welding, the change of load bearing part resulted
in higher joint strength and energy absorption capacity.
Microstructures of dissimilar joints vary according to the dis- 1 Introduction
tance from the weld center. Intermetallic compound layers
were formed at the Al/rivet interface and Al/steel interface in Rapid economic development has been accompanied by en-
the resistance element welding joints and resistance spot vironmental concerns. Industries have attempted to save ener-
welding joints, respectively. The fatigue strength, and fatigue gy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially in the
fractographs of the dissimilar joints were obtained and automobile industry, because rigorous laws restricting auto-
discussed. Resistance element welding joints showed higher mobile emissions have been instituted [1]. In addition to
fatigue strength than resistance spot welding joints, with the changes in the car shape and improving the powertrain, weight
fatigue limit of 1800 and 900 N, respectively. The fatigue reduction may be used to meet the requirements, as the petrol
fracture modes of both types of joints were dependent on the consumption and, in turn, emissions will decrease with de-
load levels. At high load levels, the REW joints and RSW creasing weight of the car [2]. The need for reduced emissions
joints underwent pull-out and interfacial fracture, respectively. has resulted in the gradual use of light-weight materials such
At low load levels, both joints underwent through-thickness as aluminum (Al) and magnesium (Mg) in the automotive
fracture. industry. Companies such as Audi have successfully devel-
oped an aluminum space frame (ASF). However, steels are
still the dominant materials used in automobiles owing to their
low price, high strength and hardness, excellent dimensional
* Zhen Luo
lz_tju@163.com accuracy, and formability. In this case, a multi-material-
designed car body should provide a balanced solution and
* Sansan Ao
ao33@tju.edu.cn therefore, joining dissimilar materials (especially aluminum
to steel) constitutes a reliable method for realizing this
solution.
1
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Resistance spot welding (RSW) is a critical and widely
31-291, No.135 Yaguan Road, Tianjin 300350, China
used joining technique in the automotive industry, which at-
2
Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Ship and Deep-Sea tributed to its low cost, efficiency, and mature technology [3].
Exploration, Shanghai 200240, China
An automobile contains approximately 3000–7000 spot welds
3
National Engineering Laboratory for Pineline Safety, [4] and, hence, researchers initially introduced the RSW meth-
Langfang 065001, China
od for joining Al to steel. However, unlike similar materials,
4
Pipeline Research Institute of CNPC, Langfang 065001, China Al and steel have significantly differing properties; for exam-
5
Ansteel Mining Engineering Corporation, Anshan 114004, China ple, the melting point of steel is ~2.5 times that of Al. In
1924 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2017) 92:1923–1931

Table 1 Chemical composition of materials/wt-%

Materials Cu Mg Zn Ti Cr C P S Si Mn Fe Al

Al 6061 0.18 0.86 0.25 0.10 0.05 – – – 0.48 0.15 0.7 Bal.
DP780 0.001 – – 0.024 0.326 0.08 0.007 0.002 0.18 2.08 Bal. 0.03
Q235 – – – – – 0.14 0.04 0.02 0.4 1.0 Bal. –

addition, the thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, and fundamentally preventing the harmful effect of the IMC layer.
modulus of elasticity of Al are approximately two, six, and In the current work, the authors developed an electro-
three times, respectively, those of steel. The solubility between galvanized DP780 dual-phase steel/6061-T6 aluminum alloy
Al and steel is nearly zero [5]. Consequently, an Al-Fe inter- dissimilar joints using the REW method and researched its
metallic compound (IMC) is formed when Al is welded to microstructure, microhardness, and fatigue behavior. As far
steel. The IMC layer at the Al/Fe interface is rather brittle. as the authors know, the fatigue behavior of REW dissimilar
The thickness of this layer has a significant effect on the joint joints has never been studied before. RSW dissimilar joints
quality, and excellent mechanical strength can be achieved for were also studied with the purpose of comparison.
thicknesses ranging from 5 to 10 μm [6]. Several attempts
have been made to control the IMC layer thickness during
RSW [7–11]. In addition, owing to its excellent metallurgical
compatibility with both materials, researchers has found that 2 Materials and method
the hot-dipped zinc coating on steel plays an important role in
improving the Al/steel dissimilar joint strength; melting and A 2-mm-thick 6061-T6 Al alloy and a 1.4-mm-thick electro-
evaporation of the coating leads to a decrease in the Al-Fe galvanized DP780 dual-phase steel were used as the base
IMC layer thickness [5, 12]. Thus, the joining of Al to hot- metals, and the Q235 steel rivets with the diameter of 5 mm
dipped-zinc-coated steel has therefore been extensively inves- were used as the auxiliary elements. The chemical composi-
tigated [9, 10, 13]. Uncoated steel and electro-galvanized steel tions of used materials are listed in Table 1.
(its Zn coating is rather thin so the effect is limited) are also The REW process is shown in Fig. 1. A hole located at the
widely used in industry. However, the joining of these mate- welding site was previously drilled in the Al sheet and a rivet
rials to Al remains challenging. was subsequently inserted into the hole; the bottom of the rivet
To effectively control the IMC layer thickness or avoid the and the bottom of the Al sheet were kept in the identical plane.
formation of this layer altogether, other spot joining methods The welding procedure was then performed at the location of
for joining Al to steel have been proposed. These methods the rivet, using a 220-kW medium frequency direct current
include cold metal transfer spot plug welding [14], friction stir resistance spot welding machine, capable of generating a
spot welding (FSSW) [15], ultrasonic spot welding [16], self- welding current of 2–22 kA. A copper–chromium conical
piercing riveting (SPR) [17], clinching [18], and friction bit electrode and a domed electrode were used for the top and
joining [19]. Although acceptable Al/steel dissimilar joints bottom sides, respectively.
can be obtained by using these methods, drawbacks still per- Figure 2 shows the configuration of the REW joints sub-
sist. For example, the relatively low efficiency of cold metal jected to tensile shear tests. The Al and steel sheets were cut to
transfer spot plug welding prevents its use in mass production; a size of 100 × 25 mm, in accordance with the AWS-D17.2
the low power of the ultrasonic spot welding machine renders standard [22], and the rivet was placed in the center of a 25-
it suitable mainly for welding thin or soft sheets; the equip- mm overlap region. For comparison, the same configuration
ment used for FSSW is quite complex; SPR is just as produc-
tive as RSW, but large deformation and insufficient penetra-
tion occur during the joining of low-formability advanced
high-strength steel [20].
The authors recently realized excellent dissimilar welding
by using a novel method, i.e., resistance element welding
(REW), to weld uncoated 22MnMoB boron steel to 6061-T6
aluminum alloy [21]. Using this method, a traditional RSW
machine can be used to join non-ferrous material to ferrous
material. In dissimilar Al/steel REW joint, the IMC layer was
replaced by steel nugget to bear the load, thereby Fig. 1 Schematic of the resistance element welding process
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2017) 92:1923–1931 1925

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Pretensile shear test under quasi-static loading

To determine the load levels during fatigue test, tensile shear

test was carried out firstly on REW and RSW dissimilar joints.
Fig. 2 Tensile shear specimen of the REW joint Based on preliminary test, 300 ms and 6–10 kA (with an
interval of 1 kA) were used as the welding time and welding
current, respectively, during the REW process, and a welding
was used for both the REW and RSW joints (in both cases, the time of 200 ms and a welding current of 12–16 kA (with an
welding procedure was performed at the center of the 25-mm interval of 1 kA) were used during the RSW process. The
overlap region). upper electrode tip diameters were 10 and 6 mm for the
After welding, the peak load of the joints was obtained via REW and RSW processes, respectively, and the electrode
tensile shear tests performed on a CSS-44100 material test force was set to 3.6 kN for both joints. The results are shown
system operated at a constant crosshead velocity of 1 mm/ in Fig. 3. Overall, both tensile strength and energy absorption
min. The area under the load-displacement diagram was mea- of REW joints (with a maximum value of 7368 N and 18.9 J
sured to determine the energy absorption of the joints prior to respectively) were much higher than RSW joints (with a max-
failure [23]. The cross-section of the joints was determined imum value of 4332 N and 2.9 J respectively). And the me-
from specimens cut by a wire cutting machine. These speci- chanical properties of REW joints were more stable than RSW
mens were then prepared via standard metallographic proce- joints. Optimized joints, i.e., REW joint under 7 kA welding
dures: the steel was etched for 2 s in a 4% nital solution, current and RSW joint under 14 kA welding current, were
whereas the Al was etched for 15 s in Keller’s reagent. The used for microstructure, microhardness, and fatigue test,
profile and microstructure of the joints were examined by subsequently.
using an Olympus SZX12 stereomicroscope and an
Olympus GX51 metallographic microscope, respectively.
Fractography (Hitachi S-1510 scanning electron microscope 3.2 Microstructure
(SEM)) and elemental composition analysis (Hitachi S-4800
SEM equipped with a Genesis XM2 energy dispersive spec- The microstructure of REW and RSW joints was investigated
trometer (EDS)) were also conducted. Similarly, 10-s micro- in detail (see Fig. 4). Fig. 4a, b show the macroscopic cross-
hardness measurements (HUAYIN HV-1000A micro Vickers section profiles of REW and RSW joints respectively. As in
hardness tester) were performed at loads of 200 and 50 g for the case of the REW joints, the steel nuggets are formed at the
steel and Al, respectively. The tension-tension fatigue test of rivet/steel sheet interface, and Al near the rivet body is melted
the optimized joints was conducted on an MTS 810 Material owing to heat conduction [21]. The RSW joints consist of two
Test System, with the sinusoidal waveform in load-control separated nuggets, namely nuggets on the (i) steel side and (ii)
mode at a stress ratio of R = 0.1. The frequency ranged from Al side, which are inside the steel sheets and adjacent to the
10 to 30 Hz, depending on the load level. To compensate for interface, respectively. Similar results have been reported for
the thickness offset, a steel shim and an Al shim were used at Al [11] or Mg [24] resistance spot welded to steel. In that case,
the grip zone of the Al sheet and steel sheet, respectively. the majority of Joule heat was generated in the steel, which has

Fig. 3 Mechanical properties of a REW joints and b RSW joints under different welding currents
1926 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2017) 92:1923–1931

Fig. 4 Profiles of a REW joint

and b RSW joint, and
microstructure of c–m region C–
region M

Fig. 5 IMC layers formed at the

a rivet/Al interface and c Al/steel
interface denoted by black arrows
in Fig. 4, and the distribution of
Fe and Al across the interface
with scanning line b 1 and d 2
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2017) 92:1923–1931 1927

Fig. 7 Dependence of the maximum tensile load on the number of cycles

to failure

part prevented the melting point from being reached during

welding [25]. Owing to remelting during welding, region C,
which lies in the steel nugget, exhibits features consistent with
an as-cast structure. The large lath martensite occurring in this
region is attributed to the high cooling rate after welding [26].
Region D, which is the coarse-grained HAZ on the DP steel
side, is also mainly composed of lath martensite, but the grain
size is smaller than that of the nugget. The peak temperature in
this region was significantly higher than the AC3 and, hence,
the martensite was formed after rapid cooling, thereby leading
to this smaller size. Martensite also occurs in region E, i.e., the
fine-grained HAZ. However, the peak temperature in this re-
gion was only slightly higher than AC3, resulting in less time
(than that associated with region D) for grain growth, thereby
leading to a fine-grained structure. The peak temperature of
the intercritical HAZ (i.e., region D) lies between AC1 and AC3
and, hence, leads to incomplete austenization. Furthermore,
the austenized part of the base metal was transformed into
martensite after cooling, leading to a higher martensite content
than that of the base metal. The base metal of the DP steel,
denoted as region G, consists of two different phases namely,
the black martensite phase and the white ferrite phase. Region
G and region I are the coarse-grained HAZ and fine-grained
HAZ, respectively, on the rivet side. The HAZ was overheated
d u r i n g w e l d i n g , r e s u l t i n g in th e f o r m a t i on of a
Widmannstatten structure, where the grain size increases with
decreasing distance from the nugget. Region G, i.e., the base
metal of the rivet, is composed of pearlite and ferrite. Sharp
Fig. 6 Hardness distribution of the a steel in the REW joint, b Al in the boundaries occur in region K and region L, where the Al
REW joint, and c RSW joint
nugget on the left side is composed of columnar grains, and
the right side is the Al base metal. Owing to the effect of the
a significantly higher resistivity than Al that acted as a cooling electrode pressure, the orientation of the columnar grains in
medium owing to its higher thermal conductivity. Therefore, the center of the nugget differs from that of the grains at the
the steel near the interface conducted a significant amount of edge of the nugget (see Fig. 4m). The microstructure distribu-
heat to Al and the resulting relatively low temperature of this tion in the steel side of the RSW joint is extremely similar to
1928 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2017) 92:1923–1931

Fig. 8 Fatigue fracture appearances of the REW joints fracture at a 5500 N and 1.8 × 104 cycles and b 3000 N and 3.3 × 105 cycles and the RSW joints
fracture at c 2500 N and 9.8 × 104 cycles and d 1400 N and 1.8 × 106 cycles

that of the REW joint, so the corresponding micrographs were (CE) of the DP steel is higher than that of the rivet [27]. In
not included in the paper. addition, the coarse-grained HAZ at the DP steel side has
The IMC layers in both joints (denoted by black arrows in smaller martensite grains and, therefore a slightly higher hard-
Fig. 4) were analyzed via SEM. As the results in Fig. 5 show, ness than the nugget. The HAZ near the base metal consists of
an inconsistent 3-mm-thick IMC layer and a continuous 4- a softening region [26, 27], although there was no phase tran-
mm-thick IMC layer were formed at the rivet/Al and steel/ sition (the peak temperature was below AC1) during welding.
Al interface, respectively. The microstructure in this region is quite similar to that of the
base metal. However, the martensite in the base metal
3.3 Microhardness underwent a tempering process, leading to a decrease in hard-
ness and, hence, this region may be described as a subcritical
The hardness distributions of REW and RSW joints are shown HAZ. The DP steel base metal has a hardness of ~262 HV.
in Fig. 6. As Fig. 6a shows, the hardness of the rivet base Moreover, the average hardness values of the Al nugget and
metal is ~185 HV. The hardness at the top of the rivet is base metal are 83 and 109 HV, respectively; the nugget
significantly higher than this value, because the rivet was underwent remelting and recrystallization, thereby resulting
punched by the electrode during welding and underwent in a lower hardness than that of the base metal. The metal in
work-hardening. The hardness of the HAZ on the rivet side the HAZ was not melted, but the temperature near the nugget
is higher than that of the base metal and increases with de- was very high during welding, thereby reducing the positive
creasing distance from the nugget, owing to the overheated effect of solution strengthening in the base metal. This occur-
Widmannstatten structure formed in the region. The high rence, i.e., overaging, leads to a significant decrease in the
hardness (average value: ~402 HV) of the nugget is attributed hardness near the nugget. The hardness distribution of differ-
to the formation of large lath martensite. Furthermore, the ent regions in the RSW joint is quite similar to that of the
hardness near the DP steel side is slightly higher than the REW joint (see Fig. 6c). However, owing to the finer grain
hardness near the rivet side, because the carbon equivalent size in this region (see in Fig. 4m), the hardness of the Al

Fig. 9 Fracture surface

morphology of the pull-out
fracture mode a overall view and
magnified view of b region I and
c region II
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2017) 92:1923–1931 1929

Fig. 10 Fracture surface morphology of the though-thickness fracture mode showing the overall view at the a center and b side; magnified view of c
region I d region II, and e region III

nugget is slightly higher near the interface than in other re- studies, the Al/Fe dissimilar REW joint has a higher fatigue
gions. The average hardness of the steel nugget (418 HV) is strength than the Al/Al similar RSW joint [28] and most Al/Fe
higher than that of the steel nugget of the REW joint. This dissimilar joints fabricated via various spot joining techniques
results from the higher CE of the DP steel and the overall (including RSW using an Al-Mg interlayer [11], friction stir
higher nugget CE of the RSW joint compared to that of the spot welding [29], self-piercing riveting [30], and ultrasonic
REW joint. spot welding [31]).

3.4 Fatigue strength 3.5 Fatigue fracture morphology

The dependence of the maximum tensile load on the number In this study, a transition of fatigue fracture mode occurred in
of cycles to failure is shown in Fig. 7. Overall, the fatigue both the REW and RSW dissimilar joints. In the case of the
strength of the REW joint is significantly higher than that of REW joints, pull-out fracture (see Fig. 8a) occurred at high
the RSW joint. Defined as the runout load at 107 cycles, fa- load levels (Pmax≧5000 N), while through-thickness fracture
tigue limits of 1800 and 900 N were obtained for the REW and (see Fig. 8b) occurred at low load levels (Pmax ≤ 5000 N). In
RSW joints, respectively. Therefore, as in the case of previous the case of the RSW joints, interfacial fracture (see Fig. 8c)

Fig. 11 Fracture surface

morphology of the interfacial
fracture mode a overall view and
magnified view of b region I and
c region II
1930 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2017) 92:1923–1931

Fig. 12 Schematic illustration of

fatigue fracture paths of a REW
joint and b RSW joint

occurred at high load levels (Pmax≧1600 N), whereas through- at the crack initiation site owing to the component load per-
thickness fracture (see Fig. 8d) occurred at low load levels pendicular to the nugget [33]; because of the insufficient load-
(Pmax ≤ 1600 N). bearing capacity of the IMC layer, the crack would quickly
Figure 9a shows an overall view of the pull-out fracture propagate through the interface, leading to interfacial fracture.
mode. The crack was initiated at the surface of the steel sheet. While at low load levels (Pmax ≤ 1600 N), the IMC layer was
A magnified view of the crack initiation site (see Fig. 9b) able to endure the shear load, so through-thickness fracture
reveals a rough slightly striated surface. The crack propagated occurred at very high load cycles.
along the thickness direction, and the corresponding magni-
fied view (see Fig. 9c) revealed a complex fracture surface,
which consists of both dimples and planes. 4 Conclusions
Figure 10a, b show the overall view of the through-
thickness fracture mode. The crack was initiated at the center A 6061-T6 aluminum alloy and electro-galvanized DP780
and edge of the Al sheet, and was accompanied by significant steel were dissimilar welded via novel resistance element
fatigue striations, as shown in Fig. 10c. The crack then prop- welding. The microstructure, microhardness, fatigue strength,
agated stably through the thickness and along the width of the and fatigue fractographs of REW joints were obtained and
sheet, thereby resulting in a brittle surface (see Fig. 10d). In compared with RSW joints. The main findings of this work
the final stage, crack propagation was unstable and rapid, as can be summarized as follows:
evidenced by the occurrence of dimples on the surface (see
Fig. 10e). All of the through-thickness fracture modes yielded 1. REW exhibited outstanding properties during dissimilar
similar surface morphology. Al/steel joining. Under optimal conditions, the tensile
Figure 11a shows the overall view of the interfacial fracture shear strength (7368 N) and energy absorption (18.9 J)
mode. An eyebrow crack formed at the crack initiation site. In of the REW dissimilar joints were 70% and over six times
addition, as shown in Fig. 11b, elongated dimples occurred at higher, respectively, than those of the RSW joints. This is
the crack initiation site. The crack propagated along the inter- indicative of the excellent integrated mechanical proper-
face, where the fracture surface is composed of cleavage ties of the REW joints.
planes. This indicates that the crack propagated rapidly during 2. Nuggets formed at the interface of the rivet and steel in the
the final stage. REW joints. Two separate nuggets formed in the RSW
joints. The microstructure of the joints varied with the
distance from the center of the nugget, and different
3.6 Fatigue fracture mechanisms microhardnesses were obtained for different microstruc-
tures. IMC layers formed at the interface of the Al/rivet
Figure 12 summarizes the fatigue fracture paths of dissimilar interface and Al/steel interface in the REW joints and
joints. For the REW joint, nugget rotation occurred at high RSW joints, respectively.
load levels (Pmax≧5000 N), thus, the tensile shear load partly 3. The fatigue limit of the REW joints (1800 N) was signif-
transformed to the component load which is perpendicular to icantly higher than that of the RSW joints (900 N).
the nugget [32]. Meantime, severe microstructure change led Overall, the fatigue strength of the REW joints was supe-
to the stress concentration at the edge of the nugget. These two rior to that of the Al/Al RSW joints and most of the Al/
factors allowed the crack initiating at the edge of the nugget steel dissimilar spot joints. The fatigue fracture modes of
and finally resulted in the pull-out fracture. While at low load the REW and RSW joints were dependent on the load
levels (Pmax ≤ 5000 N), the nugget rotation was small, so the levels and, at high load levels, these joints underwent
component load perpendicular to the nugget was not higher pull-out and interfacial fracture, respectively. However,
enough to initiate cracks. With the action of cyclic tensile load, at low load levels, both joints underwent through-
the cracks initiated at the hardness mutation area of Al, where thickness fracture.
the stress concentration was most serious in the Al sheet, and
through-thickness fracture occurred. For the RSW joint, at Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the support
high load levels (Pmax≧1600 N), an eyebrow crack formed of the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2017) 92:1923–1931 1931

51405334 and Grant No. 51405335, and the Provincial Science and 16. Mirza FA, Macwan A, Bhole SD, Chen DL, Chen XG (2016) Effect
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