Effect of thermal treatment on the interface-correlated mechanical properties of Al-Mg dissimilar metallic sheets

The influence of annealing treatment on the interface-correlated microstructural evolution and subsequent mechanical properties of an Al1050/AZ31B clad sheet was systematically investigated. A scanning electron microscope with an attached energy dispersive spectroscopy revealed that diffusive layer consisted of γ (Mg17Al12), and β (Mg2Al3) phases was generated and grown with increasing annealing time and temperature. Mechanical properties were evaluated by uniaxial tensile and peel tests. Improvement of bonding strength between Al1050 and AZ31B by feasible annealing seemed to be strongly related to the generation of metallurgical bonding by a diffusive intermetallic compound layer whose overall thickness was limited to below 1.4 μm. †(Received November 25, 2013)