Corrosion Behavior and Mechanical Property of 5182 Aluminum/DP780 Steel Resistance Spot Welding Joints

Corrosion behavior is critical to the application of lightweight aluminum/steel joints using new resistance spot welding (RSW) technology. The study investigated the corrosion mechanism and the shear strength of RSW joints comprising 1.2 mm 5182 aluminum and 1.5 mm DP780 galvanized steel. Electrochemical corrosion tests were conducted on the base materials and various positions of the welds in a 3.5% NaCl solution. This result revealed that the corrosion susceptibility of the interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC) layer was not accelerated by the aluminum nugget because of the noble corrosion potential. Subsequently, the spray acceleration test was employed to investigate the corrosion mechanism. It is noteworthy that microcracks, as well as regions enriched with silicon and oxygen at the interface front, are preferential to corrosion during salt spray exposure, instead of the IMC layer. Moreover, the shear strength of the joints decreases with the reduction in the effective joint area after the salt spray exposure of the weld joints. This research systematically explored the corrosion behavior and its relationship with the mechanical properties of Al alloy/steel RSW joints.