Influences of argon gas shielding on diffusion bonding of Ti-6Al-4V alloy to aluminum

This study presents a diffusion bonding process of commercially pure aluminum to Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Prepared samples were exposed to temperature of 560, 600 and 640 degrees C for the bonding time of 30, 45 and 60 min at the atmosphere of argon gas and non-argon. Diffusion bonding is a dissimilar metal welding process which can be applied to the materials without causing any physical deformations. The processed samples were also metallographically prepared, optically examined followed by Vickers microhardness test in order to determine joint strength. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) were used in this work to investigate the compositional changes in order to observe the influence of atmosphere shielding in the transition zone. The result of tests and analyses were tried to be compared with the effect of argon shielding. The significant influences have been observed in the argon shielding during diffusion bonding process.