Increase of the Elasticity and Strength of the Welded Joints for the Al-Mg-Li Alloy Made by the Laser Welding by Means of the Thermal Mechanical Processing

Abstract

The paper deals with the analysis of the effect of the thermal mechanical processing on the mechanical characteristics (elasticity and tensile strength) of the welded joints of the aluminum alloy, the system Al-Mg-Li. The microstructures of the basic alloy and welded joint before and after the thermal processing are compared by electronic microscoping. The X-ray diffraction method is used to compare the phase composition. The concentration of the strengthening phase δʹ(Al3Li) reduces in the welded joint, which results in the low mechanical characteristics. The thermal processing, namely quenching, increases the concentration of the equilibrium S1 phase (Al2MgLi) in the welded joint as compared with an unquenched joint. The elasticity of the welded joint rises significantly at the almost constant strength, the value of the relative extension lies within the range of 2.4 – 19.2 % before and after quenching, respectively. Artificial ageing applied to the welded joint after the quenching gives the structurization of the S1 phase. The full thermal mechanical processing (quenching, elastic deformation, artificial ageing) of the welded joint of the aluminum alloy (the system AL-Mg-Li) results in the tensile strength increase up to 0.95 of the basic alloy strength.