Joining of aluminium alloy sheets to aluminium alloy foam using metal glasses

Abstract

Aluminium alloy foam is a lightweight material with high energy absorption properties and can potentially replace bulk Al-components. The aim of this work is to develop a brazing technique to join aluminium facing sheets to aluminium alloy foam to obtain aluminium foam sandwich panels for applications where high service temperature is a requirement. Al-6016 alloy sheets were brazed to aluminium alloy foam using two aluminium based (Al-Cu-Mg and Al-Si-Mg-Ti) metal glasses at 560◦C–590◦C in an argon atmosphere. Microstructure and microhardness profiles of the aluminium alloy sheet/aluminium alloy foam brazed joints were analysed using a microhardness tester and scanning electron microscope equipped with electron dispersion spectroscopy. A three-point bending test was conducted to study the flexural behaviour of the aluminium foam sandwich composite panels.