As compared to traditional fusion welding processes, electron beam welding (EBW) is known to produce structurally robust microstructures and narrow heat-affected zone (HAZ) in metals. The process becomes more significant for the tempered alloys vulnerable to heat exposure. In the present investigation, Al 2219-T6 alloy was joined using the EBW process. The microstructural, mechanical, and nanomechanical characteristics of the resulting joint were investigated. EBW resulted in a narrow HAZ (22 μm) with a 430 mm fusion zone (FZ). A dendritic structure was observed in the FZ zone, while second-phase particles were absent indicating their dissolution during welding and interesting formation of Al2Cu mixture around the dendrites. The limited content of Cu in the base metal (BM) resulted in the formation of a solid solution in the FZ, along with the presence of fine equiaxed grains in the HAZ and equiaxed dendritic grains in the FZ zone. The X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the absence of peaks corresponding to incoherent phases in the FZ. Compared to the BM, micro-hardness measurements revealed a 12.7 % increase in the hardness in the HAZ, while a significant decrease of approximately 19 % was observed in the FZ. The joint exhibited reduced tensile strength, ultimate strength by 42.2 %, and yield strength by 47.3 % when compared to the BM. The fracture analysis indicated a ductile failure mode with the presence of microvoids. Nano-indentation tests at various loads demonstrated a decrease in the nanohardness from the BM to the HAZ and FZ regions. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis revealed significant pile-ups in the FZ, indicating the occurrence of plastic deformation during the welding process. The presented findings are valuable for the joint and structure design of Al -2219T6 alloy in particular and other Al alloys in general.
The scope of additive manufacturing, particularly fused deposition modelling (FDM), can indeed be explored with the fabrication of multi-material composite laminates using this technology. Laminar composite structures made up of two distinct materials, namely acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and carbon fiber reinforced polylactic acid (CF-PLA), were produced using the FDM process. The current study analyzes the effect of various printing parameters on the interfacial bond strength (IFBS) of the ABS/CF-PLA laminar composite by employing response surface methodology. The physical examination of the tested specimens revealed two failure modes, where failure mode 1 possessed high IFBS owing to the phenomenon of material patch transfer. Contrarily, failure mode 2 yielded low IFBS, while no patch transfer was observed. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that printing parameters were highly interactive in nature. After extensive experimentation, it was revealed that good quality of IFBS is attributed to the medium range of printing speed, high infill density, and low layer height. At the same time, a maximum IFBS of 20.5 MPa was achieved. The study presented an empirical relation between printing parameters and IFBS that can help in forecasting IFBS at any given printing parameters. Finally, the optimized printing conditions were also determined with the aim to maximize IFBS.