Investigation on hybrid joining of aluminum alloy sheets: magnetic pulse weld bonding

This paper presents a comparative research on 5052 aluminum alloy sheets joined by magnetic pulse welding (MPW), adhesive bonding (AB), and magnetic pulse weld bonding (MPWB) processes. Mechanical properties and failure mechanism of the joints were mainly focused on and investigated. Strain and fractured surface of joints were systematically analyzed to reveal the coupling effect of weld area and adhesive layer during lap-shear tensile test. Results showed that MPWB joint was capable of withstanding 6.09-kN lap-shear load increased to 91% and 41.06 J energy absorption which increased 6 times over those of MPW joint. In MPWB joint, adhesive layer firstly separated from the edge of overlap area to the middle, with weld area fractured subsequently. The weld area delayed the initiation and propagation of crack in the adhesive layer. In addition, different stress states of MPW and MPWB joints contributed to different shapes of dimples in the fractured surface. MPWB joint was occupied by a typical shear dimple, whereas both equal-axis and shear dimples were observed in MPW joint.