strength of 5052 H32 to 6061-T6 joint

[bnrg]

I am looking into making a weldment of 5052-H32 sheet and 6061-T6 machined parts. I have seen a number of posts on this forum concerning this, but none address the strength of the resulting joint. There is plenty of info available on self mated joints from these materials but I have not found anything when the different alloys are welded to each other. Does anyone have any strength data on this?
thanks,
Bob

 

[Goahead]

It should be taken into account that, depending on the joint shape and on the filler metal used, the maximum strength obtainable will be near to that of the annealed condition for the weakest of the materials.
5052 is non heat treatable. If strength is an issue, an alternative joining method (mechanical, adhesive bonding) might be more appropriate.

http://www.welding-advisers.com/

 

[drawoh]

bnrg,

I have an old handbook here which quotes the strengths of the as-welded materials. I quoted from it in an earlier post. Aluminium 6061-T6 has a welded strength of 20ksi which almost certainly results from heat treating. Note Goahead's post above.

Aluminium 6061-T6 is heat treated and is a very nice machining material with a yield stength of 40ksi. When you weld it, you anneal it and get a yield strength of 8ksi, plus it warps.

Aluminium 5052-H32 is a work hardened, ductile material that sheet metal shops like to fabicate. I do not have a handbook in front of me. I believe the yield of 5052-0 is around 14ksi. You can check this at

http://www.matweb.com.

This sort of composite fabrication is bad practice. If you need a complex 3D shape and accurate tolerances, CNC machine the thing out of a 6061-T6 billet. If you need a complex 3D shape and sealing and you can engineer the accurate tolerances out of your system, fabricate it out of 5052-H32 sheet and weld it. Consider 5086 which has an annealed yield of 20ksi.

JHG

 

[bnrg]

Thanks for your input. The ASM handbook (#6) on welding has a lot of useful information on the strength of 6061 in the as welded condition using different rod materials but nothing on what the resulting strength is when welding the 2 different alloys together that I was interested in. I will take your advice drawoh and avoid the dissimiliar combination.
Bob