Pia Åkerfeldt

Microstructure characterisation of Ti-6Al-4V from different additive manufacturing processes

The focus of this work has been microstructure characterisation of Ti-6Al-4V manufactured by five different additive manufacturing (AM) processes. The microstructure features being characterised ar ...

Investigation of the influence of copper welding electrodes on Ti-8Al-1Mo-1V and Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo with respect to solid metal induced embrittlement

Solid Metal Induced Embrittlement (SMIE) is caused by a specific combination of two solid metals in intimate contact. Cadmium, gold, silver and copper are known to cause SMIE in certain titanium alloys. Solid copper is used in welding electrodes and fixtures in various manufacturing processes for titanium parts within the aerospace industry. In the case of resistance welding, titanium alloys are in intimate contact with solid copper, since the electrodes resistively heat the titanium part under pressure during the welding process. No previous published work that investigates the risk of using copper electrodes for welding of titanium alloys is available in the literature, but an initial study using U-bend testing indicates that solid copper in contact with Ti-8Al-1V-1Mo and Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo could lead to SMIE. Therefore, in the present study, resistance welded Ti-8Al-1V-1Mo and Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo have been evaluated to investigate the influence of copper electrodes on these alloys. Furthermore, resistance welded specimens sputtered with copper and gold to promote SMIE have also been evaluated. No SMIE was found in the resistance welded specimens, which may be explained by the short interaction time that the copper electrodes are in intimate contact with the titanium alloy, and/or the magnitude of residual stresses after welding, which may be too low to initiate SMIE.