Abstract
Since aluminum and its alloys possess many excellent properties, such as light weight, high thermal and electrical conductivity, high corrosion resistance, high specific strength and so on, they have been widely used in various fields. In order to make the most of them in future, it should be indispensable to develop a new joining technology for them.
With the aid of ultrasonic vibration, a new soldering method for aluminum was proposed and investigated in this study. Commercial pure aluminum was attempted to be soldered in air using zinc as a filler metal. The effects of the ultrasonic vibration and several joining parameters on the soldered joints were examined.
The aluminum could not be well soldered without ultrasonic vibration, and more than approximately 10μm vibration amplitude made the soldering possible. The stable and sound joining was achieved over the eutectic temperature between Al- and Zn- solid solution, however, the tensile strength of the joints soldered at the temperature in the vicinity of the melting point of zinc was apt to be lowered. The joints performed at the appropriate joining temperature, such as 673K, was sound when the applying time of the ultrasonic vibration was shorter than approximately 10 second.
