Implementing the concept of mixed construction in modern automotive engineering requires the joining of sheet metal or extruded profiles with cast components made from different materials. As weight reduction is desired, these cast components are usually made from high-strength aluminium alloys of the Al-Si (Mn, Mg) system, which have limited weldability. The mechanical joinability of the cast components depends on their ductility, which is influenced by the microstructure. High-strength cast aluminium alloys have relatively low ductility, which leads to cracking of the joints. This limits the range of applications for cast aluminium alloys. In this study, an aluminium alloy of the Al-Si system AlSi9 is used to investigate relationships between solidification conditions during the sand casting process, microstructure, mechanical properties, and joinability. The demonstrator is a stepped plate with a minimum thickness of 2.0 mm and a maximum thickness of 4.0 mm, whereas the thickness difference between neighbour steps amounts to 0.5 mm. During casting trials, the solidification rates for different plate steps were measured. The microscopic investigations reveal a correlation between solidification rates and microstructure parameters such as secondary dendrite arm spacing. Furthermore, mechanical properties and the mechanical joinability are investigated.

Laser surface treatment of metals is one option to improve their properties for adhesive bonding. In this paper, a pulsed YVO4 Laser source with a wavelength of 1064 nm and a maximum power of 25 W was utilized to increase the surface area of the steel HCT490X in order to improve its bonding properties with a carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP). Investigated was the influence of the scanning speed of the laser source on the bonding properties. For this purpose, the steel surfaces were ablated at a scanning speed between 1500 and 4500 mm/s. Afterwards the components were bonded with the adhesive HexBond™ 677. After lap shear tests were carried out on the specimen, the surfaces were inspected using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experiments revealed that the bonding quality can be improved with a high scanning speed, even when the surface is not completely ablated.

Al-Li based alloys are attractive materials for the aerospace industry. The twin-roll casting of such materials could provide properties not achievable by conventional direct-chill casting and downstream processing methods due to significantly higher solidification rates. An Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr alloy was twin-roll cast with the same alloy containing a small addition of Sc. The microstructure of as-cast materials and the influence of Sc on the behavior of the alloy at elevated temperatures were studied by means of light and electron microscopy and by resistivity measurements. A fine-grained structure was formed during twin-roll casting, but several surface and internal defects were found on the strips, which should be suppressed by a further adjustment of the casting conditions. The addition of Sc had a positive effect on grain size uniformity and microstructure stabilization at elevated temperatures, as shown by the precipitation of a fine dispersion of coherent Sc- and Zr-containing precipitates.