Influence of Filler Wire Diameter on Mechanical and Corrosion Properties of AA5083-H111 Al–Mg Alloy Sheets Welded Using an AC Square Wave GTAW Process

In this work, the influence of filler wire diameter on AA5083-H111 weldments was studied. For that, square butt joints were made using an AC square wave gas tungsten arc welding process with the addition of filler wires of diameter 1.2 and 2.4 mm separately. The experimental results revealed that changing the filler wire diameter influenced the bead geometry and a complete penetration was achieved in both welds. The weldment processed with smaller diameter filler wire consisted of a wider heat affected zone with recrystallized grains and a fusion zone with coarser grain structure, thus reducing the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. However, the use of larger diameter filler wire assisted in faster torch speed, resulting in lower heat input and thus finer equiaxed grains were produced in fusion zone. Also, finer grains along with the dispersion of finer Al6(Fe,Mn) particles supported in obtaining the superior tensile and corrosion properties.