Use of steel clad aluminum transition material to join aluminum body panels and structural members to steel is demonstrated. The transition material allows joining of aluminum and steel by conventional techniques such as spot welding and eliminates galvanic corrosion at the joints. Corrosion test results for a wide range of aluminum-transition-steel systems in laboratory tests, atmospheric exposure, and field test plates are presented. The break strength of joints containing two, three, or four members was used as a measure of performance after corrosion testing. Statistical analysis of the results showed that the transition material prevented degradation of the mechanical properties of the joints.

Subject
Materials, Aluminum, Welding, Deviation, Joints, Corrosion products, Crevice corrosion, Metals, Salt spray corrosion testing, Steel, Automotive, Galvanic corrosion, Dissimilar metals
Keywords:
transition material, automotive corrosion, galvanic corrosion, aluminum, steel, joining, dissimilar metals, spot welding, clad metals, cyclic salt spray
© 1995 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
1995
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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