The Bonding Behavior of co-extruded Aluminum-Titanium-Compounds

The combination of aluminum and titanium enables the design of lightweight structures with tailor-made properties at global as well as local scale. In this context the co-extrusion process offers a great potential for advanced solutions for long products especially being applied in the aircraft and automobile sector. While titanium alloys show particular high mechanical strength and good corrosion resistance, aluminum alloys provide a considerable high specific bending stiffness along with lower materials costs.The co-extrusion process has been simulated using the finite element program simufact.forming. The simulation results were compared with co-extrusion experiments. The formation of the intermetallic layer during co-extrusion, the mechanism of adhesion between aluminum and titanium, and the mechanical properties of the intermetallic layer were investigated in detail. In order to understand the development of the intermetallic layer results of diffusion bonding experiments were compared with those of co-extrusions. The layers were characterized by optical microscope, scanning electron microscopy as well as electro beam micro-analysis. The mechanical properties were determined by tensile tests.