Page 4 - Welding of Aluminium and its Alloys

Preface

Engineering is not an exact science and, of the many disciplines within engi-
neering, welding is probably one of the most inexact – rather more of an
art than a science. Much of the decision-making is based on experience and
a ‘gut feel’ for what is or is not acceptable. When the difficulties of shop
floor or site control are taken into account and the occasional vagaries of
the welder and the sometimes inadequate knowledge of supervisory staff
are added, the problems of the practising shop floor engineer can appear
overwhelming. I hope that some of this uncertainty can be dispelled in this
book, which is aimed at those engineers with little or no knowledge of
metallurgy and perhaps only the briefest acquaintance with the welding
processes. It does not purport to be a metallurgical or processes textbook
and I make no apology for this. Having lectured fairly extensively on
welding technology, I have come to realise that most engineers think of
metals as being composed of a large number of small billiard balls held
together by some form of glue. I have attempted to describe the metallur-
gical aspects of the aluminium alloys in these terms. I have therefore kept
the contents descriptive and qualitative and have avoided the use of
mathematical expressions to describe the effects of welding.
The book provides a basic understanding of the metallurgical principles
involved in how alloys achieve their strength and how welding can affect
these properties.I have included sections on parent metal storage and prepa-
ration prior to welding and have also described the more frequently encoun-
tered processes. There are recommendations on welding parameters that
may be used as a starting point for the development of a viable welding pro-
cedure. Also included are what I hope will be useful hints and tips to avoid
some of the pitfalls of welding these sometimes problematic materials.
I would like to thank my colleagues at TWI, particularly Bob Spiller,
Derek Patten and Mike Gittos, for their help and encouragement during
the writing of this book – encouragement that mostly took the form of
‘Haven’t you finished it yet?’. Well, here it is. Any errors, inaccuracies or
omissions are mine and mine alone.
Gene Mathers

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