Experiments on Properties of Aluminium Welding Joints

At present, the first edition of the code for design of aluminium structures is being prepared in China. A series of experiments on properties of aluminium welded joints have been carried out to provide the basic data for the code. The main contents of the experiments include aluminium alloy butt welds and fillet welds. The distances from the failure planes of a HAZ (heat affected zone) to the center and the toe of the weld, and the extensions of a HAZ and a RSZ (reduced strength zone) are measured. The reduced strength coefficient in the failure planes is determined. The influence of some parameters, such as the thickness of the welded plate, the type of the welding wire and the welding technology, on weld strength, the reduced strength coefficient in the failure planes and the extensions of a HAZ and a RSZ is studied. The accuracy of the  formula in calculating the strength of the fillet welds is experimentally checked. The test results are compared with the characteristic strength values determined by Eurocode 9 [2] and BS8118 [3]. This paper gives the experimental basis for the editing of Chinese code, and it is also the first time for foundational experiments on aluminium welded joints, in China.