I've heard of Friction Stir Welding before, but this usage from Honda certainly got my attention.
http://world.honda.com/news/2012/4120906Weld-Together-Steel-Aluminum/index.html?from=r
What's next, cats and dogs living in harmony?
In all seriousness, I do wonder why this doesn't present galvanic corrosion type dissimilar-metals issues. Maybe because the joint is sealed from the atmosphere?
When Raleigh did it to bicycles for whatever weird English reason, they used lugged frames and a special adhesive.
That's all I got.
edit: Co-worker says "Oh, they've had that for decades, it's called oxidation."
Mazda apparently got a patent for some steel/aluminum welding process for the NC Miata trunk lid.
According to my old Land Rover, Knurled's coworker is correct.
jb weld
This can only end well. I wouldn't want to be the first to discover how these age.
Amazing...
It's not new. I drove a proto car 15 years ago with an aluminum front upright with the steel spindle friction welded into it. But as others have said, who wants to find out about durability!
Also didn't Zagato and others make cars back in the 60's with steel floor pans and aluminum bodies attached to them. Probably rivets, but the evidence is most likely long gone as regular Italian cars from the era rusted badly enough.
Old Land Rovers are a good illustration of how the rivet technique works out. Well enough for 20 years or so, but galvanic corrosion will come get you. From what I recall, the shoulder belt mounting points used to be a particular problem on the Series III.
I have enough faith in Honda's engineering to believe that this has been taken into account.
They've been doing this in shipbuilding since WWII fellas, and the last time I checked "the ocean" was pretty much the most corrosive environment out there.
In fact, the ship I'm a plankowner on was built this way (aluminum superstructure welded to a steel hull) and I got to watch them do it to the next ship on the line. Cool process, proven tech in industrial applications.
Inertia or friction welding has been around a lot of years. It is used in the turbine engine and areospace world to weld turbine wheels made of superalloys like Inconel and others to more common ferrous alloy shafts.
Either the turbine wheel or shaft is spun to a high RPM and then pushed into a stationary shaft or wheel. As the weld forms due to the high heat of friction the stationary member trips a loaded clutch and the two spin down together. I think they also use this process to weld the aluminum compressor wheel of turbo chargers to the steel shafts. They join parts weighing ounces to hundreds of pounds. The inertia welding machines have to generate a lot of power.
I have seen steel ports or threaded steel flanges be inertia welded to an aluminum flange so the aluminum flange could be welded by TIG to an aluminum pressure vessel or tank. It gives the port or treaded steel flange the durability but maintains the light weight of the aluminum tank. Generaly the inertia weld joint is designed with an inside diameter pocket so there is room for the weld to form on the inside diameter and outside diameter. The weld can be machined or turned to forn a smooth or percision surface.
It would seem there would be a lot of applications for autos to save weight by joining aluminum for weight saving with the duribility of steel where needed.
This is how it should be done!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvJee_1w4tA
Javelin got there before me. Was that an Aegis cruiser you are a plankowner of? If so, which one and which shipyard (Bath or Pascagoula)? Or maybe an LCS in Marinette?
Bi-metallic joint in naval shipbuilding was bonded with some kind of explosion process, I believe.
Galvanic corrosion occurs with any disimilar metals regardless of the environment
In reply to Javelin:
Cruise ships have also had aluminum super structures for some time now. Pretty amazing, and I'm pretty sure that the first ships are getting over 20 years in the salt bath.
In reply to PDoane:
87' Coastal Patrol Boat built in Lockport, LA. We sailed that little beasty through the ditch 
Javelin wrote: They've been doing this in shipbuilding since WWII fellas, and the last time I checked "the ocean" was pretty much the most corrosive environment out there.
Yep was gonna say this, the upper decks of a lot of new cruise ships are all aluminum and it's welded to the steel below.
go find an old set of Cragar SS wheels- the ones from the 60's- they have an aluminum center section welded to a steel outer rim... they probably sold millions of the things over the decades.
I talked to my pops and he actually tests a lot of friction welds at his work. I've seen some pretty weird stuff like aluminum sheet sandwich with silver sheet welded in the middle made by explosion welding. I guess you can also use explosion welding to weld disimilar metals together.
novaderrik wrote: go find an old set of Cragar SS wheels- the ones from the 60's- they have an aluminum center section welded to a steel outer rim... they probably sold millions of the things over the decades.
I sold those way back when. Here's the deal: Cragar made the centers from cast aluminum, it was a tight press fit in the steel rim. The pieces were chromed, then the center was pressed into the rim, then a press made 'dimples' in the rim that locked the two together. You can see them in the 'drop' part of the steel rim, aligned with the spokes.
benzbaronDaryn wrote: I talked to my pops and he actually tests a lot of friction welds at his work. I've seen some pretty weird stuff like aluminum sheet sandwich with silver sheet welded in the middle made by explosion welding. I guess you can also use explosion welding to weld disimilar metals together.
You can put the word "explosion" or any of it's versions in front of anything and it sounds cool. Explosion welding. Explosive Diarrhea. Explosive Explosives. Explosive Bacon.
EXPLOSION!!!
Curmudgeon wrote:novaderrik wrote: go find an old set of Cragar SS wheels- the ones from the 60's- they have an aluminum center section welded to a steel outer rim... they probably sold millions of the things over the decades.I sold those way back when. Here's the deal: Cragar made the centers from cast aluminum, it was a tight press fit in the steel rim. The pieces were chromed, then the center was pressed into the rim, then a press made 'dimples' in the rim that locked the two together. You can see them in the 'drop' part of the steel rim, aligned with the spokes.
maybe i was thinking of some Cragar knockoffs- or maybe Keystones- but there are some wheels from back then that have aluminum centers welded to the steel outer rim. you can see a definite weld bead along the back side of the spokes. i haven't personally had a set of either since sometime in the mid 90's so i can't just run out to the garage and take a look, but i did wonder how in the hell they did that.. when i had my first job at a place that did metal fabrication in 1995 (they made giant industrial ovens for cereal companies and what not) i asked a couple of the welders about it and they said that you can get mig wire and tig welding rod for doing just that..
novaderrik wrote:Curmudgeon wrote:maybe i was thinking of some Cragar knockoffs- or maybe Keystones- but there are some wheels from back then that have aluminum centers welded to the steel outer rim. you can see a definite weld bead along the back side of the spokes. i haven't personally had a set of either since sometime in the mid 90's so i can't just run out to the garage and take a look, but i did wonder how in the hell they did that.. when i had my first job at a place that did metal fabrication in 1995 (they made giant industrial ovens for cereal companies and what not) i asked a couple of the welders about it and they said that you can get mig wire and tig welding rod for doing just that..novaderrik wrote: go find an old set of Cragar SS wheels- the ones from the 60's- they have an aluminum center section welded to a steel outer rim... they probably sold millions of the things over the decades.I sold those way back when. Here's the deal: Cragar made the centers from cast aluminum, it was a tight press fit in the steel rim. The pieces were chromed, then the center was pressed into the rim, then a press made 'dimples' in the rim that locked the two together. You can see them in the 'drop' part of the steel rim, aligned with the spokes.
more likely that the molten aluminum is poured over a steel stamping, such that sufficient steel is exposed to allow welding to the rim.
There were wheels similar to the Cragars that were made by Appliance Wheel.
These had a stamped steel center which was pressed into a steel rim and then welded. IIRC ET and Keystone had similar wheels made the same way.
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