TY - JOUR A1 - Schempp, Philipp A1 - Cross, C.E. A1 - Häcker, Ralf A1 - Pittner, Andreas A1 - Rethmeier, Michael T1 - Influence of grain size on mechanical properties of aluminium GTA weld metal N2 - Grain refinement is an important possibility to enhance the mechanical properties such as strength, ductility and toughness of aluminium weld metal. In this study, grain refinement was achieved through the addition of commercial grain refiner Al Ti5B1 to gas tungsten arc weld metal of the aluminium alloys 1050A (Al 99.5) and 5083 (Al Mg4.5Mn0.7). The grain refiner additions led to a significant reduction of the weld metal mean grain size (Alloy 1050A, 86 %; Alloy 5083, 44 %) with a change in grain shape from columnar to equiaxed. Tensile tests showed for Alloy 5083 that the weld metal's ductility can be increased through grain refinement. No improvement in weld metal strength (i.e. yield strength and ultimate tensile strength) was observed. Furthermore, tear tests with notched specimens revealed that the resistance against initiation and propagation of cracks in the weld metal can be enhanced through grain refinement. The toughness was observed to increase clearly by grain refinement in weld metal of commercial pure Al (Alloy 1050A). In Alloy 5083 weld metal, the toughness was not improved through grain refinement, likely because of a semi-continuous network of brittle intermetallic phases that facilitate crack propagation. KW - GTA welding KW - Aluminium KW - Grain size KW - Tensile tests KW - Dynamic fracture tests PY - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-013-0026-6 SN - 0043-2288 SN - 1878-6669 VL - 57 IS - 3 SP - 293 EP - 304 PB - Springer CY - Oxford AN - OPUS4-28065 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -