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By A. M. Salomon de Friedberg

With respect to impurities, HBM&S' copper smelter, located in Flin Flon, Manitoba, is in an unusual position. In addition to the usual concerns, the fact that copper and zinc production at Flin Flon is closely integrated results in the unique situation where feed to the copper smelter typically contains 7% to 8% zinc. This paper discusses the ramifications to copper smelter operations resulting from the marriage of HBM&S' metallurgical plants. Distributions of impurities (specifically Zn, Pb, Ni, As, Bi, Sb, and Cd) are presented and operating practices designed to reduce the impact of impurities on anode copper quality are detailed.

Jun 1, 1993

By A. M. Salomon de Friedberg

"With respect to impurities, HBM&S' copper smelter, located in Flin Ron, Manitoba, is in an unusual position. In addition to the usual concerns, the fact that copper and zinc production at Flin Ron is closely integrated results in the unique situation where feed to the copper smelter typically contains 7% to 8% zinc. This paper discusses the ramifications to copper smelter operations resulting from the marriage of HBM&S' metallurgical plants. Distributions of impurities (specifically Zn, Pb, Ni, As, Bi, Sb, and Cd) are presented and operating practices designed to reduce the impact of impurities on anode copper quality are detailed.IntroductionHudson Bay Mining & Smelting Co. Ltd. (HBM&s), has been operating its metallurgical complex located in Flin Flon, Manitoba, since 1930. The smelter and zinc plant were originally separate entities with respect to production. The smelting operation consisted of traditional multiple-hearth roasters, a reverberatory furnace and Peirce-Smith converters. The zinc plant also utilized multiple hearth roasters and then followed with sulphuric acid leaching, purification and electrowinning. The zinc plant also recovered cadmium from a separate purification/electrowinning circuit.The two plants operated essentially independently of each other until rising zinc levels in the copper concentrate and large stockpiles of zinc-rich leach residues prompted the construction of the fuming plant in 1949. The smelter used pulverized coal to reduce zinc oxide present in the reverb slag and then captured the resulting zinc bearing fume in the fuming plant baghouse. The fume was sent to a separate ""oxide roaster"" in the zinc plant where it was first roasted to remove halogens and then leached to recover the contained zinc. This oxide fume became a major source of feed to the zinc plant accounting for roughly one quarter of the total zinc production. Furthermore, through the smelter's treatment of sulphide leach residue, both copper and zinc recoveries were improved for the over-all complex."

Jan 1, 1993

By G. E. Cole

"Amongst the mineral products of Canada gold holds the second place in value of yearly output. . . . . .The production of gold has increased steadily during the past six years and has somewhat more than doubled in that time. For the past four years Canada has been third among the gold producing countries of the world, surpassed only by the Union of South Africa, and the United States of America," and now yields somewhat more than 9 per cent of the annual output of the world."-"The Gold Situation in Canada". Bulletin of Development Branch, Canadian Pacific Railway. The history of gold mining in Canada is comparatively modern and does not take one further back than the late 'fifties of the 19th century. If the efforts of the early explorers in Canada were expended in "seeking with equal ardour, proselytes and gold", history fails of any record of their success in the search for the precious metal. As early as 1849 not a few Canadians travelled from the east by land and water to the Californian goldfields. In the then settled part of Canadathe east-people were alive to the value of any mineral discovery; but the west, owing to its remoteness and to there being no ready means of communication, was virtually isolated from the east.

Jan 1, 1927

By Edward Thomas

Note. - Securing mine roof through consolidating thin or otherwise incompetent strata to increase overall thickness of the immediate roof beam is a new method of roof support and control which has aroused great interest amongst mining engineers and which is now being experimented with and thoroughly investigated by the United States Bureau of Mines. A paper on Roof Bolting, illustrated by photographs and motion-picture films, will be presented by Edward Thomas, of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, at the forthcoming Annual Meeting of the Mining Society of Nova Scotia. In the following pages, Mr. Thomas describes the methods used in roof bolting as illustrated by the photographs that accompanied his paper. The photographs are supplied through the courtesy of the United States Bureau of Mines, whose willing cooperation with miners and mining engineers in Canada is very well known and even more greatly appreciated. This method of publishing Mr. Thomas's paper is adopted because few, if any, Canadian mining engineers have actually seen installations of roof bolts and it is felt that the best possible presentation of such an interesting subject through the medium of the Bulletin will be attained by publication of the photograps over explanatory captions. - Ed.

Jan 1, 1950

By D. H. C. Wilton, W. A. Sears

"Abstract-The 682.8 ± 1.6 Ma Tickle Point Group consists mainly of rhyolite flows and tuffs with- in the Avalon Zone of the Appalachian Orogen in Newfoundland. Stratabound massive sulfide mineralization, consisting of pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and galena, occurs at the Winter Hill prospect, where a lower pyritic, Cu-rich zone and an upper Zn-Pb-rich zone are hosted by a carbonate-calc-silicate lens. At the Frenchman Head prospect, stringers of pyrite, minor sphalerite, chalcopyrite and rare galena are hosted by felsic volcanic rocks of the Tickle Point Group .Base metal ratios, metal zonations and the overall stratigraphic framework suggest that these sulfide occurrences represent volcanogenic massive to semi-massive sulfide mineralization (stringer type at Frenchman Head). As such these prospects represent the only known VMS occurrences within the Avalon Zone of Newfoundland. Pb isotope data indicate that galena from the Winter Hill prospect is less radiogenic and older than galena from Dunnage Zone occurrences, and suggest that the Winter Hill mineralization formed in an environment tectonically distinct (exotic) from the Dunnage Zone."

Jan 1, 1996

By E. Adam, B. Milkereit, M. Salisbury, L. E. Reed, G. Perron

Integrating seismic reflection, borehole geophysical, and physical rock property studies is an effective means of mapping lithological contacts and structures in the crystalline crust. At Les Mines Selbaie in the northern volcanic zone of the Late Archean Abitibi Subprovince, a high-frequency seismic reflection profile has provided the first images of deep crustal structures of this important polymetallic mine site. Physical rock property and borehole geophysical studies confirm that prominent seismic reflections can be caused by lithological contacts, faults and sulphide mineralization. At Les Mines Selbaie, the first two of these are shown by this study. Clearly identifiable reflection images from sulphide mineralization have not been demonstrated in analysis of the profile. The seismic images provide useful information about gross structure in the vicinity of Les Mines Selbaie. They can also place important constraints on the sequence of tectonic events and, therefore, can aid future deep exploration programs.

Jan 1, 1997

By J. E. Hawley

"The zinc-lead deposit of the Lake Geneva Mining Company is on lot 7, con. VI, Hess township, Sudbury district, Ontario, about 10 miles northwest of the northern rim of the Sudbury Basin. Though a relatively small deposit, it shows some rather interesting relations to cross-cutting, pre-ore, quartz diabase dykes, which merit description.The deposit was discovered in October 1924 by J. H. Collins beneath iron-stained drift and oxidized sulphides. This proved to be the northwestern extremity of the orebody, the remainder of which extends southeast below swampy ground. Exploration began in 1927. In 1928 a vertical shaft was sunk to 250 feet and a level established at 235 feet. Later the shaft was deepened to 400 feet and new levels opened at 315 and 375 feet. In 1943 an inclined winze was sunk below the vein from the 315-foot level to a vertical depth of 640 feet, and two additional levels were opened at 525 and 615 feet respectively.The geology of the area has been described by T. T. Quirke (1), F. F. Osborne (2), F. J. Alcock (3), and Ralph Tuck (4). Private reports have also been made by Carl Tolman, J. E. Gill, and K. W. Fritzsche. Tuck's paper, covering the work completed to 1930, gives a detailed account of the character of the ore and enclosing rocks.Up to May 1944, when the property was closed, all ore above the 375-foot level and a small tonnage from below this elevation had been removed. Ore mined from 1941 to 1944 yielded the following:"

Jan 1, 1954

By N. A. Jabit

The dissolution behaviour of ilmenite in acid solutions has been studied by many researchers to improve the leaching efficiency. Most studies which utilized natural ilmenite from different origins resulted in different reactivity due to the alteration caused by the weathering process. Previous researchers have suggested that the greater reactivity shown by some ilmenite samples towards sulphuric acid may be a result of the mineral being relatively unaltered. In the present study a rotating synthetic ilmenite disc of 2.2 cm diameter was subjected to leaching studies in hydrochloric acid. The dissolution rates of iron and titanium from synthetic ilmenite were determined in hydrochloric acid solutions (4 M to 9 M) over a temperature range of 50 to 80°C. Results show that the rate of dissolution of both iron and titanium increased with the increase in acid concentration. However, the rates decreased with time and obeyed a parabolic rate law indicating the blockage of the surface by an insoluble product. The rates of dissolution of both iron and titanium were higher in the presence of SnCl2 and remained unaffected with time indicating the reductive role of SnCl2 which inhibits the formation of surface blocking solids. Application to natural ilmenite is also discussed.

Jan 1, 2014

By Joseph U. Messenger

A method of applying ammonium hydroxide to a drill stem containing hydrogen sulphide gas and hydro-gen-sulphide-bearing oil and water so as to remove the hydrogen sulphide as ammonium sulphide is de-scribed. It was concluded that the method allowed trips with drill pipe filled with sour fluids to be made more safely, more rapidly, and more economically. INTRODUCTION THE DANGER of poisoning rig crews during drill stem tests of sour wells by exposing them to hydrogen sulphide gas is well known in Canada. Concentrations of hydro-gen sulphide in sour gases range from 0 to 40 volume percent. There have been numerous casualties from hydrogen sulphide exposure during drill stem testing. Some have resulted in permanent injuries; in some cases the injuries have been fatal. For example, in Alberta in 1957 there were four deaths and 100 exposures which required medical treatment. These fatalities and injuries indicate the need for a more effective way of handling hydrogen sulphide in oilfield operations.

Jan 1, 1958

By C. R. Tang

The respirable dust real-time monitoring equipment export information is complex, and electromagnetic wave wireless transmission is affected largely under mine conditions. The respirable dust concentration information transmission method based on led light equipment is proposed. The respirable dust concentration data of the individual real-time monitoring equipment is encoded to fit the system transmission; the encoded signal is modulated onto the LED mine lamp; the light signal is transmitted by the spatial channel; the signal is received by the receiver to the photoelectric conversion to restore the respirable dust concentration data for subsequent processing. Simulation and verification experiments showed that the respirable dust concentration information transmission method based on led light equipment can achieve the LED miners? lamps visible light wireless data transmission.

Aug 1, 2013

By P. Condori

Palabora Mining Copper (PMC) has two autogenous mills that have been in operation since 1976. The mills were originally designed to treat 30 000 t/d of open cast copper ore in a closed circuit with cyclones. As the ore body went deeper the open cast method of mining was changed to block caving, a consequence of this was the dolerite content (hardest barren material) increased significantly, increasing the production rate of pebbles and thus reducing the milling capacity. In order to cope with the increased ore hardness and to increase mill capacity, a second ball milling stage and pebble crushing were incorporated to the circuit. The above actions created new challenges to the circuit operation and bottlenecks in different areas of the milling circuit. This paper reports the holistic work performed on the Palabora autogenous milling circuit including the implementation of a mill constraint control scheme, the implementation of a pebble removal system from the circuit and a new circuit configuration. The achieved plant stability and increment of ore throughput are also reported in this paper.

Jan 1, 2012

By Frederik H. Kriel, John Ralston, Craig Priest

"Stream-based microfluidic solvent extraction offers a novel alternative to bulk-scale mixer-settler operations. However present maximum throughputs are restrictive and there are engineering challenges that need to be overcome before the technology is robust. This is especially the case for mineral processing, where circuits must be able to handle variable feed streams with long retention times and where maintenance should be minimized. This paper highlights research directed at investigating and evaluating these challenges for actual mineral leach solutions of metal ions. Molecular and particulate channel fouling is discussed. Most extraction systems studied to date show no effects that would preclude use of the technology. For rare earth elements (REE) with fast extraction rates, scale-up of volumetric throughput to 100 L/h using suitable arrays of channels, microfluidic chips and modules is shown to be achievable using a small contactor (approx. 2 m3) platform. This requires only 2–3 % of the typical aqueous phase inventory and residence time used in an equivalent mixer-settler. For a circuit with 100 contactors, the overall residence time would be less than 1 h, using an aqueous inventory of 40 L.INTRODUCTIONHydrometallurgy is of pivotal importance in many mineral processing circuits around the world, with liquid-liquid solvent extraction (SX) a key step in the separation of many base metals (e.g. Cu and Ni), radioisotopes, precious metals, and the ‘technology’ metals, such as rare earth elements (REEs) (Ritcey & Ashbrook, 1979). The standard equipment for SX in mineral processing is the mixer-settler, in which liquid dispersions are created, by agitation, to increase the surface-to-bulk ratio and, thus increase the mass transfer rate between the liquid phases. In stream-based microfluidic SX (microSX), these high surface-to-volume ratios are achieved by contacting microscopic streams (Ciceri, Perera, & Stevens, 2014), rather than forming small droplets, so that phase disengagement can be accelerated (essentially instantaneous via branching of the two streams of liquid at a channel junction). MicroSX is profoundly different from bulk mixer-settler SX operations and offers exciting opportunities for processing hydrometallurgy solutions (Kriel, Holzner, Grant, Ash, Woollam, Ralston, & Priest, 2015; Priest, Zhou, Klink, Sedev, & Ralston, 2012). Nonetheless, the advantages of using microfluidic environments are presently balanced by very significant challenges relating to throughput, process control, coupling of stages, flow stability, and fouling. If these challenges can be met using smart chip designs, process control and clever engineering, high-value/low-volume SX processes stand to benefit greatly."

Jan 1, 2016

By K. C. Marsden, B. Pesic

"Interest in the efficient production and recycling of rare earth elements has increased in recent years along with the prices of these elements. The molten LiCl-KCl eutectic is one ionic solvent which can be utilized for these purposes. The LiCl-KCl eutectic has also been selected as the electrolyte for focused research for advanced pyrochemical recycling processes for used nuclear fuel in several nations. Rare earth elements are fission products with notable neutron absorption characteristics, and thorough understanding of the properties and behavior of these elements is critical to their successful partition from the electrochemically-similar actinide elements. The number of research papers investigating individual rare earth elements has greatly expanded in the approximately 35 years since the last review. These research papers are presented in a variety of languages and technical formats, making data difficult to compare, and are sometimes contradictory. A review and summary of diffusion properties of rare earths in LiCl-KCl eutectic was performed, and the data translated to a common format for evaluation. INTRODUCTIONThe rare earth elements have experienced growing importance in recent decades due to their application in high technology, including optical lenses, lasers, high-temperature superconductors, improved alloys, high energy-density batteries, and powerful magnets for compact electronic devices. Their historic production methods and uses are detailed in several texts (Hampel 1971; Bautista &Jackson 1992; Gupta & Krishnamurthy 2005). A s the p rice o f these e lements has r isen in r ecent years, so has interest in their efficient production and possible recycling options. Rare earth oxides are concentrated through hydrometallurgical techniques, but the high thermochemical stability of their oxides precludes production of rare earth metals in aqueous systems. However, the wide electrochemical window and better control of pO2- in fused salt systems allows the production of these reactive metals from their halides or oxides. The high ionic conductivity and diffusivity of the molten ionic electrolyte allow high currents with limited resistive losses (Fray 1980). Electrolytic methods in fused salts are commonly adopted for the production of bulk rare earths in a variety of molten salt systems. Fluorides are sometimes proposed for oxide electrowinning processes due to ability to dissolve the rare earth oxide, reduced hygroscopic behavior, and the wider electrochemical separation between O2 and halide gas evolution (Mohan Das, Damodaran et al. 1988; Gibilaro, Pivato et al. 2011). However, in most electrolytic production processes, such as that for mischmetal, the rare earth oxides are converted to chloride prior to electrolysis in a chloride bath (Gschneidner Jr. & Eyring 1978; Sharma 1987). Of the chlorides, the LiCl-KCl eutectic is one specific medium in which metal production and production-related investigations have been conducted (Gschneidner J r. & Eyring 1978; Driscoll & Fray 1993). L iCl-KCl eutectic has the advantages o f h igh conductivity, but relatively low viscosity and operating temperature. The low operating temperature allows simpler design, with reduced energy consumption, salt volatility and cell corrosion."

Jan 1, 2012

By A. Quilodran, B. Jakovljevic, T. McCallum, P. Wong

"Rare earth separation by solvent extraction (SX) requires multiple separation plants each consisting of many extract, scrub, and strip stages to separate the individual metals. SX modeling advances have brought benefits to circuit design and process optimization by quickly narrowing test conditions without the need for exhaustive laboratory studies. Modeling can be used to optimize circuit configuration, O/A ratios, and acidities, which allows for CAPEX and OPEX savings. A comparison between pilot plant data and the results expected from modeling is presented for rare earth separations with CYANEX® 572.INTRODUCTIONRare earth separations can be difficult due to limited separation between the elements (Xie, Zhang, Dreisinger, & Doyle, 2014). This requires relatively complex solvent extraction circuits utilizing multiple extract, scrub, and strip stages as well as multiple SX configurations to achieve the desired metal purities. Designing rare earth circuits can be complex, and significant time and testing may be necessary to determine the required staging and optimal conditions.Circuit modeling for rare earth separations has been introduced to the industry using CYANEX® 572 extractant (Soderstrom, McCallum, Jakovljevic, & Quilodran, 2014). CYANEX® 572 is an acidic organophosphorus extractant formulation which has a weaker ligand-metal complex strength than that of the traditionally used phosphonic acid extractants. This allows efficient extraction while requiring a significantly lower acid concentration for stripping (Wang, Li, Zhao, Dong, & Sun, 2015). The reduced acid requirement in strip is expected to provide OPEX savings.The modeling can be utilized to quickly determine the required acidity and organic/aqueous (O/A) ratio for a given separation. It is also expected to reduce CAPEX requirements as optimal staging can be determined, and implemented.CYANEX® 572, combined with modeling, was utilized to produce a purified dysprosium (Dy) stream. To achieve this separation, multiple SX circuits were designed and operational conditions specified to separate Dy from the mixed rare earth chloride feed."

Jan 1, 2016

By A. M. A. Mohamed, F. H. Samuel, S. Valtierra, H. W. Doty, A. M. Samuel

"The influence of Fe, Mn, Cu and Mg alloying additions, Sr modification and grain refinement on the microstructure of as-cast and solution heat-treated Al-10.8% Si alloys was investigated using optical microscopy and EPMA techniques. The results showed that the modification effect of Sr diminished with increasing Cu and Mg additions, due to Sr-Cu-Mg interactions. Strontium caused segregation of AlzCu in areas away from eutectic Si regions, and altered the precipitation sequence of the a-Ah5(Fe,Mn)3Siz iron intermetallic from post-dendritic to pre-dendritic, with the phase observed within the a-Al dendrites. Depending upon the alloy Fe and Mn content, a coarser variation (""sludge"") of the a-Fe phase occurred, in the form of polyhedral shaped particles. The AhCu phase dissolved almost completely during solution heat treatment, while Al5Cu2Mg8Si6, sludge, and a-Aln(Fe,Mn)3Siz phases persisted in all alloys, particularly at high Mg and Fe levels. The f3-Al5(Fe,Mn)Si phase dissolved partially in Sr-modified alloys, the dissolution becoming more pronounced after solution heat treatment."

Jan 1, 2006

By W. Beres

Many non-commercial operators are currently faced with the need to operate fleets of legacy gas turbine engines. How long such engines can be kept in service safely, without replacing a significant portion of their aging structural components, has become a growing concern to engine life-cycle managers, due to uncertainties in the remaining lives of critical components of these engines. This paper describes the application of the damage tolerance methodology to predict safe inspection intervals (SII) for critical components of gas turbine engines, using components of a turboprop engine for a transport aircraft as examples. High temperature components of this engine are made of advanced aerospace alloys. The methods of predicting three-dimensional fatigue crack growth at the critical location of turbine discs and spacers using both commercial and in-house developed algorithms are presented. Sensitivity analyses are performed to determine the effect of variations in material parameters on the predicted safe inspection intervals. In addition, spin rig tests performed for both turbine discs and spacers are described. Finally, crack growth rates predicted by numerical analyses are compared to those obtained from spin rig testing and the damage tolerance of the turbine components is assessed.

Jan 1, 2015

By A. J. Sinclair, N. Champigny

"The Cinola gold deposit in the northern Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, is in a clastic sequence consisting of a lower shale of the Late Cretaceous Haida Formation and an overlying interbedded sequence of pebble conglomerate and coarse-grained sandstone of the Middle Miocene Skonun Formation. Both formations are intruded by a stock and dykes of porphyritic rhyolite. Two K-Ar model ages indicate mineralization and probably porphyritic-rhyolite intrusion at about 14 Ma (middle Miocene). A splay of the Sandspit fault system constitutes the footwall on the west of the deposit.The Cinola deposit can be classed as Carlin-type based on features such as (1) small particle size for gold, (2) Tertiary age of mineralization, (3) element abundances (e.g. high Hg), (4) dominantly argillic alteration, (5) a structural setting associated with major faults, (6) porosity of the host rock and (7) spatial and possibly genetic association with felsic intrusions. Gold is widespread and occurs mainly as grains of< 0.5 11-m in silicified sedimentary rock, and in quartz veins. Locally, coarse > 100 11-m particles of native gold occur in quartz veins, especially in strongly brecciated porphyritic-rhyolite. Ore minerals are mainly pyrite and marcasite, but include small amounts of chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, pyrrhotite, cinnabar, tiemannite (HgSe), rutile, magnetite, hematite and limonite in addition to native gold and electrum. No silver minerals have been found; silver was found in gold particles in amounts varying from 6.2 to 24.2 weight per cent. Alteration products are sericite, illite, kaolinite and chlorite, with abundant quartz of several stages.The host rocks, specifically the Skonun Formation, formed as an alluvial plain facies in a braided river system discharging into a marine basin in early Middle Miocene time. During the Middle Miocene, this sequence was intruded by a rhyolitic stock. The highly porous and permeable Miocene clastic sequence apparently provided an optimum setting for the development of a large geothermal system, the energy for which probably derived from the rhyolite stock. Mineral deposition followed a well-defined paragenesis, which, from oldest to youngest, is: (1) precipitation of iron sulphide minerals, and early quartz; (2) several stqges of quartz veins, with deposition of sphalerite succeeded by galena, chalcopyrite and visible gold. Micron-size gold was precipitated throughout these two stages of mineral deposition. Argillitization of the host rocks probably in part coincided with the mineralization and continued during cooling of the geothermal cell.In-situ reserves have been estimated at 41.1 million metric tons averaging 1.85 g Au/tonne using a cutoff grade of0.86 g Au/ tonne."

Jan 1, 1982

By F W. Irwin

In recent years, a number of significant developments have occurred in the steel industry which are no-table and of general interest. This paper is confined to the steel-melting phase of the business. The development of high production rates on Stelco&apos;s Basic Open Hearth furnaces is chronologically summarized. Al-though various aspects of this subject have been presented previously, this paper summarizes the developments in high fuel rates, the usage of basic refractories, low and high oxygen rates and hearth maintenance. Background T HE interest which has been shown in steelmaking techniques in the past few years has been due, primarily, to the extremely high production rates obtained. Upon further study of the facilities and techniques employed to generate this steel at record rates, tonnage oxygen appears as the common factor. It can be stated that tonnage oxy-gen has revolutionized steelmaking techniques to a degree never before encountered. It was only about ten years ago that the use of large amounts of pure oxygen in a steelmaking

Jan 1, 1965

By Greg Yuriy

Over the past two decades, Vale Canada has used discrete-event simulation in a key role to support many underground mining studies. Traditionally, general purpose simulation software was developed for manufacturing and service applications. Not until recently have Mine Designers and Simulation Specialists been able to model the dynamics of underground mining scenarios without extensive manipulation of the inherent tools and entities contained within these simulation environments. This paper discusses Vale Canada?s past experiences with a variety of simulation software, describing model development methods and highlighting some of the lessons learned. The paper concludes with a review of recently considered software and provides a framework of desired attributes/functions for modeling mining scenarios.

Aug 1, 2013

By Sazol Das, Hany Ahmed, Ganesh Bhaskaran, Zhuoru Wu

"Friction stir welding (FSW) process in lap configuration for dissimilar materials has been developed and tested for steel to aluminum joining. A novel cylindrical tool was designed for improved material flow. The joining of steel to high strength 5xxx and 6xxx aluminum was carried out by FSW technique using optimized process parameters. The microstructure, micro-hardness, joint strength and corrosion properties at the weld interface have been investigated. Optical and scanning electron microscopy reveled a well layered structure at the interface and lap shear tests of the welds showed excellent fracture resistance. Neutral salt spray tests for up to 500 hours (ASTM B117) were carried out on the bare steel to aluminum FSW joints, which did not show neither evidence of corrosion at the weld interface, nor any degradation of the weld strength. The FSW lap configuration was applied to prototype commercial vehicle structural component whereby a steel stiffener insert was friction stir welded to high strength 6xxx aluminum alloy. The interface microstructure showed layered root without any steel shattering in aluminum side. A finite element study was carried out to quantify the benefits where it was found that the stiffness increases by 76% under bending loads and 36% in torsion loads.INTRODUCTION Energy preservation and environmental issues, namely carbon footprint and legislation around emission in transportation industries has led to a growing need to use of lightweight materials such as aluminum and magnesium alloys along with various grades of steel in structural application, while still maintaining their strength and crashworthiness. Assembling dissimilar materials within integrated structure is thus a stringent requirement related to optimum performance. In order to achieve an efficient technology of joining dissimilar materials such as aluminum to steel, it remains difficult to select an effective welding process for a given joint configuration. The use of aluminum in transportation industries for structural component is not exclusive in a design and is almost always used along with various steel grades for a mixed materials solution, thus dissimilar aluminum/steel lap joining is of great interest since this is widely used in the assembly of parts (e.g. pillar, frame rails, chassis, body in white (BIW), CAB, etc.)."

Jan 1, 2018