Abstract
This study evaluated relative hot cracking susceptibility of commercial aluminum alloy welds, and then suggested possible mechanisms operated in the weld fusion zone and in the heat affected zone based on the observed cracking morphologies, fractography and microstructural features. The fusion zone solidification cracking was found to be mainly due to a microsegregation of Cu, Si, and Mg in grain boundaries, while liquation cracking in the HAZ was by the incipient melting of the segregated grain boundaries and the consitutional liquation of large aging precipitates and intermetallic compounds in the partially melted zone adjacent to the fusion line which experienced a rapid thermal excursion during welding.
