Joining Technologies for Aluminium Castings-A Review

Aluminium castings have been widely used in many industries, including automotive, aerospace, telecommunication, construction, consumer products, etc., due to their lightweight, good electric and thermal conductivity, and electromagnetic interference/radio frequency interference (EMI/RFI) shielding properties. The main applications of aluminium castings are in automotive industry. For lighweighting purposes, more and more aluminium castings are used in the automotive vehicle structures to reduce weight, improve fuel efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, due to the features of cast aluminium, such as porosity, poor surface quality, a tendency toward hot cracking, and low ductility, joining these materials is problematic. In this paper, the joining technologies for aluminium castings and the related issues, mainly cracking and porosity, are reviewed. The current state-of-the-art of joining technologies is summarized, and areas for future research are recommended.