You can weld aluminum to most other metals relatively easily via adhesive bonding or mechanical

fastening. However, in order to weld aluminum to steel, special techniques are required.

When metals such as steel, copper, magnesium, or titanium are directly arc welded to aluminum,
very brittle intermetallic compounds start to form. To avoid this, you must isolate the other metal from
the molten aluminum during the arc welding process. Here you'll learn about two of the most
common methods for doing this successfully.

Bimetallic transition inserts.

Creating a bimetallic transition insert is a popular method used when welding aluminum to

steel, and it's often used for producing welded connections of excellent quality within structural
applications.

These inserts are best described as sections of material that are comprised of one part aluminum
with an equal part steel or stainless steel already bonded to the aluminum.

The methods used to bond these dissimilar materials and form the bimetallic transition are usually
rolling, explosion welding, friction welding, flash welding (or hot pressure welding), and arc welding.

Arc welding these steel aluminum transition inserts can be done via normal methods such
as GMAW or GTAW. One side of the insert is welded steel to steel, and the other is welded
aluminum to aluminum.

To avoid overheating the inserts during welding, it's good practice to perform the aluminum-to-
aluminum weld first. This also provides a larger heat sink when the steel-to-steel weld is performed.

The bimetallic transition insert method is commonly used to:

 Join aluminum deckhouses and steel decks on ships

 Weld aluminum tubing with steel or stainless steel tube sheets on heat exchangers
 Produce arc-welded joints between aluminum and steel pipelines

Coat the steel prior to welding.

Another method many use to successfully weld aluminum to steel is dip coating, also commonly
referred to as hot dip aluminizing. This simply means that prior to welding the steel and aluminum
together, the steel is first coated in aluminum.

Once coated, the steel member can be arc welded to the aluminum member, if care is taken to
prevent the arc from impinging on the steel. A specific technique must be used during welding to
direct the arc onto the aluminum member and to allow the molten aluminum from the weld pool to
flow onto the aluminum-coated steel.

Another coating method for welding aluminum to steel, called brazing, involves coating the steel
surface with silver solder and then welding them together using aluminum filler alloy.  

Please note that neither of these coating-type joint methods are typically depended on for full
mechanical strength and are usually used for sealing purposes only.

If you want to learn more about welding aluminum to steel, or if you have a question that wasn't
answered here, please feel free to contact us.
6.5   INDIVIDUAL FILLER METAL CHARACTERISTICS

6.5.1ER70S-2 - This classification covers

filler metals that contain small amounts oftitanium,
zirconium, and aluminum, in addition to the normal deoxidizing elements of manga-nese
and silicon.  These wires are commonly referred to as “triple deoxidized wires”.  They
willproduce sound welds in all types of carbon or mild steels.  They are especially suited
forwelding carbon steels that are rusty or have mill scale on the surface.  Weld integrity
will varywith the amount of oxides on the surface of the steel.  They may be used with
CO , argon-CO ,or argon-O shielding gas mixtures.  They work well in the short-
2 2 2 

circuiting mode forout-of-position welding.6.5.2ER-70S-3 - Filler metals of this

classification contain a relatively low percentage ofdeoxidizing elements; however, they
are one of the most widely used GMAW wires.  Theyproduce welds of fair quality when
used to weld rimmed steels (steels with high oxygen con-tent) using argon-O  or argon-
2

CO  as a shielding gas.  The use of straight CO  is not recom-mended when welding
2 2

rimmed steels.  Sound welds may be made when welding semi-killed(low oxygen) and
killed (fully deoxidized) steels using argon-O , argon-CO , or straight CO .6.5.2.1Wires of
2 2 2

this classification may be used for out-of-position welding in theshort-circuiting transfer

mode using argon-CO or CO shielding gas.6.5.2.2When CO  shielding gas is used, high
2  2  2

welding currents should be avoided becausewelds produced may not meet the
minimum tensile and yield strengths of this specification.6.5.3ER70S-4 - Containing
slightly higher silicon and manganese contents than theER70S-3 type, these filler
metals will produce weld metal of higher tensile strength.  Primarilyused for
CO  shielding gas applications where a higher degree of deoxidization is
2

necessary.6.5.4ER70S-5 - The filler metals in this classification contain aluminum as

well as siliconand manganese as deoxidizers.  The addition of aluminum allows these
wires to be used athigher welding currents with CO  as the shielding gas.  Not used for
2

out-of-positionshort-circuiting type transfer because of high puddle fluidity.  Can be used

for welding rusty ordirty steels with a slight loss of weld quality.6.5.5ER70S-6 - Wires in
this classification contain the highest combination of deoxidiz-ers in the form of silicon
and manganese.  This allows them to be used for welding all types ofcarbon steel, even
rimmed steels, using CO  as a shielding gas.  They produce smooth, wellshaped beads,
2

and are particularly well suited for welding sheet metal.  This filler metal is alsouseable
for out-of-position welding with short-circuiting transfer.  Moderately rusted or scaled