The joining of powder metallurgy products is of importance because of high demand in many industrial applications. In this study, the effect of welding voltage on the joint quality has been investigated using discharge arc stud welding, a low heat input welding method, without gas protection to join steel stubs to microwave sintered compacts containing a powder mixture of 26 atomic % Al and Fe (balance). It has been shown that welds with steel stubs are prone to side cracking in the weld zone and they also suffer from the oxidation of metal powders adjacent to weld zone. The forms of oxides are continuous and laminar type in welds with steel stubs and the composition of weld zone changes with increasing arc voltage.
powder metallurgy; stud welding; microwave sintering
