Trans. Indian Inst. Met.

TP 1902
Vol.57, No. 5, October 2004, pp. 451-459

GAS TUNGSTEN ARC WELDED AA 2219 ALLOY

USING SCANDIUM CONTAINING FILLERS -
MECHANICAL AND CORROSION BEHAVIOR

S.R.Koteswara Rao1, G.Madhusudhan Reddy2, K.Srinivasa Rao1, P.Srinivasa Rao3,

M.Kamaraj1, K.Prasad Rao1
1
Dept of Metallurgical and Materials Engg., IIT Madras, Chennai-600 036
2
Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad 500 058
3
LHWC/LPSC,ISRO, Bangalore
e-mail: sajjarkr@yahoo.com

(Received 6 February 2004 ; in revised form 22 April 2004)

ABSTRACT

Weld metals of AA 2219 (Al-6%Cu), welded with 2319 filler, exhibit yield strength values of about 40%
compared to their base metal counterparts. This study is an attempt to improve the yield strength of 2219 welds
by using fillers containing scandium. Pitting corrosion behavior of the welds has also been studied. Welds were
made with Al-Cu, Al-Cu-Sc, Al-Mg, and Al-Mg-Sc fillers. Manual AC-TIG process has been employed to
weld 8.5mm thick 2219 T87 alloy plates. Tensile and corrosion behavior of welds was studied and results
were substantiated by metallography. Metallographic studies showed extensive grain refinement in welds made
of scandium containing fillers. Presence of scandium, improved the resistance to cracking in case of welds
made of Al-Mg fillers. Improvement in mechanical properties has been observed due to the presence of
scandium and the rise in percent elongation was significant. Crack free welds with significant improvement
in mechanical properties were obtained with a weld metal composition having small amounts of Mg and Sc.
Scandium addition did not alter the pitting corrosion resistance of the weld metals. Magnesium containing weld
metals were found to be inferior in terms of pitting corrosion resistance.

1. INTRODUCTION process in fabrication. GTAW is by far the cheapest

Heat treatable aluminum alloy AA2219, with 5.8-
6.8% copper as the main alloying element is widely
used for aerospace applications. These applications
involve structural components such as rocket shells,
cryogenic tanks, engine casings and some other
smaller components. Alloy 2219 is preferred mainly
due to its good strength at high temperature as well
as cryogenic temperatures(200 to 200C). Good
specific strength, high ductility, formability and
reasonable corrosion resistance are other advantages.
Though, welding processes such as electron beam
welding and friction stir welding are proved to result
in sound and high strength welds, the cost and
technology involved and limitations on their
applicability in some of the situations, make it
necessary to use Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW)
and easy to use process, which can provide quality
welds in case of aluminum alloys.
However, certain disadvantages do exist in using
fusion welding processes on the heat treatable
aluminum alloys. Solidification cracking and loss of
strength in the weld metal and heat affected zone are
the two most important problems. One of the
important aspect is the amount of alloying elements
in an alloy. At a very low level of alloying elements
the amount of liquid films at grain boundaries is
very low and hence the low susceptibility to cracking.
At a very high levels of alloying elements, for
example in the case of 2219 alloy with about 6%
copper, there is excess liquid available during the
solidification which flows in to the cracks that form
and heals the cracks. Even in case of highly weldable
 TRANS. INDIAN INST. MET., VOL. 57, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2004
alloys such as 2219, the joint strength is only 40%
when compared to the T87 base metal strength. This
is true both in autogenous welds as well as those
welded with the matching filler 2319, which contains
slightly higher contents of Ti and Zr. The loss of
strength is due to the melting and quick
resolidification, which renders all the strengthening
precipitates to dissolve and the material is just as
good as solution treated.
Due to the poor weld metal strength, the sections of
a structure, which are to be welded has to be twice
or thrice thicker compared to the rest of the area.
Most of the times, this is achieved by starting with
a thick sectioned plate and reducing the thickness in
sections, which are away from the welding area.
Chemical milling or CNC pocket milling is employed
to cut away the portions and reduce the total weight
of the tank or a shell. Obviously the whole fabrication
becomes costly and cumbersome. If the strength of
the weld metal/joint can be increased by about 20 to
30% the cost and weight savings would be significant.
Study of recent literature indicates that scandium
can provide the necessary grain refinement as well
as strengthening in the weld metals. As far as wrought
alloys are concerned, the strengthening effect of
scandium is well documented. Seidman et al1 have
investigated various aluminum scandium alloys at
room temperatures as well as at temperatures up to
500C and found that room temperature flow stress
of aluminum increases significantly from about 20
MPa for pure aluminum to about 200 MPa with an
addition of 0.3% scandium. More interestingly they
also showed that this strength value would not change
in case of any creep experiment conducted below
300C. Apart from being added to pure aluminum,
scandium also has been added to many existing
aluminum alloy systems, Al-Mg system being the
most widely experimented with. Aiura et al2 have
added scandium to 5083 alloy and investigated the
effect. Small additions of scandium (0.2%) resulted
in about 25% increase in yield strength of an extruded
product. It has been shown by Kendig et al3 that an
Al-Mg alloy when added with suitable amounts of
scandium and zirconium gives an yield strength up
to 640 MPa. They have attributed this increase in
strength to three mechanisms: sub-micron grain size,
precipitation strengthening due to Al3(Sc,Zr), and
solid solution strengthening, being effective in that
452
order. Ocenasek et al4 have investigated the effects
of scandium additions to alloy 5754(Al-Mg-Mn-Cr).
Fuller et al5 have shown that small amounts of Zr
additions to scandium containing alloys would delay
the onset and kinetics of over aging at 350 to 375C.
However, they conclude that addition of Zr does not
have any effect on the hardness of the alloy. Many
similar reports on different aluminum alloy systems
prove the effectiveness of scandium in grain
refinement, strengthening and creep resistance.
Importance of keeping Mg as one of the alloying
elements in aluminum scandium alloys is highlighted
by Marquiss et al6. Davidov et al7 have enlisted the
principles of making scandium additions to different
existing aluminum alloy systems. They bring out,
from literature as well as their own work the point,
that out of the alloying elements generally used in
aluminum alloys (Mg, Zn, Li, Cu, Si), Zn, Mg and
Li do not react with scandium and hence it is more
expedient to add scandium to these alloying systems.
Very few researchers have investigated the effect of
scandium additions on the corrosion behavior of these
alloys. Ahmad et al8 have added scandium (0.1% to
0.3%) to an Al-2.5% Mg alloy (5052) and found
that scandium addition does not introduce any
appreciable loss in corrosion resistance in 3.5% NaCl
solution. From the survey of literature it can be seen
that the introduction of scandium is redefining
aluminum alloys by raising the strength levels and
creep properties. Some other studies have indicated
positive results in case of strength at cryogenic
temperatures and fracture toughness9. A kind of
summary is given by Irving 10 on the use of scandium
in the weld filler materials. In case of 6061 alloy
cracking got reduced to zero with a small addition
of scandium. In case of Al-Mg-Sc alloys, Lathabai
et al 11 showed that the cracking susceptibility does
not change at a scandium level of 0.26%, during a
varestraint test, and they have suggested that weld
metals might need higher levels of scandium content
when compared to their wrought alloy counterparts
to obtain a good strengthening effect and resistance
to solidification cracking. Aluminum alloys belonging
to 2000 and 7000 series have been investigated by
Norman et al12. Wedge shaped castings of the above
alloys with different scandium contents are made,
slices of material are cut from thicker as well as
thinner sections of the wedge to study the effect of
cooling rate. The thinner section of the wedge would
 KOTESWARA RAO, et.al. : GAS TUNGSTEN ARC WELDED AA 2219 ALLOY USING SCANDIUM
CONTAINING FILLERS - MECHANICAL AND CORROSION BEHAVIOR

have undergone a cooling rate equivalent to the weld
metals in TIG or MIG welding and the material
taken from that section would simulate the weld
metals. This method is adopted to reduce the time
involved in making new fillers. They have reported
significant increase in ultimate tensile strength, about
100MPa in case of 2024 alloy and up to 200 MPa
in case of 7475 alloy. Some work in this area has
been done at Defense Metallurgical Research
Laboratory by Mukhopadhyay et al13 on 7010 alloy.
They have concluded that scandium greatly increases
the hot cracking susceptibility and about 25% rise in
weld joint strength in the as welded condition. The
present work aims at finding out the effect of
scandium and Zr additions, to some of the existing
filler alloys. In the presence of large amount of
copper in alloy 2219, how effective these additions
are, in improving the mechanical properties of these
welds, and what is their effect on corrosion behavior
are the issues being considered.
2. EXPERIMENTAL
The chemical compositions of the base material
(AA2219) and the fillers used in this study are given
in Table 1. Manual AC-GTAW process is employed
to weld two 8.5mm thick 2219 (T87) plates to form
a joint. Joint design used is V-groove butt with 60
included angle and high purity argon is used for
shielding and back purging. The electrodes and base
plates are acid pickled, water and acetone washed
and finally wire brushed just before welding. Three
passes were used to complete the weld. Welding
parameters used are given in Table 2 . It can be
noted that filler materials selected were 2319 and
5356 and their equivalents containing about 0.25-
0.3% scandium, which are designated as 2319Sc
and 5025. Filler alloy 5025 was commercially
available. The filler 2319Sc is made through the
melting route. Ingots are rolled in to sheets of
thickness 2.5mm, homogenized and cut into thin
slices which can be used like stick electrodes for
manual GTA welding. Welds are also made with a
combination of 2319Sc and 5025 filler wires, by
pre-placing weighed amounts of these wires in a
groove and making a bead on plate run. This resulted
in a weld metal with an approximate composition of
Al-6Cu-0.25Sc-0.4Mg. Specimens cut from the welds
were prepared for metallographic examination on
the surface as well as in the through thickness
direction. Etching the polished specimens with freshly
prepared Kellers reagent revealed the microstructure.

Table 1
CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS OF FILLERS AND BASE MATERIAL USED

Filler Material Cu Mg Sc Zr Ti Fe Si Mn Cr V

2219(Base Material) 6.2 - - 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.1

2319 6.2 - - 0.1 0.1-0.2 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.1

2319Sc 6.0 - 0.25 0.25 - - - - - -

5356 - 4.6 - - 0.12 - - 0.12 - -

5025 - 4.6 0.27 0.17 0.09 - - 0.26 -

Table 2
WELDING PARAMETERS USED

Process Welding Gas Flow Welding Joint

Current (A) Rate(cft/h) Speed(mm/min) Configuration

Manual 210 20 80 60 V-Groove

AC-TIG 240 6 60 Butt
(3 Passes) 230 (back purging) 80

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Fig.1 : Microstructures of 2219 welds made with different fillers.

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 KOTESWARA RAO, et.al. : GAS TUNGSTEN ARC WELDED AA 2219 ALLOY USING SCANDIUM
CONTAINING FILLERS - MECHANICAL AND CORROSION BEHAVIOR

Etched specimens were primarily examined for shape
and size of grains. Some of the typical microstructures
are presented in Fig.1. Micro-hardness survey of
the weldments is done using Shimadju micro hardness
tester. Values are obtained across the weld up to a
distance of 20 mm from the fusion line. At least 10
values are taken in each area i.e in the weld; interface
and the HAZ and average values are presented as a
graph in Fig.2. Tensile testing of sub-size specimens
made according to the ASTM E8 specification is
done on an Instron universal testing machine. Tensile
testing was not done on welds made with 5356 filler
as visible cracks were observed at the fusion
boundary. Values of yield strength (proof), UTS
and percent elongation are presented in Table 3. All
values presented are average values of at least 3
specimens. Software based PAR Basic
electrochemical system has been used for conducting
potentio-dynamic polarization tests to study the
general and pitting corrosion behavior of base metal
and welds. Saturated calomel electrode (SCE) and
carbon electrode were used as reference and auxiliary
electrodes respectively. All the experiments were
conducted in 3.5% NaCl solutions with pH adjusted
to 10. The potential scan was carried out at 0.166
mV/sec with initial potential of 0.25V(SCE) to final
potential of pitting. The exposure area for these
experiments was 1 cm2. The potential at which
current increases drastically is treated as critical
pitting potential (Epit). Specimens exhibiting more
positive potential were considered as those with better
pitting corrosion resistance.

Fig.2 : Joint hardness profiles of welds made with different fillers

Table 3
TENSILE TESTING RESULTS (AVERAGE OF 3 TESTS)

Proof UTS % Region of

S.No Filler Material
Strength (MPa) (MPa) elongation failure

1 2219 T87, Base Material 365 456 19.8 -

2 2319 136 250 4.9 Weld

3 2319 Sc 145 268 8.3 Weld

4* 5025 116 173 2.0 Interface

5 2319Sc+0.4%Mg 162 267 8.4 Weld

*Results are scattered, due to the fissures at the weld interface.
Best values are presented

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4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Al-Cu-Sc Welds
From Fig. 1 (a) and (b) it is very clear that addition
of Sc has resulted in fine equiaxed grains at the
center of the weld metal. The grain structure
presented in Fig.1 (b) is actually taken from the root
pass area and shows that there is no grain coarsening
due to the subsequent welding passes. However,
the effect does not get translated into increase in
strength as can be seen from tensile testing results
presented in Table 3. The rise in yield strength is
just about 10% and is not significant mainly because
of the low value of Hall-Petch constant for most
aluminum alloy systems. However, there is a
significant improvement in the ductility of the weld
metal due to grain refinement. Percent elongation
improved by about 70%, as can be seen from the
same table. As for pitting corrosion resistance (Fig. 3
and Fig. 4) welds made of 2319Sc show better
corrosion resistance compared to the 2319 welds.
This could be possibly due to the finer grain size
resulting in lesser segregation of copper to the grain
boundaries. It can also be seen (Fig. 3), that the
5025 +2319Sc weld metals also showed better
corrosion resistance, when compared to 5025 and
5356 weld metals.
Fig.3 : Variation in weld metal hardness with different fillers
456
4.2 Al-Mg-Sc Welds
Though it is well known that the Al-Mg fillers are
not compatible with Al-Cu alloys as for welding,
they have been considered for this study to find the
effectiveness of Sc in resisting the solidification
cracking. Form Table 1 it can be seen that the two
Al-Mg filler alloys used, differ in that the 5025
alloy is a scandium version of 5356 (0.27%Sc and
0.17%Zr added to the 5356 alloy). When the welds
are made using 5356 filler, visible cracks appear at
the fusion boundary where the base metal (2219)
gets diluted with the filler alloy. This is mainly due
to the fact that Mg addition in an Al-Cu alloy greatly
increases the melting range and leads to severe
solidification cracking. Consequently, alloys such as
2024, 7075 that contain both Cu and Mg as alloying
elements, are not used in fusion welded structures.
But, when 5025 filler, which is an alloy derived
from 5356 by adding small amounts of scandium
and zirconium, is used for welding, such cracks are
not visible. Scandium addition results in fine equiaxed
grains in the weld metal (Fig.1 (d)). However, close
observation of the microstructure at the fusion line
reveals segregation and micro fissures at the grain
boundaries in some regions. Therefore, during the
tensile testing of the weld joints, the results are
highly scattered and the ductility is very poor in
 KOTESWARA RAO, et.al. : GAS TUNGSTEN ARC WELDED AA 2219 ALLOY USING SCANDIUM
CONTAINING FILLERS - MECHANICAL AND CORROSION BEHAVIOR

Fig. 4 : Pitting Potentials (Epit) of Weld metals of different fillers

spite of higher hardness of the weld metal as shown
in Fig. 5. Correlation between the hardness of the
weld metal and strength of the weld metal is not
observed which is mainly due to the presence of
micro fissures at the fusion line as shown in Fig.1
(f). Though the scandium additions help in reducing
the severity of cracking, it could not completely
avoid it and hence the filler 5025, though it offers
high strength does not suit the welding applications
of 2219 alloy. This is mainly due to the very small
ratio of Cu to Mg (6:4), which results in severe
cracking in the absence of Sc and Zr. The high weld
metal hardness, particularly at the interface of welds
made with 5025 (132VHN) as shown in Fig.2,
indicates that, smaller amounts of Mg and Sc when
mixed with 2219 composition could result in higher
strength weld metals with lesser or no cracking.
This observation is derived from the fact that at the
fusion boundary the dilution of the weld metal is
high and that area contains more of copper and less
of Mg in contrast to the center of the weld. Even the
center of the weld, where the Mg content is higher
exhibits a higher hardness value (112VHN) than any
other weld metal considered as can be seen from
Fig. 5. Therefore there is a definite raise in weld
metal hardness when Mg is present in the weld
metal, and an optimum level of Mg and scandium
contents that would result in crack free welds with
better tensile properties have to be found out. As far
as corrosion is concerned pitting corrosion resistance
is not affected by the small addition of Sc as can be
seen from Fig. 5 and Fig.6.
4.3 Al-Cu-Sc-Mg welds
From the tensile test results (Table 3), it is evident
that a small addition of Mg to the weld metal
increases the yield strength while maintaining the
good ductility level. Consistent tensile test results
and careful metallographic observations revealed that
using this composition produces crack free welds.
The literature clearly shows that the effect of
scandium on Al-Mg alloy system is very
significant6,7. One of the reasons proposed for this
effect is that Mg acts as nucleant for precipitation of
Al3Sc particles, which are responsible for high level
of strengthening in scandium containing aluminum
alloys. Further study is required in this area, to
optimize the contents of Mg and Sc in 2219 welds.
Optimization is necessary because, higher Mg content

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 TRANS. INDIAN INST. MET., VOL. 57, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2004

Fig. 5 : Polarization curves for 2319, 2319Sc

that Cu reacts with Sc to form W-phase, details of

even as it hardens the weld metal, could well result which are not available in the literature. Higher
in cracking also. At the same time Sc content as it scandium content could result in better mechanical
increases, at some level cannot contribute any further properties as some scandium would be available to
to grain refinement, strength and solidification form Al3Sc apart from W-phase. However, when a
cracking resistance. This particular weld metal small amount of Mg is added, it seems to facilitate
composition with small amounts of Mg and Sc in the formation of hardening precipitates, and at the
Al-Cu, is not only found to be superior in mechanical same level of scandium there is appreciable
properties, but also offers good pitting corrosion
resistance as can be seen from Fig. 3. It offers
a pitting potential value of 572 mV, which is
comparable to the copper containing alloys and is
far better than welds made of Al-Mg fillers 5025
and 5356. It looks as long as the Mg content is kept
low the corrosion resistance can be maintained in
2219 alloy welds.

4.4 Mechanical Properties and Corrosion

A small addition of Scandium to the existing filler

composition of 2319 does not improve the strength
significantly. One reason could be the amount of
scandium in the welds (0.25%) is less than that is
required to form Al3Sc particles, which are known
to impart strength to the matrix. It is also known Fig.6: Polarization curves for 5356, 5025

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 KOTESWARA RAO, et.al. : GAS TUNGSTEN ARC WELDED AA 2219 ALLOY USING SCANDIUM
CONTAINING FILLERS - MECHANICAL AND CORROSION BEHAVIOR
strengthening of the weld metal (Table 3). Higher
Mg and Sc contents have to be investigated to further
improve the weld metal strength and to be optimized
with respect to corrosion and solidification cracking
resistance. In case of Al-Cu weld metals (2319)
scandium addition improved pitting corrosion
resistance (Fig. 4). Addition of scandium does not
alter the pitting corrosion resistance of Al-Mg weld
metals (Fig. 6). However, with addition of Mg to
Al-Cu-Sc welds, there is a marginal decrease in the
pitting resistance as indicated by pitting potential
values of 2319Sc (-572 mV) weld and 2319Sc+5025
weld (-586mV), as shown in Fig. 4.
5. CONCLUSIONS
1. Small addition of scandium resulted in fine
equiaxed grain structure in 2219 aluminum alloy
weld metals.
2. Hardness values of weld metals increased by
the addition of scandium, particularly in the
presence of Mg.
3. Fillers containing high Mg (5356,5025) content
resulted in cracking or micro fissures at the
fusion boundary, in spite of the presence of
scandium. Sound welds could be obtained when
weld metal Mg content was kept low, with
addition of small amount of Sc.
4. Addition of 0.25% Sc to Al-Cu filler did not
result in improvement of strength of the weld
metal. However, addition of 0.4% Mg to Al-
Cu-Sc filler improved the strength significantly.
Scandium addition in general resulted in
significant increase in percent elongation.
459
5. Addition of Sc improved the pitting corrosion
resistance in case of Al-Cu welds and it did not
significantly affect the pitting resistance of Mg
containing welds.
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