Journal of Materials Processing Technology 155–156 (2004) 1252–1255

Bubble formation in aluminium alloy during electron beam welding

Hidetoshi Fujii∗ , Hideaki Umakoshi, Yasuhiro Aoki, Kiyoshi Nogi
Joining and Welding Research Institute, Osaka University, Mihogaoka 11-1, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan

Abstract

Electron beam (EB) welding and gas tungsten arc (GTA) welding were performed on aluminium alloys in both terrestrial and microgravity
environments. A new mechanism of bubble generation is proposed, while hydrogen is generally the major source of the porosity in aluminium
alloys. It is deduced from the following results that the bubbles are formed through a reaction between the molten Al and Al2 O3 forming
Al2 O. (1) The pores are formed only in a vacuum, as during electron beam welding. (2) The pores are distributed only in the upper part,
while the pores due to hydrogen are widely distributed in the upper half. This result indicates that the pores are formed due to a chemical
reaction occurring at the highest temperature, and not due to the decrease in the solute species. (3) The number of pores is significantly
decreased under microgravity during electron beam welding, although this number is increased for GTA welding using a shielding gas
containing hydrogen. (4) The number of pores is increased as the thickness of the oxide film is increased.
© 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction energy of the formation described by Eq. (2), as shown in

Welding defects such as porosity and cracks significantly
affect the structural properties such as tensile strength,
toughness and elongation of welds. For aluminium alloys,
the decrease in the solubility of the hydrogen dissolved
in the molten pool during cooling is usually the cause of
porosity formation. Accordingly, the degree of porosity is
affected by the welding conditions such as the atmosphere
and pre-treatment of the sample.
However, pores are also formed even when welding is
performed in a vacuum, as in electron beam welding. In ad-
dition, the authors have recently discovered that the number
of pores formed during electron beam welding increases as
the quantity of the oxide film increases [1]. This fact indi-
cates that the pores are formed through a reaction which is
related to the aluminium oxide. Based on these results, one
possible reaction is considered as follows [2–5]:
4Al (l) + Al2 O3 (s) = 3Al2 O (g)
G◦ = 1180020 − 479.55T (J/mol)
where G◦ is the change in the standard free energy and T
the temperature. As shown in Eq. (1), the aluminium oxide
(Al2 O3 ) on an aluminium surface can react with the liquid
aluminium and produce the gas phase of Al2 O in a high
vacuum at a high temperature. The equilibrium partial pres-
sure of the Al2 O gas is calculated using the standard free
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: fujii@jwri.osaka-u.ac.jp (H. Fujii).
Table 1. Because the equilibrium partial pressure of Al2 O
is not very high, the reaction does not occur at atmospheric
pressure, but only in a vacuum. However, as the temperature
increases, the equilibrium partial pressure of the Al2 O gas
also increases, and the formation of Al2 O is promoted.
In this study, the possibility of the new pore formation
mechanism is investigated. However, Al2 O gas will be
changed to Al2 O3 and Al during cooling and the quantity
of the formed Al2 O3 film is also very small. Consequently,
it is impossible to directly detect the Al2 O3 or Al2 O. Ac-
cordingly, the purpose of this study is to indirectly clarify
the mechanism of bubble generation by investigating the
effect of the welding conditions on the bubble generation
during electron beam welding of the aluminium alloys.
2. Experimental procedure
(1)
(2) The material selected was an aluminium alloy, A2219,
because it is commonly used as a spacecraft material and
contains very few elements with high vapour pressures, such
as magnesium and manganese. Table 2 shows the chemical
composition of the aluminium alloy. The dimensions of the
sample were 50 mmw × 100 mml × 3.0 mmt . The samples
were polished and degreased in acetone before welding.
A microgravity environment was achieved using the
drop-shaft system at the Japan Microgravity Centre
(JAMIC). The system can produce a microgravity level of
10−5 G and a duration of 10 s. A developed welding system

0924-0136/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2004.04.141
 H. Fujii et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 155–156 (2004) 1252–1255 1253

Table 1
Calculated partial pressure of Al2 O in equilibrium using the equation:
4Al (l) + Al2 O3 (s) = 3Al2 O (g)
Temperature (K) PAl2 O (Pa)

1473 2.6 × 10−1

1673 1.2 × 101
1873 2.4 × 102
2073 2.8 × 103
2273 2.1 × 104

[6] was loaded into the drop capsule, and then the capsule
was dropped 710 m below ground level. The distance be-
tween the filament cathode and the sample in the developed
electron beam welding system is only 370 mm, which is
much smaller than that in an ordinary EB welding system.
The effective diameter of the electron beam was set at ap-
proximately 3 mm in order to reduce the possibility of form-
ing defects such as spikes and cold shuts. The bead-on-plate
welding was selected in order to remove the effect of the
groove and the root faces. The accelerating voltage and beam
current were 12 kV and 80 mA, respectively. Gas tungsten
arc (GTA) welding was also performed as a reference ex-
periment. The welding position was horizontal. The weld-
ing speed was 5 mm/s if there is no notice. The pore shapes
and distributions were measured using a transmission X-ray
image system (SHIMADZU SAX-10SCT).

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Effect of welding method

Fig. 1 shows X-ray transmission images of EB welds at

12 kV, together with the results of GTA welds. The welding
speed in all cases was 5 mm/s, and the welding power was
adjusted so that the bead widths are similar. When EB weld-
ing is performed under terrestrial conditions, some pores are
left in the upper part. On the other hand, when GTA weld-
ing are performed with helium shielding gas, no pores are Fig. 1. X-ray transmission images of A2219 alloy welded by different
methods.
observed. As a reference, when argon shielding gas is used,
too, no pores are observed. These results suggest that a vac-
uum condition may be needed for the formation of these 3. Keyhole phenomenon [8],
pores as shown in Fig. 1. 4. Evaporation of the elements having a high vapour pres-
Pores are formed when bubble cannot be released from a sure [9],
weld pool and are captured by the surrounding solid during 5. Trapped gas between the root faces [10],
the solidification process. 6. Physical trapping of the shielding gas [11].
1. Decrease in the solubility of dissolved elements in the It is well known that the decrease in the solubility of dis-
molten pool during cooling and solidification [7], solved hydrogen in the weld pool is generally the main prob-
2. Chemical reaction [7], lem for aluminium alloys [12]. However, it does not appear

Table 2
Chemical composition (mass%) of Al–Cu alloy A2219
Al Si Fe Cu Mn Mg Cr Zn Ti Zr Pb V

Balance 0.07 0.16 6.26 0.30 – – 0.01 0.04 0.18 0.01 0.09
1254 H. Fujii et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 155–156 (2004) 1252–1255
that the dissolved hydrogen is the cause of the pore forma-
tion in the result shown in Fig. 1, because the EB welding is
operated in a vacuum and the pores are not produced by GTA
welding. In addition, in this study, because a large beam di-
ameter of 3 mm is used, a keyhole is not formed. The A2219
alloys do not contain any alloying elements with high vapour
pressures. Also, bead-on-plate welding was performed. Be-
cause electron beam welding is operated in a vacuum, there
is no shielding gas. Thus, a chemical reaction which requires
vacuum conditions seems to be the most plausible answer
in this case.
3.2. Distribution of pores
Fig. 1(c) shows a transmission X-ray image of the GTA
with He containing 1% H2 shielding gas used to intention-
ally produce pores. As can be seen, the pores are segregated
only in the upper part of the bead for the EB weld. For the
GTA weld, where hydrogen is the main cause for the bub-
ble generation, the pores are widely distributed in the upper
half of the bead. Fig. 2 shows the average position of pores
from the bottom of the bead for both the EB welding and
GTA welding (He–1%H2 shielding gas) for different weld-
ing speeds. Welding is performed in a horizontal position.
The 0% means that the pore is located at the bottom and
100% means that the pore is located at the top. In the EB
weld, all of the pores exist within 10% of the upper part,
whereas, in GTA welding where hydrogen is the cause of
the bubble generation, pores are widely distributed in the
upper half; the average is position is between 70 and 75%,
independent of the welding speed. This difference in the dis-
tribution of the pores indicates that the bubble generation
mechanism is different. Namely, in the case of GTA weld-
ing, the pores are formed during cooling due to the decrease
in the hydrogen solubility. For the EB welding, the bubbles
are formed during heating or at the maximum temperature.
Models of bubble formation for both the EB welding and
GTA welding are shown in Fig. 3. When bubbles are formed
by chemical reactions, the bubbles are mainly formed at the
molten pool centre where the temperature is the highest.
Consequently, there is enough time for the bubbles to rise
Fig. 2. Difference in porosity positions.
Fig. 3. A model of bubble formation with different welding methods.
to the upper end. On the other hand, during GTA welding,
the bubbles are formed during cooling because the decrease
in solubility of the hydrogen is the cause. In this case, the
surroundings of the bubbles are solidified to some extent,
and the movement of the bubbles is heavily restricted, and
consequently, the pores are widely distributed in the upper
half. Based on these reasons, too, a chemical reaction seems
to be the most plausible answer for the bubble generation
mechanism in EB welding.
3.3. Pore formation under microgravity
The number of pores increases under microgravity for
GTA welding using a shielding gas containing hydrogen [13]
because the bubbles cannot be easily released to the outside
of the weld pool under microgravity. However, the number
of pores during EB welding is significantly decreased under
microgravity, as shown in Fig. 1(a) and (d). These results
also indicates that the reaction described by Eq. (1) generates
bubbles.
In a terrestrial environment, bubbles are moved by con-
vection due to gravity, and consequently, they can collide
with each other and then coalesce. Under microgravity, on
the other hand, because there is no buoyancy, the small size
of the bubbles is maintained due to the lack of coalescence.
Consequently, many small-sized bubbles disappear due to
additional pressure by the interfacial tension between the
pores and the molten aluminium alloy when the equilibrium
pressure of the bubbles is low, as for the reaction described
by Eq. (1). Thus, it can be deduced that pores are formed
by the reaction of 4Al (l) + Al2 O3 (s) = 3Al2 O (g).
3.4. Effect of oxide film thickness
Some previous studies [14] also indicated the existence
of the new bubble formation mechanism. By exposing
atomic oxygen to an aluminium alloy, A2219, before elec-
tron beam welding, the effect of atomic oxygen exposure
on weld defects was investigated. The exposure to atomic
oxygen with a flux of 2.0 × 10−19 atm/m2 s for 4 × 106 s
 H. Fujii et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 155–156 (2004) 1252–1255
makes the thickness of the aluminium oxide film on the
surface increase by 1.4 times, and consequently, it increases
the number of pores. Thus, the reaction should be related
to the oxide film, as in the reaction for Eq. (1).
4. Conclusions
Electron beam (EB) welding and gas tungsten arc (GTA)
welding were performed on aluminium alloys in both ter-
restrial and microgravity environments. A new mechanism
of bubble generation is proposed. It is deduced from the
following results that the bubbles are formed through the
reaction of 4Al (l) + Al2 O3 (s) = 3Al2 O (g).
(1) The pores are formed only in a vacuum, as during elec-
tron beam welding.
(2) The pores are distributed only in the upper part, while
the pores due to hydrogen are widely distributed in the
upper half.
(3) The number of the pores significantly decreases under
microgravity during electron beam welding, although
this number increases for GTA welding using a shielding
gas containing hydrogen.
(4) The number of pores increases as the thickness of the
oxide film increases.
Acknowledgements
This work is the results of the “Development of Highly Ef-
ficient and Reliable Welding Technology (HERWT)” which
1255
is supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technol-
ogy Development Organization (NEDO) through the Japan
Space Utilization Promotion Center (JSUP) in the program
of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI)
and the 21st century program.
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