A Novel Technique to Prepare Cast Al-bearing alloy/Wrought Steel Bimetallic Specimen for Interfacial Shear Strength

A novel mold was designed and manufactured for facile preparation of cast/wrought bimetallic specimen for subsequent mechanical performance. To ensure the easy manufacturing of bimetallic specimen, an aluminum bearing alloy was cast on a wrought carbon steel substrate after tinning process for adequate interfacial bonding in the especially prepared mold, which was characterized mechanically by lap-joint shear test to measure bonding strength between the two materials and by microhardness test for hardness profile across the interface. Optical and electron microscopy was employed for the microstructural observation of the interface to relate it with the mechanical performance of bimetallic material for bearing and automotive applications while electron dispersive spectroscopy mapped the elemental distribution across interface.