Can you weld aluminum to steel?

Question

I am taking welding at my high school and would like to know if there was a way to weld aluminum and steel together (i need to for a project i'm doing). I've herd of ways using sliver solder or with aluminized steel, which has a layer of aluminum over the sheet of steel.

BTW: i need real answers, not just "no there's no way".

i need to know cause i'm building a table an want to give it a aluminum top with steel legs.

my welding class has mig, tig, stick, and oxy-fuel if that helps (i know how to weld with all of them)

Answer 1

You do need a bimetallic strip. These can also be made by explosive welding. Modern cruise liners have an aluminum upper part and a steel lower part, joined by such a strip. But, IMHO, these are just an accident waiting to happen. Expect severe electrolytic corrosion problems.

Answer 2

all i can say is your dam lucky your high school has all that stuff. wish i went there. anyway y dont you ask your welding teacher?

Answer 3

No, the chemical differences in the metals will not allow it. You'll also need to consider galvanic action between the 2 metals. Chemistry is as important to welding as any other science could be. Heat is also an issue. The heat that would just make the steel glow red will puddle aluminum. Your best bet is to make the table top, and bolt it to the legs, with a barrier to prevent galvanic erosion.

Answer 4

For your purposes, the answer is no.  Just weld some steel legs and s***w them to the aluminum top.  Or better yet, just make the legs out of aluminum.  Incidentally, I have heard of a way to weld two very different metals like steel and aluminum together.  It's called inertia welding and it is only practical for a high volume production process.  One piece is connected to a large fly wheel and spun up to high RPM.  Then it is pressed into the other piece at high pressure.  The resulting heat melts both parts and intermixes the metals so they end up welded together.  I hear it takes lots of experimentation to get just the right amount of heat and pressure and there's a lot of expensive equipment involved.  

Answer 5

blamy22 I would be ashamed of myself if I was you. A student willing to learn and you anwser his guestion like that.Let me guess you been welding sence you could walk.. lol

Answer 6

no and furthermore, if you thought you new so much about how to run all these types of welders which I do know how to run, you wouldnt have asked such a silly question so stop trying to pretend you know something when you might run across someone who does! I WILL however let you know that the actual term "welding" is nothing more than a method called bonding. I.E. glue or epoxy can be considered a type of weld. Under certain circumstances, with the right (expensive) equipment, you CAN "weld" or bond aluminum to steel. This is done with extreme high pressure. By the way, you cant braze aluminum either, the method you are talking about requires you to etch or scrape away the aluminum surface.

To Kima....I have absolutely no problems with someone who wants to learn! I DO however believe that one shouldnt b s about something whilst learning! When learning, its not wrong to ask questions but thru many years of learning myself, I have learned when you DONT know, dont b s and pretend! When you do this, you cant focus on the problem at hand.

Answer 7

solder that sh$t.

i doubt u know how or else u wouldnt have asked so ask ur teacher if he knows how to solder.

ur gonna need to bend one of the metals about an inch at the end so the solder can connect them together.

ur also gonna need some sort of acid(im not sure what it is) to put on the area ur soldering.

good luck but have u ever heard of rivets?

Answer 8

Noi aluminum can not be welded to steel. You can weld aluminum to aluminum but, not to steel.

Answer 9

Yes. Buy a bimetallic strip where one edge is aluminum and the other is steel. A bimetallic strip is a special metal strip where an aluminum strip is fused to a steel strip by high frequency welding. You can form the strip to the shape of the table legs' cross section then weld the steel edge to the leg and the aluminum edge to the table top. Ensure however that the aluminum table top is a weldable alloy and compatible with the bimetallic strip.( You can not weld Al. Alloy 6061T6 so look for Al.Alloy 5086H32 or 5456H321  or the lower Al. Alloy designations, but they have to be strain hardened and not thermally hardened).