brazing aluminum to steel?

[Tanner]

Well, for a science project, my friend and I are making a solar powered car out of ungalvanized sheet metal and aluminum, but a problem arose to me just now. Can we braze our aluminum axles to our steel body? If yes, what should we use, and how should we go about doing it? Thanks for the help.

[cnslmva]

Tanner,

I do know that both Allstate and J.W. Harris both make brazing and soldering alloys for that purpose. I can't remember the number to them though. Your local welding supplier should be able to get them for you.

Good Luck!

Done a little research, J.W. Harris Al-Solder 500, Allstate 509 Strongset, Allstate 107 will work for you. You can check their websites ESAB for Allstate, and J.W. Harris . Hope this helps!

[klsm54]

I doubt that any of the soldering products will have the strength that you are looking for. The aluminum trailer manufacturers that I deal with use a bonded sheet product that they outsource. It comes in sheets and has 1/4" aluminum bonded to 1/4" carbon steel. That way you can weld aluminum attachments to the aluminum side and steel attachments to the steel side. It is available in thicker sheets also. The bonding process is proprietary and , to my knowledge, you must buy the product in sheets.

If you can find a manufacturer of aluminum trailers or truck bodies in your area, they will probably sell you smaller pieces of this material, or if you tell them what it is for, maybe they will give you some scrap pieces that will work.

[Tanner]

Well, I went on these leads and couldn't find anything that would be in my pricerange/work. I did come up with an easier way, hotglue!

[Paul Seaman]

Tanner:
Superglue and duck tape? I've done a similar type of connection. We used two plates of similar size and bolted the two together and welded the appropriate sides to the appropriate material.
Good luck,

[H80N]

Tanner
as a practical matter " you can't get there from here " ....
mechanical fastening such as plates and bolts or huck rivets may work in your application.... epoxies and composite reinforcement are also an option... but welding or brazing the light metals to ferrous metals is out of the question by conventional means... and yes there are papers published from AWS and Sandia National Labs on friction welding methods... but the physics of it are not practical for most applications... and even with the equipment.. the torsional loads and lack of fatigue strength will probably defeat you... methinks that this is one application where welding or brazing is not the best avenue for your application...
just one mans opinion
Heiti

[H80N]

Aint sayin that it cannot be done... just telling you that there may be a better way to approach it for your application.....klsm54 mentioned some plate that was probably explosively bonded... much the same as our coinage is now (look at your dimes and quarters.. they are an explosively bonded sandwich).....why get so exotic when there are easier ways.... just maybe there is a better way to join your axles to chassis... that is easy to find in the hardware store... that is inexpensive and will withstand the stresses involved....
hope this helps
Heiti