Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) is a solid-state joining process and a rapidly growing dissimilar material welding technology for joining metallic alloys in the automotive industry. Welding tool shape and process conditions must be appropriately controlled to obtain high bonding characteristics. In this study, FSSW is performed on dissimilar materials AA5052-H32 aluminum alloy sheet and SPRC440 steel sheet, and the influence of the shape of joining tool and tool insertion depth during joining is investigated. A new intermetallic compound is produced at the aluminum and steel sheets joint. When the insertion depth of the tool is insufficient, the intermetallic compound between the two sheets did not form uniformly. As the insertion depth increased, the intermetallic compound layer become uniform and continuous. The joint specimen shows higher values of tensile shear load as the diameter and insertion depth of the tool increase. This shows that the uniform formation of the intermetallic compound strengthens the bonding force between the joining specimens and increases the tensile shear load.

Joining of AIN ceramics to W and Cu by active-metal brazing method was tried with use of (Ag-Cu)-Ti alloy as insert-metal. Joints were produced under various conditions of temperature, holding time and Ti-content in (Ag-Cu) alloy Reaction and microstructural development in bonded interface were investigated through observation and analysis by SEM/EDS, EPMA and XRD. Joint strengths were measured by shear test. Bonded interface consists of two layers: an insert-metal layer of eutectic Ag- and Cu-rich phases and a reaction layer of TiN. Thickness of reaction layer increases with bonding temperature, holding time and Ti-content of insert-metal. It was confirmed that the growth of reaction layer is a diffusion-controlled process. Activation energy for this process was 260 KJ/mol which is lower than that for N diffusion in TiN. Maximum shear strength of 108 MPa and 72 MPa were obtained for AIN/W and AIN/Cu joints, respectively. Relationship between processing variables, joint strength and thickness of reaction layer was also explained.