Resistance spot welding of printed interlayers to join Al–Fe sheets

Cold spray and laser powder bed fusion deposition processes were explored and found to significantly increase the peak force and fracture energy of the press hardened boron steel–aluminium joint. The use of 250 µm thick 316L metallic interlayers was resistance spot welded to an AlSi-coated press hardened steel and 6022-T4 aluminium alloy. Moreover, aluminium penetration within the deposited 316L promoted a mechanical locking effect which was assessed by increasing the hatch spacing in the laser powder bed fusion process from 100 to 200 µm.