Originally Posted by coelcanth
so what are you saying ?
the break is within millimeters of the weld and the joint is still sound.. how much smaller can a heat affected zone get ?
what went wrong ?
maybe it's just that aluminum isn't such a great material for this application
the heat affected zone is always there, and generally going to extend for a few millimeters on either side of the weld. if the weld is too hot though, the HAF zone will also be hotter, so you want to have a small and relatively cool HAF zone. There is always also the possibility of materials defects as well.