The development of high-performance dissimilar aluminum–steel joints is necessary to promote the feasibility of multi-material design and lightweight manufacturing. However, joining aluminum to steel is a challenging task mainly due to the formation of brittle intermetallic compounds (IMC) at the joint interface. Laser welding is considered a very promising joining process for dissimilar materials, although its application in industry is still limited by the insufficient mechanical performance of the joints. The present paper aims to give a comprehensive review of relevant recent research work on laser joining of aluminum to steel, contributing to highlighting the latest achievements that could boost acceptance of laser joining of dissimilar materials by the modern industries. To this end, the most important challenges in laser joining of aluminum to steel are presented, followed by recent approaches to overcome these challenges, the state-of-art of comprehension of IMC formation and growth, and the different strategies to minimize them.

中文翻译：

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铝合金到钢的激光焊接的最新进展

高性能异种铝钢接头的开发对于促进多材料设计和轻量化制造的可行性是必要的。但是，将铝与钢连接起来是一项艰巨的任务，这主要是由于在连接界面处形成了脆性的金属间化合物（IMC）。激光焊接被认为是一种用于异种材料的非常有前途的连接工艺，尽管其在工业中的应用仍然受到接头机械性能不足的限制。本文旨在对铝与钢的激光焊接相关的最新研究工作进行全面回顾，以突出强调可以推动现代工业接受异种材料的激光焊接的最新成果。为此，