Abstract: A simple and effective experimental method was adopted to investigate the effects of restraint force and restraint distance on hot cracking tendency during welding of 2A12T4 aluminum alloy on the common rigid welding fixture. Experimental results show that, under the condition of keeping restraint distance unchanged, the rate of hot cracks decreases gradually with increase of restraint force and finally well reaches a stable value when the reatraint force is great enough. Keeping the restraint force unchanged, the rate of hot cracks increases with increase of restraint distance. The influence of restraint condition on tendency of hot cracking through effecting the extent of externally-expanded deformation of weldment and the cooling speed of metals in and around the weld.