Study of Dissimilar Welding AA6061 Aluminium Alloy and AZ31B Magnesium Alloy with ER5356 Filler Using Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Mahamud, M. I. I.; Ishak, M.; Halil, A. M.

2017-09-01

This paper is to study of dissimilar welding AA6061 aluminium alloy and AZ31B magnesium alloy with ER5356 filler using friction stir welding. 2 mm thick plates of aluminium and magnesium were used. Friction stir welding operations were performed at different rotation and travel speeds and used the fixed tilt angle which is 3°. The rotation speeds varied from 800 to 1100 rpm, and the travel speed varied from 80 to 100 mm/min. In the range rotation speed of 800 to 1000 rpm and welding speed of 80 to 100 mm/min there are no defect at the weld. Tensile test show the higher tensile strength is 198 MPa and the welding efficiency is about 76%.

Multi-Objective Optimization of Friction Stir Welding Process Parameters of AA6061-T6 and AA7075-T6 Using a Biogeography Based Optimization Algorithm

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Mehran Tamjidy

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The development of Friction Stir Welding (FSW has provided an alternative approach for producing high-quality welds, in a fast and reliable manner. This study focuses on the mechanical properties of the dissimilar friction stir welding of AA6061-T6 and AA7075-T6 aluminum alloys. The FSW process parameters such as tool rotational speed, tool traverse speed, tilt angle, and tool offset influence the mechanical properties of the friction stir welded joints significantly. A mathematical regression model is developed to determine the empirical relationship between the FSW process parameters and mechanical properties, and the results are validated. In order to obtain the optimal values of process parameters that simultaneously optimize the ultimate tensile strength, elongation, and minimum hardness in the heat affected zone (HAZ, a metaheuristic, multi objective algorithm based on biogeography based optimization is proposed. The Pareto optimal frontiers for triple and dual objective functions are obtained and the best optimal solution is selected through using two different decision making techniques, technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS and Shannon’s entropy.

Multi-Objective Optimization of Friction Stir Welding Process Parameters of AA6061-T6 and AA7075-T6 Using a Biogeography Based Optimization Algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Tamjidy, Mehran; Baharudin, B T Hang Tuah; Paslar, Shahla; Matori, Khamirul Amin; Sulaiman, Shamsuddin; Fadaeifard, Firouz

2017-05-15

The development of Friction Stir Welding (FSW) has provided an alternative approach for producing high-quality welds, in a fast and reliable manner. This study focuses on the mechanical properties of the dissimilar friction stir welding of AA6061-T6 and AA7075-T6 aluminum alloys. The FSW process parameters such as tool rotational speed, tool traverse speed, tilt angle, and tool offset influence the mechanical properties of the friction stir welded joints significantly. A mathematical regression model is developed to determine the empirical relationship between the FSW process parameters and mechanical properties, and the results are validated. In order to obtain the optimal values of process parameters that simultaneously optimize the ultimate tensile strength, elongation, and minimum hardness in the heat affected zone (HAZ), a metaheuristic, multi objective algorithm based on biogeography based optimization is proposed. The Pareto optimal frontiers for triple and dual objective functions are obtained and the best optimal solution is selected through using two different decision making techniques, technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and Shannon's entropy.

Predicting tensile strength of friction stir welded AA6061 aluminium alloy joints by a mathematical model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elangovan, K.; Balasubramanian, V.; Babu, S.

2009-01-01

AA6061 aluminium alloy (Al-Mg-Si alloy) has gathered wide acceptance in the fabrication of light weight structures requiring a high strength-to weight ratio and good corrosion resistance. Compared to the fusion welding processes that are routinely used for joining structural aluminium alloys, friction stir welding (FSW) process is an emerging solid state joining process in which the material that is being welded does not melt and recast. This process uses a non-consumable tool to generate frictional heat in the abutting surfaces. The welding parameters such as tool rotational speed, welding speed, axial force etc., and tool pin profile play a major role in deciding the joint strength. An attempt has been made to develop a mathematical model to predict tensile strength of the friction stir welded AA6061 aluminium alloy by incorporating FSW process parameters. Four factors, five levels central composite design has been used to minimize number of experimental conditions. Response surface method (RSM) has been used to develop the model. Statistical tools such as analysis of variance (ANOVA), student's t-test, correlation co-efficient etc. have been used to validate the developed model. The developed mathematical model can be effectively used to predict the tensile strength of FSW joints at 95% confidence level

Microstructure and anisotropic mechanical behavior of friction stir welded AA2024 alloy sheets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Zhihan [State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Friction Welding Technologies, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi' an 710072, Shaanxi (China); Li, Wenya, E-mail: liwy@nwpu.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Friction Welding Technologies, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi' an 710072, Shaanxi (China); Li, Jinglong [State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Friction Welding Technologies, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi' an 710072, Shaanxi (China); Chao, Y.J. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208 (United States); Vairis, A. [Mechanical Engineering Department, TEI of Crete, Heraklion, Crete 71004 (Greece)

2015-09-15

The anisotropic mechanical properties of friction stir welded (FSW) AA2024-T3 alloy joints were investigated based on the uniaxial tensile tests. The joint microstructure was examined by using electron back-scattered diffraction and transmission electron microscope. Results show that the evident anisotropic failure and yielding are present in the FSW joints. With the increase of loading angle from 0° to 90° the ultimate tensile strength and elongation of the specimens consistently decrease, or at first decrease and then increase, depending on the FSW process parameters. The specimen cut from the weld direction, i.e. a loading angle of 0°, exhibits the highest strength and elongation. - Highlights: • Microstructure and anisotropy of friction stir welded joints were studied. • The evident anisotropic failure and yielding are present in joints. • The lowest yield stress and UTS are at 45° and 60° loadings, respectively. • Rotation speed heavily impact on the anisotropy of joints.

Microstructure and anisotropic mechanical behavior of friction stir welded AA2024 alloy sheets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Zhihan; Li, Wenya; Li, Jinglong; Chao, Y.J.; Vairis, A.

2015-01-01

The anisotropic mechanical properties of friction stir welded (FSW) AA2024-T3 alloy joints were investigated based on the uniaxial tensile tests. The joint microstructure was examined by using electron back-scattered diffraction and transmission electron microscope. Results show that the evident anisotropic failure and yielding are present in the FSW joints. With the increase of loading angle from 0° to 90° the ultimate tensile strength and elongation of the specimens consistently decrease, or at first decrease and then increase, depending on the FSW process parameters. The specimen cut from the weld direction, i.e. a loading angle of 0°, exhibits the highest strength and elongation. - Highlights: • Microstructure and anisotropy of friction stir welded joints were studied. • The evident anisotropic failure and yielding are present in joints. • The lowest yield stress and UTS are at 45° and 60° loadings, respectively. • Rotation speed heavily impact on the anisotropy of joints

A Preliminary Report on the Strength and Metallography of a Bimetallic Friction Stir Weld Joint Between AA6061 and MIL-DTL-46100E High Hardness Steel Armor

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-26

bimetallic friction stir weld joint between AA6061 and MIL-DTL-46100E High Hardness steel armor. ABSTRACT One half inch thick plates of 6061-T6 aluminum...alloy and High Hardness steel armor (MIL- STD-46100) were successfully joined by the friction stir welding (FSW) process using a tungsten-rhenium...4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE A preliminary report on the strength and metallography of a bimetallic friction stir weld joint between AA6061 and MIL-DTL

Multiple Crack Growth Prediction in AA2024-T3 Friction Stir Welded Joints, Including Manufacturing Effects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Carlone, Pierpaolo; Citarella, Roberto; Sonne, Mads Rostgaard

2016-01-01

A great deal of attention is currently paid by several industries toward the friction stir welding process to realize lightweight structures. Within this aim, the realistic prediction of fatigue behavior of welded assemblies is a key factor. In this work an integrated finite element method - dual...... boundary element method (FEM-DBEM) procedure, coupling the welding process simulation to the subsequent crack growth assessment, is proposed and applied to simulate multiple crack propagation, with allowance for manufacturing effects. The friction stir butt welding process of the precipitation hardened AA...... on a notched specimen. The whole procedure was finally tested comparing simulation outcomes with experimental data. The good agreement obtained highlights the predictive capability of the method. The influence of the residual stress distribution on crack growth and the mutual interaction between propagating...

Effect of process parameters on the residual stresses in AA5083-H321 friction stir welds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lombard, H. [NMMU, Gardham Avenue, PO Box 77000, 6031 Port Elizabeth (South Africa); University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA (United Kingdom); Hattingh, D.G. [NMMU, Gardham Avenue, PO Box 77000, 6031 Port Elizabeth (South Africa); Steuwer, A. [NMMU, Gardham Avenue, PO Box 77000, 6031 Port Elizabeth (South Africa); FaME38 at the ILL-ESRF, 6 rue J Horowitz, 38042 Grenoble (France); University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA (United Kingdom)], E-mail: steuwer@ill.fr; James, M.N. [NMMU, Gardham Avenue, PO Box 77000, 6031 Port Elizabeth (South Africa); University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA (United Kingdom)

2009-02-15

This paper investigates the effect of varying welding parameters on the residual stress profiles in friction stir welds of aluminium alloy AA5083-H321, which were created on a fully instrumented friction welding machine. The residual stresses were determined non-destructively using synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The width and maximum of the residual stress profile show clear correlation with the heat input, and in particular feed rate, which was found to be the dominant parameter.

Heat input effect of friction stir welding on aluminium alloy AA 6061-T6 welded joint

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Sedmak Aleksandar

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the heat input and maximum temperature developed during friction stir welding with different parameters. Aluminium alloy (AA 6061-T6 has been used for experimental and numerical analysis. Experimental analysis is based on temperature measurements by using infrared camera, whereas numerical analysis was based on empirical expressions and finite element method. Different types of defects have been observed in respect to different levels of heat input.

Effect of Heat Exposure on the Fatigue Properties of AA7050 Friction Stir Welds

Science.gov (United States)

White, B. C.; Rodriguez, R. I.; Cisko, A.; Jordon, J. B.; Allison, P. G.; Rushing, T.; Garcia, L.

2018-05-01

This work examines the effect of heat exposure on the subsequent monotonic and fatigue properties of friction stir-welded AA7050. Mechanical characterization tests were conducted on friction stir-welded specimens as-welded (AW) and specimens heated to 315 °C in air for 20 min. Monotonic testing revealed high joint efficiencies of 98% (UTS) in the AW specimens and 60% in the heat-damaged (HD) specimens. Experimental results of strain-controlled fatigue testing revealed shorter fatigue lives for the HD coupons by nearly a factor of four, except for the highest strain amplitude tested. Postmortem fractography analysis found similar crack initiation or propagation behavior between the AW and HD specimens; however, the failure locations for the AW were predominantly in the heat-affected zone, while the HD specimens also failed in the stir zone. Microhardness measurements revealed a relatively uniform strength profile in the HD group, accounting for the variety of failure locations observed. The differences in both monotonic and cyclic properties observed between the AW and HD specimens support the conclusion that the heat damage (315 °C at 20 min) acts as an over-aging and a quasi-annealing treatment.

Fatigue crack growth rate behaviour of friction-stir aluminium alloy AA2024-T3 welds under transient thermal tensioning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ilman, M.N.; Kusmono,; Iswanto, P.T.

2013-01-01

Highlights: • FSW enables unweldable aircraft material AA2024-T3 to be welded without cracking. • FSW applied to aircraft structure is required to have superior fatigue resistance. • Transient thermal tensioning (TTT) is being developed for stress relieving in FSW. • The fatigue crack growth rates of FSW joints under TTT are studied. - Abstract: Friction stir welding (FSW) has become a serious candidate technology to join metallic fuselage panels for the next generation of civil aircrafts. However, residual stress introduced during welding which subsequently affects fatigue performance is still a major problem that needs to be paid attention. The present investigation aims to improve fatigue crack growth resistance of friction stir aluminium alloy AA2024-T3 welds using transient thermal tensioning (TTT) treatment. In this investigation, aluminium alloy AA2024-T3 plates were joined using FSW process with and without TTT. The welding parameters used including tool rotation speed (Rt) and the plate travelling speed (v) were 1450 rpm and 30 mm/min respectively. The TTT treatments were carried out by heating both sides of friction stir weld line using moving electric heaters ahead of, beside and behind the tool at a heating temperature of 200 °C. Subsequently, a sequence of tests was carried out including microstructural examination, hardness measurement, tensile test and fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) test in combination with fractography using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The FCGR test was carried out using a constant amplitude fatigue experiment with stress ratio (R) of 0.1 and frequency (f) of 11 Hz whereas specimens used were centre-crack tension (CCT) type with the initial crack located at the weld nugget. Results of this investigation showed that at low ΔK, typically below 9 MPa m 0.5 , the friction stir welds under TTT treatments lowered fatigue crack growth rate (da/dN) and the lowest (da/dN) was achieved as the heaters were located ahead of

Very High Cycle Fatigue Crack Initiation Mechanism in Nugget Zone of AA 7075 Friction Stir Welded Joint

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Chao He

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Very high cycle fatigue behavior of nugget zone in AA 7075 friction stir welded joint was experimentally investigated using ultrasonic fatigue testing system (20 kHz to clarify the crack initiation mechanism. It was found that the fatigue strength of nugget zone decreased continuously even beyond 107 cycles with no traditional fatigue limits. Fatigue cracks initiated from the welding defects located at the bottom side of the friction stir weld. Moreover, a special semicircular zone could be characterized around the crack initiation site, of which the stress intensity factor approximately equaled the threshold of fatigue crack propagation rate. Finally, a simplified model was proposed to estimate the fatigue life by correlating the welding defect size and applied stress. The predicted results are in good agreement with the experimental results.

Friction stir welding of dissimilar AA2024 and AA7075 aluminum alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khodir, Saad Ahmed; Shibayanagi, Toshiya

2008-01-01

The present study focuses on the microstructure and mechanical properties of dissimilar joints of 2024-T3 Al alloy to 7075-T6 Al alloy produced by friction stir welding. Effects of welding speed and fixed location of base metals on microstructures, hardness distributions, and tensile properties of the welded joints were investigated. SEM-EDS analysis revealed that the stir zone contains a mixed structure and onion ring pattern with a periodic change of grain size as well as a heterogeneous distribution of alloying elements. The maximum tensile strength of 423.0 MPa was achieved for the joint produced at welding speed of 1.67 mm/s when 2024 Al alloy was located on the advancing side

Through thickness property variations in a thick plate AA7050 friction stir welded joint

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Canaday, Clinton T.; Moore, Matthew A.; Tang, Wei; Reynolds, A.P.

2013-01-01

In this study, moderately thick (32 mm) AA7050 plates were joined by friction stir welding (FSW). Various methods were used to characterize the welded joints, including nugget grain size measurements at different locations through the thickness, micro-hardness indentation through nugget, thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ), and heat affected zone (HAZ) at different cross section heights, and residual stress measurement using the cut compliance method with full thickness and partial thickness specimens. All testing results are consistent with the presence of a strong gradient in peak temperature through the plate thickness during FSW.

Effects of Friction Stir Welding on Corrosion Behaviors of AA2024-T4 Aluminum Alloy

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Ales Steve Korakan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In this work, the corrosion behavior of welded joints of AA2024-T4 Al alloy produced by friction stir welding process has been investigated. Tests were performed in an aerated 3.5% NaCl aqueous solution with pH = 7 at 20±2°C. Corrosion rate and corrosion morphology of weld regions were evaluated and compared to those of the parent metal. The microstructure of weld nugget, thermomechanical affected zone, heated affected zone, and parent metal were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. It was observed that corrosion initiated at FSW related spots and the sizes of local corrosion increased with time.

Microstructure examination and microhardness of friction stir welded joint of (AA7020-O after PWHT

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Ghada M.F. Essa

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the microstructure and microhardness of the welded joints of the annealed aluminum alloy AA7020-O produced by friction stir welding (FSW technique. The material was applied to post weld heat treatment (solution treatment and artificially aged, T6. The traverse speed and the rotational speed are the most important process parameters of FSW, and have great influence on the heat input of the welding operation which governs the welded joints quality. To investigate their effect, the welding operation was performed using three traverse speeds, 20, 40 and 60 mm/s with two rotational speeds of 1125 and 1400 rpm, and other welding parameters were kept constant to produce comparable joints. It was found that the two rotational speeds are accepted with lower traverse speeds to produce sound joints. Microstructure of the welded joints was significantly affected by the FSW process parameters, and slight effect was reported for the grain size. Microhardness examination showed high weld joint quality with respect to the base metal hardness, which proves the reprecipitation of the hardening phase in the weld zone. The microhardness profile was strongly dependant on the rotational speed, and the average values of the joints hardness have increased with the decrease in the rotational speed, where it have been slightly affected by the welding speed. Keywords: Friction stir welding, Aluminum alloy, Mechanical properties, Microstructures

Analysing the Friction Stir Welded Joints of AA2219 Al-Cu Alloy in Different Heat-Treated-State

Science.gov (United States)

Venkateswarlu, D.; Cheepu, Muralimohan; Kranthi kumar, B.; Mahapatra, M. M.

2018-03-01

Aluminium alloy AA2219 is widely used in light weight structural applications where the good corrosion resistance and specific weight required. The fabrication of this alloy using friction stir welding process is gaining interest towards finding the characteristics of the weld metal properties, since this process involved in the welded materials does not melt and recast. In the present investigation, friction stir welding process was used for different heat treated conditions of 2219-T87 and 2219-T62 aluminium alloys to find the influence of base metal on characteristics of the joints. The experimental output results exhibited that, mechanical properties, weld metal characteristics and joint failure locations are significantly affected by the different heat treatment conditions of the substrate. The joints tensile and yield strength of the 2219-T87 welds was higher than the 2219-T62 welds. Hardness distribution in the stir zone was significantly varied between two different heat treaded material conditions. The microstructural features of the 2219-T62 welds reveal the coarse grains formation in the thermo-mechanically affected zone and heat affected zone. The joint efficiency of the 2219- T82 welds is 59.87%, while that of 2219-T62 welds is 39.10%. In addition, the elongation of the joint also varied and the joints failure location characteristics are different for two different types heat treated condition joints.

Effect of tool shape and welding parameters on mechanical properties and microstructure of dissimilar friction stir welded aluminium alloys

OpenAIRE

Chetan Aneja; Amit Handa

2016-01-01

In the present experimental study, dissimilar aluminum alloy AA5083 and AA6082 were friction stir welded by varying tool shape, welding speed and rotary speed of the tool in order to investigate the effect of varying tool shape and welding parameters on the mechanical properties as well as microstructure. The friction stir welding (FSW) process parameters have great influence on heat input per unit length of weld. The outcomes of experimental study prove that mechanical properties increases w...

Modeling of AA5083 Material-Microstructure Evolution During Butt Friction-Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Grujicic, M.; Arakere, G.; Yalavarthy, H. V.; He, T.; Yen, C.-F.; Cheeseman, B. A.

2010-07-01

A concise yet a fairly comprehensive overview of the friction stir welding (FSW) process is provided. This is followed by a computational investigation in which FSW behavior of a prototypical solution-strengthened and strain-hardened aluminum alloy, AA5083-H131, is modeled using a fully coupled thermo-mechanical finite-element procedure developed in our prior study. Particular attention is given to proper modeling of the welding work-piece material behavior during the FSW process. Specifically, competition and interactions between plastic-deformation and dynamic-recrystallization processes are considered to properly account for the material-microstructure evolution in the weld nugget zone. The results showed that with proper modeling of the material behavior under high-temperature/severe-plastic-deformation conditions, significantly improved agreement can be attained between the computed and measured post-FSW residual-stress and material-strength distribution results.

High-Speed Friction Stir Welding of AA7075-T6 Sheet: Microstructure, Mechanical Properties, Micro-texture, and Thermal History

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jingyi; Upadhyay, Piyush; Hovanski, Yuri; Field, David P.

2018-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a cost-effective and high-quality joining process for aluminum alloys (especially heat-treatable alloys) that is historically operated at lower joining speeds (up to hundreds of millimeters per minute). In this study, we present a microstructural analysis of friction stir welded AA7075-T6 blanks with high welding speeds up to 3 M/min. Textures, microstructures, mechanical properties, and weld quality are analyzed using TEM, EBSD, metallographic imaging, and Vickers hardness. The higher welding speed results in narrower, stronger heat-affected zones (HAZs) and also higher hardness in the nugget zones. The material flow direction in the nugget zone is found to be leaning towards the welding direction as the welding speed increases. Results are coupled with welding parameters and thermal history to aid in the understanding of the complex material flow and texture gradients within the welds in an effort to optimize welding parameters for high-speed processing.

The effect of tensioning and sectioning on residual stresses in aluminium AA7749 friction stir welds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Altenkirch, J.; Steuwer, A.; Peel, M.; Richards, D.G.; Withers, P.J.

2008-01-01

Using synchrotron X-ray diffraction the residual stress distribution has been measured in a series of AA7449-W51 aluminium friction stir welds that had been tensioned to different loads during welding. By modifying the stress accumulation path, the application of a tensioning stress has reduced the tensile magnitude of the final residual weld stresses. In the present case the residual stresses were minimised when the applied load is ∼35% of the room temperature yield stress of the parent material. Subsequent sectioning of the weld into shorter test lengths, as might be necessary for weld testing, resulted in a progressive and significant relaxation of the residual stress field. The effect of tensioning on the weld component distortion also has been investigated

Identifying Combination of Friction Stir Welding Parameters to Maximize Strength of Lap Joints of AA2014-T6 Aluminum Alloy

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Rajendrana C.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available AA2014 aluminum alloy (Al-Cu alloy has been widely utilized in fabrication of lightweight structures like aircraft structures, demanding high strength to weight ratio and good corrosion resistance. The fusion welding of these alloys will lead to solidification problems such as hot cracking. Friction stir welding is a new solid state welding process, in which the material being welded does not melt and recast. Lot of research works have been carried out by many researchers to optimize process parameters and establish empirical relationships to predict tensile strength of friction stir welded butt joints of aluminum alloys. However, very few investigations have been carried out on friction stir welded lap joints of aluminum alloys. Hence, in this investigation, an attempt has been made to optimize friction stir lap welding (FSLW parameters to attain maximum tensile strength using statistical tools such as design of experiment (DoE, analysis of variance (ANOVA, response graph and contour plots. By this method, it is found that maximum tensile shear fracture load of 12.76 kN can be achieved if a joint is made using tool rotational speed of 900 rpm, welding speed of 110 mm/min, tool shoulder diameter of 12 mm and tool tilt angle of 1.5°.

Influence of energy input in friction stir welding on structure evolution and mechanical behaviour of precipitation-hardening in aluminium alloys (AA2024-T351, AA6013-T6 and Al-Mg-Sc)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weis Olea, Cesar Afonso [GKSS-Forschungszentrum Geesthacht GmbH (Germany). Inst. fuer Werkstofforschung

2008-12-04

Aluminium alloys AA2024 T351, AA6013 T6 and the recently developed Al-Mg-Sc for aircraft industry applications, which are usually considered difficult to weld by conventional fusion welding processes, demonstrate outstanding performance when joined by friction stir welding (FSW). The main feature of the process is to produce solid-state welds, where the maximum temperatures attained during the process are about 80 % that of the melting temperature of the base material. The process generates substantial plastic deformation, due to the solid-state stirring, and consequently creates a high dislocation density, which is a precursor to dynamic recrystallization, a metallurgical feature that characterizes the stir zone (weld centre). A relevant aspect considered, regarding precipitation-hardening aluminium alloys, is the deterioration of the mechanical properties in the weld zones, which are fundamentally attributed to changes in the characteristics of strengthening precipitates. Among the strengthening mechanisms acting in these aluminium alloys, the most important is basically dependent on the morphology, size and population of the precipitates. The thermal cycle and deformation generated during the FSW process alter the precipitation characteristics previously present in the base material. FSW input energy regulates the magnitude of the thermal cycle and the intensity of deformation taking place during the process, and it can be controlled by the welding parameters, affecting the precipitates evolution and consequently the mechanical properties of the joint. Nevertheless, there remains a lack of knowledge about the substructural evolution of these alloys during FSW, and its correlation with weld energy input and their respective mechanical properties, particularly for the Al-Mg-Sc alloy. The main objective of this work is to explain the micro and substructural evolution (emphasizing precipitates evolution) of AA2024- T351, AA6013-T6 and Al-Mg-Sc alloys in similar

High-Speed Friction Stir Welding of AA7075-T6 Sheet: Microstructure, Mechanical Properties, Micro-texture, and Thermal History

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Jingyi; Upadhyay, Piyush; Hovanski, Yuri; Field, David P.

2017-11-20

Friction-stir-welding (FSW) is a cost-effective and high quality joining process for aluminum alloys (especially heat-treatable allo ys) that has been applied successfully in the aerospace industry. However, the full potential of FSW on more cost-sensitive applications is still limited by the production rate, namely the welding speed of the process. The majority of literature evaluating FSW of aluminum alloys is based on welds made in the range of welding speeds around hundreds of millimeters per minute, and only a handful are at a moderate speed of 1 m/min. In this study we present a microstructural analysis of friction stir welded AA7075-T6 blanks with welding speeds up to 3 m/min. Textures, microstructures, mechanical properties, and weld quality are analyzed using TEM, EBSD, metallographic imaging, and Vickers hardness. Results are coupled with welding parameters to aid in the understanding of the complex material flow and texture gradients within the welds in an effort to optimize welding parameters for high speed processing.

Effect of post weld heat treatment on tensile properties and microstructure characteristics of friction stir welded armour grade AA7075-T651 aluminium alloy

OpenAIRE

Sivaraj, P.; Kanagarajan, D.; Balasubramanian, V.

2014-01-01

This paper reports the effects of post weld heat treatments, namely artificial ageing and solution treatment followed by artificial ageing, on microstructure and mechanical properties of 12 mm thick friction stir welded joints of precipitation hardenable high strength armour grade AA7075-T651 aluminium alloy. The tensile properties, such as yield strength, tensile strength, elongation and notch tensile strength, are evaluated and correlated with the microhardness and microstructural features....

Influence of tool pin profile on microstructure and corrosion behaviour of AA2219 Al–Cu alloy friction stir weld nuggets

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Ch. Venkata Rao

2015-09-01

Full Text Available To overcome the problems of fusion welding of aluminium alloys, the friction stir welding (FSW is recognized as an alternative joining method to improve the mechanical and corrosion properties. Tool profile is one of the important variables which affect the performance of the FS weld. In the present work, the effect of tool profile on the weld nugget microstructure and pitting corrosion of AA2219 aluminium–copper alloy was studied. FSW of AA2219 alloy was carried out using five profiles, namely conical, square, triangle, pentagon and hexagon. The temperature measurements were made in the region adjacent to the rotating pin. It was observed that the peak temperature is more in hexagonal tool pin compared to the welds produced with other tool pin profiles. It is observed that the extensive deformation experienced at the nugget zone and the evolved microstructure strongly influences the hardness and corrosion properties of the joint during FSW. It was found that the microstructure changes like grain size, misorientation and precipitate dissolution during FSW influence the hardness and corrosion behaviour. Pitting corrosion resistance of friction stir welds of AA2219 was found to be better for hexagon profile tool compared to other profiles, which was attributed to material flow and strengthening precipitate morphology in nugget zone. Higher amount of heat generation in FS welds made with hexagonal profile tool may be the reason for greater dissolution of strengthening precipitates in nugget zone.

Tool material effect on the friction stir butt welding of AA2124-T4 Alloy Matrix MMC

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Yahya Bozkurt

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the present work is to study on the effect of material properties tool on friction stir butt welding of AA2124-T4 alloy matrix MMC. Uncoated tool, coated tool with a CrN, and coated tool with AlTiN were used to weld aluminum MMC plates. Macrostructure and microstructure observations, ultimate tensile strength, wear resistance, and chemical analysis were carried out to determine the appropriate tool for joining these composite plates. Results showed that the good welded joints could be obtained when a tool is coated with AlTiN.

Influences of post weld heat treatment on tensile strength and microstructure characteristics of friction stir welded butt joints of AA2014-T6 aluminum alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Rajendran, C.; Srinivasan, K.; Balasubramanian, V.; Balaji, H.; Selvaraj, P.

2016-08-01

Friction stir welded (FSWed) joints of aluminum alloys exhibited a hardness drop in both the advancing side (AS) and retreating side (RS) of the thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ) due to the thermal cycle involved in the FSW process. In this investigation, an attempt has been made to overcome this problem by post weld heat treatment (PWHT) methods. FSW butt (FSWB) joints of Al-Cu (AA2014-T6) alloy were PWHT by two methods such as simple artificial aging (AA) and solution treatment followed by artificial aging (STA). Of these two treatments, STA was found to be more beneficial than the simple aging treatment to improve the tensile properties of the FSW joints of AA2014 aluminum alloy.

Effect of friction stir welding on microstructure, mechanical and wear properties of AA6061/ZrB2 in situ cast composites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dinaharan, I.; Murugan, N.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Application of FSW to join AA6061/ZrB 2 in situ composites. ► Homogenous distribution of ZrB 2 particles in the weld zone. ► Clusters in the parent composite are fragmented by the stirring action of the tool. ► Hardening of weld zone. ► FSW enhanced the wear resistance of the composite. - Abstract: Inadequate development of fabrication methods restricts the applications of new families of aluminum matrix composites (AMCs). Friction stir welding (FSW) is a potential candidate to join AMCs without any defects associated with conventional fusion welding processes. The primary objective of the present work is to apply FSW process to join AA6061/(0, 5 and 10 wt.%) ZrB 2 in situ cast composites and evaluate the joint properties. The composites were prepared by reacting inorganic salts K 2 ZrF 6 and KBF 4 with molten aluminum and joined using a FSW machine at a tool rotational speed of 1150 rpm, welding speed of 50 mm/min and axial force of 6 kN. The joints showed the presence of various zones such as weld zone (WZ), thermomechanically affected zone (TMAZ) and heat affected zone (HAZ). The weld zone was characterized with a homogenous distribution of ZrB 2 particles. The stirring action of the tool resulted in fragmentation of several clusters present in the parent composite. The weld zone exhibited higher hardness than that of the parent composite. The tensile strength of welded joints was comparable to that of parent composites. The wear resistance of the composites improved subsequent to FSW.

Effect of tool rotational speed on force generation, microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded Al–Mg–Cr–Mn (AA 5052-O) alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moshwan, Raza; Yusof, Farazila; Hassan, M.A.; Rahmat, S.M.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • 3 mm thick AA 5052-O alloy plates were successfully joined by FSW process. • The joint was produced at 1000 rpm yielded a maximum tensile strength of 132 MPa. • The dissolution of β-Mg 2 Al 3 intermetallic phases of FSWed joints were reported. • Different axial forces acted on welding tool during welding were investigated. - Abstract: Friction stir welding (FSW) between 3 mm thick AA 5052-O aluminum alloy plates was investigated in the present study. Different welded specimens were produced by employing a constant tool traverse speed of 120 mm/min and by varying rotating speeds from 800 to 3000 rpm. The welded joints were characterized by its appearances, microstructural and mechanical properties at room temperature. The measurement of different forces acted on the tool during the FSW of AA 5052-O plates provided a significant insight to determine the quality of the welded joints. From the appearances of the welded joints it was evident that, except the tool rotational speed of 3000 rpm all other rotational speeds produced sound welded joints with smooth surface. The joint produced at 1000 rpm yielded a maximum tensile strength of 132 MPa which was 74% of the base material strength. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analyses on the stir zone suggested that, β-Mg 2 Al 3 intermetallic phases of the base material were mechanically fractured, smeared and mixed to different geometries due to tool stirring. The dissolution and redistribution of β-Mg 2 Al 3 second phase particles in the stir zone had a considerable effect on the reduction of the tensile strength of the welded joints. The reduction in hardness at the nugget zone (NZ) of the welded joints under different tool rotational speeds could be attributed to the dislocation of Mg-rich phases and segregation of Mg solute atoms at grain boundaries, which drew solute Mg atoms away from the α-aluminum matrix

Effect of Welding Speed on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties due to The Deposition of Reinforcements on Friction Stir Welded Dissimilar Aluminium Alloys

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Baridula Ravinder Reddy

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The strength of the welded joint obtained by solid state stir welding process was found to be improved as compared to fusion welding process. The deposition of reinforcements during friction stir welding process can further enhance the strength of the welded joint by locking the movement of grain boundaries. In the present study, the aluminium alloys AA2024 and AA7075 were welded effectively by depositing the multi-walled carbon nanotubes in to the stir zone. The mechanical properties and microstructures were studied by varying the traverse speed at constant rotational speed. The results show that rotating tool pin stirring action and heat input play an important role in controlling the grain size. The carbon nanotubes were found to be distributed uniformly at a welding speed (traverse speed of 80mm/min. This enhanced the mechanical properties of the welded joint. The microstructure and Electron dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX studies indicate that the deposition of carbon nanotubes in the stir zone was influenced by the traverse speed.

Influence of friction stir welding process and tool parameters on strength properties of AA7075-T6 aluminium alloy joints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rajakumar, S.; Muralidharan, C.; Balasubramanian, V.

2011-01-01

The aircraft aluminium alloys generally present low weldability by traditional fusion welding process. The development of the friction stir welding has provided an alternative improved way of satisfactorily producing aluminium joints, in a faster and reliable manner. In this present work, the influence of process and tool parameters on tensile strength properties of AA7075-T 6 joints produced by friction stir welding was analysed. Square butt joints were fabricated by varying process parameters and tool parameters. Strength properties of the joints were evaluated and correlated with the microstructure, microhardness of weld nugget. From this investigation it is found that the joint fabricated at a tool rotational speed of 1400 rpm, welding speed of 60 mm/min, axial force of 8 kN, using the tool with 15 mm shoulder diameter, 5 mm pin diameter, 45 HRc tool hardness yielded higher strength properties compared to other joints.

INVESTIGATION OF SINGLE-PASS/DOUBLE-PASS TECHNIQUES ON FRICTION STIR WELDING OF ALUMINIUM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N.A.A. Sathari

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this research is to study the effects of single-pass/ double-pass techniques on friction stir welding of aluminium. Two pieces of AA1100 with a thickness of 6.0 mm were friction stir welded using a CNC milling machine at rotational speeds of 1400 rpm, 1600 rpm and 1800 rpm respectively for single-pass and double-pass. Microstructure observations of the welded area were studied using an optical microscope. The specimens were tested by using a tensile test and Vickers hardness test to evaluate their mechanical properties. The results indicated that, at low rotational speed, defects such as ‘surface lack of fill’ and tunnels in the welded area contributed to a decrease in mechanical properties. Welded specimens using double-pass techniques show increasing values of tensile strength and hardness. From this investigation it is found that the best parameters of FSW welded aluminium AA1100 plate were those using double-pass techniques that produce mechanically sound joints with a hardness of 56.38 HV and 108 MPa strength at 1800 rpm compared to the single-pass technique. Friction stir welding, single-pass/ double-pass techniques, AA1100, microstructure, mechanical properties.

Mechanical Properties and Wear Behavior of AA5182/WC Nanocomposite Fabricated by Friction Stir Welding at Different Tool Traverse Speeds

Science.gov (United States)

Paidar, Moslem; Asgari, Ali; Ojo, Olatunji Oladimeji; Saberi, Abbas

2018-03-01

Grain growth inhibition at the heat-affected zone, improved weld strength and superior tribological properties of welds are desirable attributes of modern manufacturing. With the focused on these attributes, tungsten carbide (WC) nanoparticles were employed as reinforcements for the friction stir welding of 5-mm-thick AA5182 aluminum alloy by varying tool traverse speeds. The microstructure, microhardness, ultimate tensile strength, fracture and wear behavior of the resultant WC-reinforced welds were investigated, while unreinforced AA5182 welds were employed as controls for the study. The result shows that the addition of WC nanoparticles causes substantial grain refinement within the weld nugget. A decrease in traverse speed caused additional particle fragmentation, improved hardness value and enhanced weld strength in the reinforced welds. Improved wear rate and friction coefficient of welds were attained at a reduced traverse speed of 100 mm/min in the WC-reinforced welds. This improvement is attributed to the effects of reduced grain size/grain fragmentation and homogeneous dispersion of WC nanoparticles within the WC-reinforced weld nugget.

Ultrasonic Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Nabors, Sammy

2015-01-01

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed Ultrasonic Stir Welding (USW) to join large pieces of very high-strength metals such as titanium and Inconel. USW, a solid-state weld process, improves current thermal stir welding processes by adding high-power ultrasonic (HPU) energy at 20 kHz frequency. The addition of ultrasonic energy significantly reduces axial, frictional, and shear forces; increases travel rates; and reduces wear on the stir rod, which results in extended stir rod life. The USW process decouples the heating, stirring, and forging elements found in the friction stir welding process allowing for independent control of each process element and, ultimately, greater process control and repeatability. Because of the independent control of USW process elements, closed-loop temperature control can be integrated into the system so that a constant weld nugget temperature can be maintained during welding.

Friction stir welding (FSW) of AA 6061 T6

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cabot, Pedro; Monglioni, Alberto; Carella, Eduardo

2002-01-01

The friction-stir process (FSW) developed by England's TWI in the last decade is a new concept in solid phase friction welding that is particularly appropriate for soldering aluminum and its alloys. It offers interesting aspects and can advantageously replace the usual arch processes. It is an automatic process that solders together long pieces by butt or lap welding and, therefore, overcomes the greater limitation of the conventional friction process that can be applied only to pieces with revolution symmetry. FSW is based essentially on the use of a cylindrical tool with a special profile, which is inserted between the surfaces where the materials meet to join them together at a certain rotation speed and under a specific force. The pieces must be rigidly butt bonded or overlapped to prevent movement when the tool moves forward along the joint producing the dispersion of oxides, local plastisizing of the material and the weld. Since its creation FSW has been the subject of many international publications, but until the present work there was no technologically relevant data about tools and procedures. For this reason, when its promising and novel nature was noticed, the CNEA began its own development project in 1997. The main characteristics of the tool are reviewed here and the results of tests carried out to evaluate the influence of the feed velocity on the mechanical properties of the butt joining of a 6.25 mm thick AA6061 T6 plate. Different accumulated aspects of the experience are discussed as well (cw)

The Effect of Premixed Al-Cu Powder on the Stir Zone in Friction Stir Welding of AA3003-H18

Science.gov (United States)

Abnar, B.; Kazeminezhad, M.; Kokabi, A. H.

2015-02-01

In this research, 3-mm-thick AA3003-H18 non-heat-treatable aluminum alloy plates were joined by friction stir welding (FSW). It was performed by adding pure Cu and premixed Cu-Al powders at various rotational speeds of 800, 1000, and 1200 rpm and constant traveling speeds of 100 mm/min. At first, the powder was filled into the gap (0.2 or 0.4 mm) between two aluminum alloy plates, and then the FSW process was performed in two passes. The microstructure, mechanical properties, and formation of intermetallic compounds were investigated in both cases of using pure Cu and premixed Al-Cu powders. The results of using pure Cu and premixed Al-Cu powders were compared in the stir zone at various rotational speeds. The copper particle distribution and formation of Al-Cu intermetallic compounds (Al2Cu and AlCu) in the stir zone were desirable using premixed Al-Cu powder into the gap. The hardness values were significantly increased by formation of Al-Cu intermetallic compounds in the stir zone and it was uniform throughout the stir zone when premixed Al-Cu powder was used. Also, longitudinal tensile strength from the stir zone was higher when premixed Al-Cu powder was used instead of pure Cu powder.

Computational Analysis of Material Flow During Friction Stir Welding of AA5059 Aluminum Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Grujicic, M.; Arakere, G.; Pandurangan, B.; Ochterbeck, J. M.; Yen, C.-F.; Cheeseman, B. A.; Reynolds, A. P.; Sutton, M. A.

2012-09-01

Workpiece material flow and stirring/mixing during the friction stir welding (FSW) process are investigated computationally. Within the numerical model of the FSW process, the FSW tool is treated as a Lagrangian component while the workpiece material is treated as an Eulerian component. The employed coupled Eulerian/Lagrangian computational analysis of the welding process was of a two-way thermo-mechanical character (i.e., frictional-sliding/plastic-work dissipation is taken to act as a heat source in the thermal-energy balance equation) while temperature is allowed to affect mechanical aspects of the model through temperature-dependent material properties. The workpiece material (AA5059, solid-solution strengthened and strain-hardened aluminum alloy) is represented using a modified version of the classical Johnson-Cook model (within which the strain-hardening term is augmented to take into account for the effect of dynamic recrystallization) while the FSW tool material (AISI H13 tool steel) is modeled as an isotropic linear-elastic material. Within the analysis, the effects of some of the FSW key process parameters are investigated (e.g., weld pitch, tool tilt-angle, and the tool pin-size). The results pertaining to the material flow during FSW are compared with their experimental counterparts. It is found that, for the most part, experimentally observed material-flow characteristics are reproduced within the current FSW-process model.

Microstructure evolution in dissimilar AA6060/copper friction stir welded joints

Science.gov (United States)

Kalashnikova, T. A.; Shvedov, M. A.; Vasilyev, P. A.

2017-12-01

Friction stir welding process has been applied for making a dissimilar copper/aluminum alloy joint. The grain microstructure and mechanical properties of the obtained joint were studied. The structure of the cross-section of the FSW compound was analyzed. The microstructural evolution of the joint was examined using optical microscopy. The mechanical properties of the intermetallic particles were evaluated by measuring the microhardness according to the Vickers method. The microhardness of the intermetallic particles was by a factor of 4 lower than that of the particles obtained by fusion welding. The results of the investigations enable using friction stir welding for making dissimilar joints.

Friction stir welding of 6061 aluminium alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdel Rahman, M.A.M.S.

2009-01-01

6061 AA (Al-Mg-Si alloy) has gathered wide acceptance in the fabrication of light weight structures requiring a high strength-to-weight ratio and good corrosion resistance such as marine frames, pipelines, storage tanks, and aircraft components [1]. It is also used for the manufacturing of fuel elements in the nuclear research reactors. Compared to many of the fusion welding processes that are routinely used for joining structural alloys, friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid state joining process in which the material that is being welded is not melted and recast [2]. The welding parameters such as tool rotational speed, welding traverse speed, and tool profile play a major role in deciding the weld quality. Several FSW tools (differ from each other in pin angle, shoulder diameter, and shoulder concavity) have been used to fabricate a number of joints in order to obtain a tool with which a sound weld can be produced. It was found that the FSW tool with tapered cone pin, concave shoulder, and shoulder diameter equal to four times the welded plate thickness is suitable to produce a sound weld. The effect of the traverse speed on the global and local tensile properties of friction stir welded joints has been investigated in the 6061-T6 AA. The global tensile properties of the FSW joints were improved with increasing the traverse speed at constant rotation rate. It is found that the global tensile strength of the FSW joint is limited by the local tensile strength of the nearest region to the weld center at which the cross section is composed mainly of the HAZ. The effect of the initial butt surface on the formation of the zigzag line on the tensile properties of the welds was examined by using three types of welding samples differ in the preparation of the initial butt surface. The first type of samples welded without removing the oxide layer from the initial butt surface (uncleaned butt surfaces joint). In the second type of samples the oxide layer was removed from

Effect of tool shape and welding parameters on mechanical properties and microstructure of dissimilar friction stir welded aluminium alloys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chetan Aneja

2016-07-01

Full Text Available In the present experimental study, dissimilar aluminum alloy AA5083 and AA6082 were friction stir welded by varying tool shape, welding speed and rotary speed of the tool in order to investigate the effect of varying tool shape and welding parameters on the mechanical properties as well as microstructure. The friction stir welding (FSW process parameters have great influence on heat input per unit length of weld. The outcomes of experimental study prove that mechanical properties increases with decreasing welding speed. Furthermore mechanical properties were also found to improve as the rotary speed increases and the same phenomenon was found to happen while using straight cylindrical threaded pin profile tool. The microstructure of the dissimilar joints revealed that at low welding speeds, the improved material mixing was observed. The similar phenomenon was found to happen at higher rotational speeds using straight cylindrical threaded tool.

Special grain boundaries in the nugget zone of friction stir welded AA6061-T6 under various welding parameters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tao, Wang [Key Lab of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061 (China); Yong, Zou, E-mail: yzou@sdu.edu.cn [Key Lab of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061 (China); Xuemei, Liu [Key Lab of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061 (China); Matsuda, Kenji [Department of Materials Science and Technology, Faculty of Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555 (Japan)

2016-08-01

The age hardenable AA6061-T6 plate was butt welded by friction stir welding. The total heat input, generated by friction between the tool and work piece and plastic deformation, results in a consumption of meta-stable phases in the nugget zone. Precipitation phenomena were closely related to the diffusion of the solute atoms. The existence of special grain boundaries like Σ1a and Σ3 will increase the difficulty in diffusion, which will improve the hardness in the nugget zone. Furthermore, the formation of Σ3 grain boundaries can result from an impingement of re-crystallized grains coming from texture components in twin relationship already. An appropriate strain level may benefit the development of the twin components with a similar intensity. The welding parameters have an effect on heat source mode and the strain level. Then, the type of dynamic re-crystallization and distribution of the special grain boundaries was altered by changing the parameters.

Experimental and numerical investigation on under-water friction stir welding of armour grade AA2519-T87 aluminium alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Sree Sabari

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Friction stir welding (FSW is a promising welding process that can join age hardenable aluminium alloys with high joint efficiency. However, the thermal cycles experienced by the material to be joined during FSW resulted in the deterioration of mechanical properties due to the coarsening and dissolution of strengthening precipitates in the thermo-mechanical affected zone (TMAZ and heat affected zone (HAZ. Under water friction stir welding (UWFSW is a variant of FSW process which can maintain low heat input as well as constant heat input along the weld line. The heat conduction and dissipation during UWFSW controls the width of TMAZ and HAZ and also improves the joint properties. In this investigation, an attempt has been made to evaluate the mechanical properties and microstructural characteristics of AA2519-T87 aluminium alloy joints made by FSW and UWFSW processes. Finite element analysis has been used to estimate the temperature distribution and width of TMAZ region in both the joints and the results have been compared with experimental results and subsequently correlated with mechanical properties.

The effect of laser surface melting on microstructure and corrosion behavior of friction stir welded aluminum alloy 2219

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Shengchong; Zhao, Yong; Zou, Jiasheng; Yan, Keng; Liu, Chuan

2017-11-01

This study aimed to explore the electrochemical properties and microstructure of friction stir welds to understand the correlation between their properties and processing. Friction stir welding is a promising solid-state joining process for high-strength aluminum alloys (AA). Although friction stir welding (FSW) eliminates the problems of fusion welding due to the fact that it is performed below Tm, it causes severe plastic deformation in the material. Some AA welded by FSW exhibit relatively poor corrosion resistance. In this research, the corrosion resistance of such welds was enhanced through laser surface melting. A friction stir weld of AA 2219 was laser melted. The melt depth and microstructure were observed using optical and scanning electron microscopy. The melt zone exhibited epitaxially grown columnar grains. The redistribution of elemental composition was analyzed using energy-dispersive spectroscopy. The anticorrosion properties of both laser-melted and original welds were studied in aqueous 3.5% NaCl solution using cyclic potentiodynamic polarization. The results indicated a noticeable increase in the pitting corrosion resistance after the laser treatment on the surface. The repassivation potential was nobler than the corrosion potential after the laser treatment, confirming that the resistance to pitting growth improved.

Tensile behavior of dissimilar friction stir welded joints of aluminium alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shanmuga Sundaram, N.; Murugan, N.

2010-01-01

The heat treatable aluminium alloy AA2024 is used extensively in the aircraft industry because of its high strength to weight ratio and good ductility. The non-heat treatable aluminium alloy AA5083 possesses medium strength and high ductility and used typically in structural applications, marine, and automotive industries. When compared to fusion welding processes, friction stir welding (FSW) process is an emerging solid state joining process which is best suitable for joining these alloys. The friction stir welding parameters such as tool pin profile, tool rotational speed, welding speed, and tool axial force influence the mechanical properties of the FS welded joints significantly. Dissimilar FS welded joints are fabricated using five different tool pin profiles. Central composite design with four parameters, five levels, and 31 runs is used to conduct the experiments and response surface method (RSM) is employed to develop the model. Mathematical regression models are developed to predict the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and tensile elongation (TE) of the dissimilar friction stir welded joints of aluminium alloys 2024-T6 and 5083-H321, and they are validated. The effects of the above process parameters and tool pin profile on tensile strength and tensile elongation of dissimilar friction stir welded joints are analysed in detail. Joints fabricated using Tapered Hexagon tool pin profile have the highest tensile strength and tensile elongation, whereas the Straight Cylinder tool pin profile have the lowest tensile strength and tensile elongation. The results are useful to have a better understanding of the effects of process parameters, to fabricate the joints with desired tensile properties, and to automate the FS welding process.

Structural Phase Evolution in Ultrasonic-Assisted Friction Stir Welded 2195 Aluminum Alloy Joints

Science.gov (United States)

Eliseev, A. A.; Fortuna, S. V.; Kalashnikova, T. A.; Chumaevskii, A. V.; Kolubaev, E. A.

2017-10-01

The authors examined the structural and phase state of fixed joints produced by method of friction stir welding (FSW) and ultrasonic-assisted friction stir welding (UAFSW) from extruded profile of aluminum alloy AA2195. In order to identify the role of ultrasonic application in the course of welding, such characteristics, as volume fraction and average size of secondary particles are compared in the base material and stir zones of FSW and UAFSW joints. By applying the methods of SEM and TEM analysis, researchers established the complex character of phase transitions as a result of ultrasonic application.

Thermal Stir Welding: A New Solid State Welding Process

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, R. Jeffrey

2003-01-01

Thermal stir welding is a new welding process developed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. Thermal stir welding is similar to friction stir welding in that it joins similar or dissimilar materials without melting the parent material. However, unlike friction stir welding, the heating, stirring and forging elements of the process are all independent of each other and are separately controlled. Furthermore, the heating element of the process can be either a solid-state process (such as a thermal blanket, induction type process, etc), or, a fusion process (YG laser, plasma torch, etc.) The separation of the heating, stirring, forging elements of the process allows more degrees of freedom for greater process control. This paper introduces the mechanics of the thermal stir welding process. In addition, weld mechanical property data is presented for selected alloys as well as metallurgical analysis.

Mechanical Behaviour Investigation Of Aluminium Alloy Tailor Welded Blank Developed By Using Friction Stir Welding Technique

Science.gov (United States)

Dwi Anggono, Agus; Sugito, Bibit; Hariyanto, Agus; Subroto; Sarjito

2017-10-01

The objective on the research was to investigate the mechanical properties and microstructure of tailor welded blank (TWB) made from AA6061-T6 and AA1100 using friction stir welding (FSW) process. Due to the dissimilar mechanical properties of the two aluminium alloys, microhardness test was conducted to measure the hardness distribution across the weld nugget. The mixing of two distinct materials was influenced by tool rotation speed. Therefore, microstructure analysis was carried out to investigate the grain size and shape. The grain size of AA6061-T6 has increased in the heat affected zone (HAZ) while for AA1100 has decreased. In the weld nugget, it has found a hook defects in the dissimilar aluminium joining. By using monotonic tensile load, the different weld line direction was observed with the expansion in tool rotation. The joints failure were consistently on the area of AA1100 series. Furthermore, two specimens were investigated, one through the dissimilar aluminium and the other through similiar material. Inspection of the weld nugget hardness was shown that nonhomogen material intermixing during the stiring process as confirmed by microhardness measurement.

Computational Analysis of Material Flow During Friction Stir Welding of AA5059 Aluminum Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

structures in Finland; (b) manufacture of Al-Mg-Si-based alloy 181 FSW-joined bullet- train cabins in Japan; (c) fabrication of 182 Al-Cu-based alloy...Simonsen, Visualisation of Material 857Flow in an Autogenous Friction Stir Weld, Proc. 1st International 858Symp. FSW, Thousand Oaks, CA, 1999 85928...A.P. Reynolds, Visualization of Material Flow in an Autogenous 860Friction Stir Weld, Sci. Technol. Weld. Join., 2000, 5, p 120–124 86129. T.U. Seidel

Microhardness and Strain Field Characterization of Self-Reacting Friction Stir and Plug Welds of Dissimilar Aluminum Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Horton, Karla Renee

2011-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid state welding process with potential advantages for aerospace and automotive industries dealing with light alloys. Self-reacting friction stir welding (SR-FSW) is one variation of the FSW process being developed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for use in the fabrication of propellant tanks. Friction plug welding is used to seal the exit hole that remains in a circumferential SR-FSW. This work reports on material properties and strain patterns developed in a SR-FSW with a friction plug weld. Specifically, this study examines the behavior of a SR-FSW formed between an AA 2014-T6 plate on the advancing side and an AA 2219-T87 plate on the retreating side and a SR-FSW (AA 2014-T6 to AA 2219-T87) with a 2219-T87 plug weld. This study presents the results of a characterization of the micro-hardness, joint strength, and strain field characterization of SR-FSW and FPW joints tested at room temperature and cryogenic temperatures.

Microstructure, crystallographic texture and mechanical properties of friction stir welded AA2017A

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahmed, M.M.Z., E-mail: mohamed_ahmed4@s-petrol.suez.edu.eg [Institute for Microstructural and Mechanical Processing Engineering, University of Sheffield (IMMPETUS), Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD (United Kingdom); Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Suez Canal University, Suez 43721 (Egypt); Wynne, B.P.; Rainforth, W.M. [Institute for Microstructural and Mechanical Processing Engineering, University of Sheffield (IMMPETUS), Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD (United Kingdom); Threadgill, P.L. [TWI LTD, Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridge CB21 6AL (United Kingdom)

2012-02-15

In this study a thick section (20 mm) friction stir welded AA2017A-T451 has been characterized in terms of microstructure, crystallographic texture and mechanical properties. For microstructural analysis both optical and scanning electron microscopes have been used. A detailed crystallographic texture analysis has been carried out using the electron back scattering diffraction technique. Crystallographic texture has been examined in both shoulder and probe affected regions of the weld NG. An entirely weak texture is observed at the shoulder affected region which is mainly explained by the effect of the sequential multi pass deformation experienced by both tool probe and tool shoulder. The texture in the probe dominated region at the AS side of the weld is relatively weak but still assembles the simple shear texture of FCC metals with B/B{sup Macron} and C components existing across the whole map. However, the texture is stronger at the RS than at the AS of the weld, mainly dominated byB/B{sup Macron} components and with C component almost absent across the map. An alternating bands between (B) components and (B{sup Macron }) component are observed only at the AS side of the weld. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Detailed investigation of microstructure and crystallographic texture. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The grain size is varied from the top to the bottom of the NG. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer An entirely weak texture is observed at the shoulder affected region. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The texture in the probe affected region is dominated by simple shear texture.

Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Nunes, Arthur C., Jr.

2008-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid state welding process invented in 1991 at The Welding Institute in the United Kingdom. A weld is made in the FSW process by translating a rotating pin along a weld seam so as to stir the sides of the seam together. FSW avoids deleterious effects inherent in melting and promises to be an important welding process for any industries where welds of optimal quality are demanded. This article provides an introduction to the FSW process. The chief concern is the physical effect of the tool on the weld metal: how weld seam bonding takes place, what kind of weld structure is generated, potential problems, possible defects for example, and implications for process parameters and tool design. Weld properties are determined by structure, and the structure of friction stir welds is determined by the weld metal flow field in the vicinity of the weld tool. Metal flow in the vicinity of the weld tool is explained through a simple kinematic flow model that decomposes the flow field into three basic component flows: a uniform translation, a rotating solid cylinder, and a ring vortex encircling the tool. The flow components, superposed to construct the flow model, can be related to particular aspects of weld process parameters and tool design; they provide a bridge to an understanding of a complex-at-first-glance weld structure. Torques and forces are also discussed. Some simple mathematical models of structural aspects, torques, and forces are included.

Cladding of Advanced Al Alloys Employing Friction Stir Welding

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Stelt, A.A.; Bor, Teunis Cornelis; Geijselaers, Hubertus J.M.; Akkerman, Remko; van den Boogaard, Antonius H.

2013-01-01

In this paper an advanced solid state cladding process, based on Friction Stir Welding, is presented. The Friction Surface Cladding (FSC) technology enables the deposition of a solid-state coating using filler material on a substrate with good metallurgical bonding. A relatively soft AA1050 filler

Friction Stir Welding of three dissimilar aluminium alloy used in aeronautics industry

Science.gov (United States)

Boşneag, A.; Constantin, M. A.; Niţu, E.; Iordache, M.

2017-10-01

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is an innovative solid-state joining process. This process was, in first time, develop to join the similar aluminum plates but now the technology can be used to weld a large area of materials similar or dissimilar. Taking these into account FSW process, for dissimilar materials are increasingly required, more than traditional arc welding, in industrial environment. More than that FSW is used in aeronautics industry because of very good result and very good weldability between aluminum alloy used at building of airplanes, where the body of airplane are 20% aluminum alloy and this percent can be increaser in future. In this paper is presented an experimental study which includes welding three dissimilar aluminum alloy, with different properties, used in aeronautics industry, this materials are: AA 2024, AA6061 and AA7075. After welding with different parameters, the welding join and welding process will be analyzed considering process temperature, process vertical force, and roughnessof welding seams, visual aspect and microhardness.

Immersed friction stir welding of ultrafine grained accumulative roll-bonded Al alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hosseini, M.; Danesh Manesh, H.

2010-01-01

In this research, ultrafine grained strips of commercial pure strain hardenable aluminum (AA1050) were produced by accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) technique. These strips were joined by friction stir welding (FSW) in immersed (underwater) and conventional (in-air) conditions to investigate the effect of the immersion method on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the joint, aiming to reduce the deterioration of the mechanical properties of the joint. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses were used to evaluate the microstructure, showing smaller grains and subgrains in the stir zone of the immersed FSW condition with respect to the conventional FSW method. The hardness and tensile properties of the immersed friction stir welded sample and ARBed base metal show more similarity compared to the conventional friction stir welded sample. Moreover, the aforementioned method can result in the enhancement of the superplasticity tendency of the material.

Weld Nugget Temperature Control in Thermal Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, R. Jeffrey (Inventor)

2014-01-01

A control system for a thermal stir welding system is provided. The control system includes a sensor and a controller. The sensor is coupled to the welding system's containment plate assembly and generates signals indicative of temperature of a region adjacent and parallel to the welding system's stir rod. The controller is coupled to the sensor and generates at least one control signal using the sensor signals indicative of temperature. The controller is also coupled to the welding system such that at least one of rotational speed of the stir rod, heat supplied by the welding system's induction heater, and feed speed of the welding system's weld material feeder are controlled based on the control signal(s).

A three-dimensional fully coupled thermo-mechanical model for Self-reacting Friction Stir Welding of Aluminium AA6061 sheets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, Piyush; Biswas, Pankaj; Kore, Sachin D.

2016-01-01

In the present work a three dimensional model of self-reacting friction stir welding in aluminium alloy AA6061 has been developed based on the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach using COMSOL Multiphysics software. The temperature dependent material properties have been incorporated in the model from available literature. A slip-stick contact between the workpiece and tool surface has been considered with the slip factor varying linearly with distance. The methodology adopted has been validated with experimental results available in the literature. The temperature distribution observed has been found to be asymmetric about the weld centre line. The maximum temperature has been observed on the advancing side of the weld. However, the temperature distribution across the thickness has been found to be almost symmetric about the mid thickness plane. An hourglass shaped temperature distribution has been observed across the cross-section of the weld. The material flow velocity distribution shows that the deformation zone is limited to a very small region around the tool. (paper)

High-Powered, Ultrasonically Assisted Thermal Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Robert

2013-01-01

This method is a solid-state weld process capable of joining metallic alloys without melting. The weld workpieces to be joined by thermal stir welding (TSW) are drawn, by heavy forces, between containment plates past the TSW stir tool that then causes joining of the weld workpiece. TSW is similar to friction stir welding (FSW) in that material is heated into a plastic state (not melted) and stirred using a stir rod. The FSW pin tool is an integrated geometrical structure consisting of a large-diameter shoulder, and a smaller-diameter stir pin protruding from the shoulder. When the pin is plunged into a weld workpiece, the shoulder spins on the surface of the weld workpiece, thus inducing frictional heat into the part. The pin stirs the fraying surfaces of the weld joint, thus joining the weld workpiece into one structure. The shoulder and stir pin of the FSW pin tool must rotate together at a desired rotational speed. The induced frictional energy control and stir pin control of the pin tool cannot be de-coupled. The two work as one integrated unit. TSW, on the other hand, de-couples the heating and stirring of FSW, and allows for independent control of each process element. A uniquely designed induction coil heats the weld workpiece to a desired temperature, and once heated, the part moves into a stir rod whose RPM is also independently controlled. As the weld workpiece moves into the stir rod, the piece is positioned, or sandwiched, between upper and lower containment plates. The plate squeezes together, thus compressing the upper and lower surfaces of the weld workpiece. This compressive force, also called consolidation force, consolidates the plastic material within the weld nugget material as it is being stirred by the stir rod. The stir rod is positioned through the center of the top containment plate and protrudes midway through the opposite lower containment plate where it is mechanically captured. The upper and lower containment plates are separated by a

Emission of nanoparticles during friction stir welding (FSW) of aluminium alloys.

Science.gov (United States)

Gomes, J F; Miranda, R M; Santos, T J; Carvalho, P A

2014-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) is now well established as a welding process capable of joining some different types of metallic materials, as it was (1) found to be a reliable and economical way of producing high quality welds, and (2) considered a "clean" welding process that does not involve fusion of metal, as is the case with other traditional welding processes. The aim of this study was to determine whether the emission of particles during FSW in the nanorange of the most commonly used aluminum (Al) alloys, AA 5083 and AA 6082, originated from the Al alloy itself due to friction of the welding tool against the item that was being welded. Another goal was to measure Al alloys in the alveolar deposited surface area during FSW. Nanoparticles dimensions were predominantly in the 40- and 70-nm range. This study demonstrated that microparticles were also emitted during FSW but due to tool wear. However, the biological relevance and toxic manifestations of these microparticles remain to be determined.

Ductile damage development in friction stir welded aluminum (AA2024) joints

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Kim Lau

2008-01-01

Ductile damage development in a friction stir welded aluminum joint subjected to tension is analyzed numerically by FE-analysis, based on a total Lagrangian formulation. An elastic-viscoplastic constitutive relation that accounts for nucleation and growth of microvoids is applied. Main focus...

Modelling the Thermomechanical Conditions in Friction Stir Welding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Henrik Nikolaj Blich

Friction Stir Welding is a solid-state welding process invented by TWI in 1991. The FSW process is unique in the sense that joining of un-weldable alloys readily can be made. The thermomechanical conditions present in the workpiece during the welding process are of great interest since...... these control the properties of the weld. In the present work, a set of experimental, analytical and numerical analyses are carried out in order to evaluate the thermomechanical conditions descriptive for welding of aluminium, in this case AA2024-T3, under a specific set of welding parameters. Despite...... these specific data, the developed models can be applied for other alloys and welding parameters as well. A detailed experiment is carried out which constitutes the basis for the development and validation of the numerical and analytical models presented in this work. The contact condition at the tool...

Pin Tool Geometry Effects in Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Querin, J. A.; Rubisoff, H. A.; Schneider, J. A.

2009-01-01

In friction stir welding (FSW) there is significant evidence that material can take one of two different flow paths when being displaced from its original position in front of the pin tool to its final position in the wake of the weld. The geometry of the pin tool, along with the process parameters, plays an important role in dictating the path that the material takes. Each flow path will impart a different thermomechanical history on the material, consequently altering the material microstructure and subsequent weld properties. The intention of this research is to isolate the effect that different pin tool attributes have on the flow paths imparted on the FSWed material. Based on published weld tool geometries, a variety of weld tools were fabricated and used to join AA2219. Results from the tensile properties and microstructural characterization will be presented.

Corrosion Properties of Dissimilar Friction Stir Welded 6061 Aluminum and HT590 Steel

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Bosung; Song, Kuk Hyun; Park, Kwangsuk

2018-05-01

Corrosion properties of dissimilar friction stir welded 6061 aluminum and HT590 steel were investigated to understand effects of galvanic corrosion. As cathode when coupled, HT590 was cathodically protected. However, the passivation of AA6061 made the aluminum alloy cathode temporarily, which leaded to corrosion of HT590. From the EIS analysis showing Warburg diffusion plot in Nyquist plots, it can be inferred that the stable passivation layer was formed on AA6061. However, the weld as well as HT590 did not show Warburg diffusion plot in Nyquist plots, suggesting that there was no barrier for corrosion or even if it exists, the barrier had no function for preventing and/or retarding charge transport through the passivation layer. The open circuit potential measurements showed that the potential of the weld was similar to that of HT590, which lied in the pitting region for AA6061, making the aluminum alloy part of the weld keep corrosion state. That resulted in the cracked oxide film on AA6061 of the weld, which could not play a role of corrosion barrier.

Deformation During Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

White, Henry J.

2002-01-01

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid state welding process that exhibits characteristics similar to traditional metal cutting processes. The plastic deformation that occurs during friction stir welding is due to the superposition of three flow fields: a primary rotation of a radially symmetric solid plug of metal surrounding the pin tool, a secondary uniform translation, and a tertiary ring vortex flow (smoke rings) surrounding the tool. If the metal sticks to the tool, the plug surface extends down into the metal from the outer edge of the tool shoulder, decreases in diameter like a funnel, and closes up beneath the pin. Since its invention, ten years have gone by and still very little is known about the physics of the friction stir welding process. In this experiment, an H13 steel weld tool (shoulder diameter, 0.797 in; pin diameter, 0.312 in; and pin length, 0.2506 in) was used to weld three 0.255 in thick plates. The deformation behavior during friction stir welding was investigated by metallographically preparing a plan view sections of the weldment and taking Vickers hardness test in the key-hole region.

Optimization of Friction Stir Welding Tool Advance Speed via Monte-Carlo Simulation of the Friction Stir Welding Process.

Science.gov (United States)

Fraser, Kirk A; St-Georges, Lyne; Kiss, Laszlo I

2014-04-30

Recognition of the friction stir welding process is growing in the aeronautical and aero-space industries. To make the process more available to the structural fabrication industry (buildings and bridges), being able to model the process to determine the highest speed of advance possible that will not cause unwanted welding defects is desirable. A numerical solution to the transient two-dimensional heat diffusion equation for the friction stir welding process is presented. A non-linear heat generation term based on an arbitrary piecewise linear model of friction as a function of temperature is used. The solution is used to solve for the temperature distribution in the Al 6061-T6 work pieces. The finite difference solution of the non-linear problem is used to perform a Monte-Carlo simulation (MCS). A polynomial response surface (maximum welding temperature as a function of advancing and rotational speed) is constructed from the MCS results. The response surface is used to determine the optimum tool speed of advance and rotational speed. The exterior penalty method is used to find the highest speed of advance and the associated rotational speed of the tool for the FSW process considered. We show that good agreement with experimental optimization work is possible with this simplified model. Using our approach an optimal weld pitch of 0.52 mm/rev is obtained for 3.18 mm thick AA6061-T6 plate. Our method provides an estimate of the optimal welding parameters in less than 30 min of calculation time.

Mechanism for Self-Reacted Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Venable, Richard; Bucher, Joseph

2004-01-01

A mechanism has been designed to apply the loads (the stirring and the resection forces and torques) in self-reacted friction stir welding. This mechanism differs somewhat from mechanisms used in conventional friction stir welding, as described below. The tooling needed to apply the large reaction loads in conventional friction stir welding can be complex. Self-reacted friction stir welding has become popular in the solid-state welding community as a means of reducing the complexity of tooling and to reduce costs. The main problems inherent in self-reacted friction stir welding originate in the high stresses encountered by the pin-and-shoulder assembly that produces the weld. The design of the present mechanism solves the problems. The mechanism includes a redesigned pin-and-shoulder assembly. The welding torque is transmitted into the welding pin by a square pin that fits into a square bushing with set-screws. The opposite or back shoulder is held in place by a Woodruff key and high-strength nut on a threaded shaft. The Woodruff key reacts the torque, while the nut reacts the tensile load on the shaft.

Effects of Fusion Tack Welds on Self-Reacting Friction Stir Welds

Science.gov (United States)

Nunes, A. C., Jr.; Pendleton, M. L.; Brooke, S. A.; Russell, C. K.

2012-01-01

In order to know whether fusion tack welds would affect the strength of self-reacting friction stir seam welds in 2195-T87 aluminum alloy, the fracture stresses of 144 tensile test coupons cut from 24 welded panels containing segments of friction stir welds were measured. Each of the panels was welded under unique processing conditions. A measure of the effect of the tack welds for each panel was devised. An analysis of the measures of the tack weld effect supported the hypothesis that fusion tack welds do not affect the strength of self-reacting friction stir welds to a 5% level of confidence.

Prediction of the Vickers Microhardness and Ultimate Tensile Strength of AA5754 H111 Friction Stir Welding Butt Joints Using Artificial Neural Network.

Science.gov (United States)

De Filippis, Luigi Alberto Ciro; Serio, Livia Maria; Facchini, Francesco; Mummolo, Giovanni; Ludovico, Antonio Domenico

2016-11-10

A simulation model was developed for the monitoring, controlling and optimization of the Friction Stir Welding (FSW) process. This approach, using the FSW technique, allows identifying the correlation between the process parameters (input variable) and the mechanical properties (output responses) of the welded AA5754 H111 aluminum plates. The optimization of technological parameters is a basic requirement for increasing the seam quality, since it promotes a stable and defect-free process. Both the tool rotation and the travel speed, the position of the samples extracted from the weld bead and the thermal data, detected with thermographic techniques for on-line control of the joints, were varied to build the experimental plans. The quality of joints was evaluated through destructive and non-destructive tests (visual tests, macro graphic analysis, tensile tests, indentation Vickers hardness tests and t thermographic controls). The simulation model was based on the adoption of the Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) characterized by back-propagation learning algorithm with different types of architecture, which were able to predict with good reliability the FSW process parameters for the welding of the AA5754 H111 aluminum plates in Butt-Joint configuration.

Prediction of the Vickers Microhardness and Ultimate Tensile Strength of AA5754 H111 Friction Stir Welding Butt Joints Using Artificial Neural Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luigi Alberto Ciro De Filippis

2016-11-01

Full Text Available A simulation model was developed for the monitoring, controlling and optimization of the Friction Stir Welding (FSW process. This approach, using the FSW technique, allows identifying the correlation between the process parameters (input variable and the mechanical properties (output responses of the welded AA5754 H111 aluminum plates. The optimization of technological parameters is a basic requirement for increasing the seam quality, since it promotes a stable and defect-free process. Both the tool rotation and the travel speed, the position of the samples extracted from the weld bead and the thermal data, detected with thermographic techniques for on-line control of the joints, were varied to build the experimental plans. The quality of joints was evaluated through destructive and non-destructive tests (visual tests, macro graphic analysis, tensile tests, indentation Vickers hardness tests and t thermographic controls. The simulation model was based on the adoption of the Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs characterized by back-propagation learning algorithm with different types of architecture, which were able to predict with good reliability the FSW process parameters for the welding of the AA5754 H111 aluminum plates in Butt-Joint configuration.

Microstructure and microtexture studies of a friction stir welded Al 6061 alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumbhar, N.T.; Tewari, R.; Dey, G.K.; Bhanumurthy, K.; Sahoo, S.K.; Samajdar, I.

2009-01-01

Friction stir welding is a solid state joining technique used extensively for the joining of various metals and alloys and also has been applied to the joining of steels. The friction stir welding of Al and its alloys has been extensively delt with over a period exceeding the last decade and a half due to its numerous advantages over other conventional fusion welding techniques in terms of weld quality, efficiency, cost effectiveness etc. to name a few. This technique is being increasingly seeked by industries in mass production/engineering such as the railways, marine and aerospace industries. The friction stir welding of a precipitation hardened Al 6061 alloy plates of 6 mm. thickness was performed at various tool rotation speeds and tool traverse speeds with a constant tilt of 3 deg using a high strength steel (HSS) tool of appropriate dimensions. The cross section of the weld perpendicular to the welding direction was analyzed for a detailed microstructural investigation using electron probe microanalysis, orientation imaging microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Various microstructural changes are observed in the various regions of the friction stir welded AA 6061. The nugget region which is highly deformed is characterized by the dissolution and reprecipitation of the coarse precipitates, grain size refinement and recrystallization. The adjoining regions near the nugget viz the thermomechanically affected zone (TMAZ) and the heat affected zone (HAZ) also show heterogeneous microstructure in terms of grain size and precipitation which is mainly attributed to the heating cycle experienced during welding. This heterogeneity is also evident from the plot of microhardness distribution across the cross section of the weld region. However, the electron probe microanalysis studies do not show any significant pickup of oxygen in the weld interior as compared to a little oxygen pickup upto 30 μm from the top surface. Further, using orientation imaging

Certification of a weld produced by friction stir welding

Science.gov (United States)

Obaditch, Chris; Grant, Glenn J

2013-10-01

Methods, devices, and systems for providing certification of friction stir welds are disclosed. A sensor is used to collect information related to a friction stir weld. Data from the sensor is compared to threshold values provided by an extrinsic standard setting organizations using a certification engine. The certification engine subsequently produces a report on the certification status of the weld.

Effects Of Welding On The Fatigue Behaviour Of Commercial Aluminum AA-1100 Joints

Science.gov (United States)

Uthayakumar, M.; Balasubramanian, V.; Rani, Ahmad Majdi Abdul; Hadzima, Branislav

2018-04-01

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is an budding solid state welding process, which is frequently used for joining aluminum alloys where materials can be joined without melt and recast. Therefore, when welding alloys through FSW the phase transformations occurs will be in the solid state form. The present work is aimed in evaluating the fatigue life of friction stir welded commercial grade aluminum alloy joints. The commercial grade AA1100 aluminum alloy of 12mm thickness plate is welded and the specimens are tested using a rotary beam fatigue testing machine at different stress levels. The stress versus number of cycles (S-N) curves was plotted using the data points. The Fatigue life of tungsten inert gas (TIG) and metal inert gas (MIG) welded joints was compared. The fatigue life of the weld joints was interrelated with the tensile properties, microstructure and micro hardness properties. The effects of the notches and welding processes are evaluated and reported.

Influence of the Aluminium Alloy Type on Defects Formation in Friction Stir Lap Welding of Thin Sheets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. I. Costa

Full Text Available Abstract The weldability in Friction Stir Lap Welding (FSLW of heat and non-heat treatable aluminium alloys, the AA6082-T6 and the AA5754-H22 aluminium alloys, respectively, are compared. For both alloys, welds were produced in very thin sheets, using the same welding parameters and procedures, and strong differences in welds morphology were found. The strength of the welds was evaluated by performing tensile-shear tests under monotonic and cyclic loading conditions. As-welded and heat-treated samples of the AA6082- T6 were tested. It was found that the heat-treatable alloy is more sensitive to defects formation, in lap welding, than the non-heat-treatable alloy. The presence of defects has a strong influence on the monotonic and fatigue behaviour of the welds. In spite of this, for very high-applied stresses, the heat-treatable alloy welds perform better in fatigue than the non-heat-treatable alloy welds.

Sustainability of Welding Process through Bobbin Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Sued, M. K.; Samsuri, S. S. M.; Kassim, M. K. A. M.; Nasir, S. N. N. M.

2018-03-01

Welding process is in high demand, which required a competitive technology to be adopted. This is important for sustaining the needs of the joining industries without ignoring the impact of the process to the environment. Friction stir welding (FSW) is stated to be benefitting the environment through low energy consumption, which cannot be achieved through traditional arc welding. However, this is not well documented, especially for bobbin friction stir welding (BFSW). Therefore, an investigation is conducted by measuring current consumption of the machine during the BFSW process. From the measurement, different phases of BFSW welding process and its electrical demand are presented. It is found that in general total energy in BFSW is about 130kW inclusive of all identified process phases. The phase that utilise for joint formation is in weld phase that used the highest total energy of 120kWs. The recorded total energy is still far below the traditional welding technology and the conventional friction stir welding (CFSW) energy demand. This indicates that BFSW technology with its vast benefit able to sustain the joining technology in near future.

Aluminum 6060-T6 friction stir welded butt joints: fatigue resistance with different tools and feed rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baragetti, S.; D'Urso, G.

2014-01-01

The fatigue behavior of AA6060-T6 friction stir welded butt joints was investigated. The joints were produced by using both a standard and a threaded tri-flute cylindrical-tool with flat shoulder. The friction stir welding process was carried out using different feed rates. Preliminary tensile tests, micrograph analyses and hardness profile measurements across the welds were carried out. Welded and unwelded fatigue samples were tested under axial loading (R = 0.1) with upper limits of 10 4 and 10 5 cycles, using threaded and unthreaded (standard) tools at different feed rates. The best tensile and fatigue performance was obtained using the standard tool at low feed rate.

Weld defect identification in friction stir welding using power spectral density

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Bipul; Pal, Sukhomay; Bag, Swarup

2018-04-01

Power spectral density estimates are powerful in extraction of useful information retained in signal. In the current research work classical periodogram and Welch periodogram algorithms are used for the estimation of power spectral density for vertical force signal and transverse force signal acquired during friction stir welding process. The estimated spectral densities reveal notable insight in identification of defects in friction stir welded samples. It was observed that higher spectral density against each process signals is a key indication in identifying the presence of possible internal defects in the welded samples. The developed methodology can offer preliminary information regarding presence of internal defects in friction stir welded samples can be best accepted as first level of safeguard in monitoring the friction stir welding process.

Thermal analysis of friction stir welding process and investigation into affective parameters using simulation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abbasi, Mahmoud [University of Kashan, Kashan (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Bagheri, Behrouz [Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Keivani, Rasoul [Islamic Azad University, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2015-02-15

Friction stir welding (FSW) as an efficient solid state joining process has numerous applications in industries. Temperature distribution analysis through simulation not only brings the possibility to characterize the microstructure of different zones, but also enables one to save cost and energy as optimum welding variables are obtained with less concern. In the present study, the temperature distribution during the friction stir welding (FSW) process of AA6061-T6 was evaluated using finite element method (FEM). Since experimental measurements cannot be readily made in the weld region, it is difficult to understand physics in the stir zone of the welds without simulation. Abaqus software was applied to model the parts and simulate the process of welding, while Johnson-Cook law utilized to evaluate the effect of strain rate and generated heat. FE-results were verified by experimental results. The comparisons revealed a good compatibility between the results. The effect of probe shape on temperature distribution was also studied. It was found that spherical pins result in the highest temperatures at workpieces with respect to cylindrical and tapered pins. Additionally, it was concluded that more heat is generated in workpieces as pin angle increases.

Thermal analysis of friction stir welding process and investigation into affective parameters using simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abbasi, Mahmoud; Bagheri, Behrouz; Keivani, Rasoul

2015-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) as an efficient solid state joining process has numerous applications in industries. Temperature distribution analysis through simulation not only brings the possibility to characterize the microstructure of different zones, but also enables one to save cost and energy as optimum welding variables are obtained with less concern. In the present study, the temperature distribution during the friction stir welding (FSW) process of AA6061-T6 was evaluated using finite element method (FEM). Since experimental measurements cannot be readily made in the weld region, it is difficult to understand physics in the stir zone of the welds without simulation. Abaqus software was applied to model the parts and simulate the process of welding, while Johnson-Cook law utilized to evaluate the effect of strain rate and generated heat. FE-results were verified by experimental results. The comparisons revealed a good compatibility between the results. The effect of probe shape on temperature distribution was also studied. It was found that spherical pins result in the highest temperatures at workpieces with respect to cylindrical and tapered pins. Additionally, it was concluded that more heat is generated in workpieces as pin angle increases.

Characterization of Friction Stir Welded Tubes by Means of Tube Bulge Test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

D'Urso, G.; Longo, M.; Giardini, C.

2011-01-01

Mechanical properties of friction stir welded joints are generally evaluated by means of conventional tensile test. This testing method might provide insufficient information because maximum strain obtained in tensile test before necking is small; moreover, the application of tensile test is limited when the joint path is not linear or even when the welds are executed on curved surfaces. Therefore, in some cases, it would be preferable to obtain the joints properties from other testing methods. Tube bulge test can be a valid solution for testing circumferential or longitudinal welds executed on tubular workpieces. The present work investigates the mechanical properties and the formability of friction stir welded tubes by means of tube bulge tests. The experimental campaign was performed on tubular specimens having a thickness of 3 mm and an external diameter of 40 mm, obtained starting from two semi-tubes longitudinally friction stir welded. The first step, regarding the fabrication of tubes, was performed combining a conventional forming process and friction stir welding. Sheets in Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloy AA6060 T6 were adopted for this purpose. Plates having a dimension of 225x60 mm were bent (with a bending axis parallel to the main dimension) in order to obtain semi-tubes. A particular care was devoted to the fabrication of forming devices (punch and die) in order to minimize the springback effects. Semi-tubes were then friction stir welded by means of a CNC machine tool. Some preliminary tests were carried out by varying the welding parameters, namely feed rate and rotational speed. A very simple tool having flat shoulder and cylindrical pin was used. The second step of the research was based on testing the welded tubes by means of tube bulge test. A specific equipment having axial actuators with a conical shape was adopted for this study. Some analyses were carried out on the tubes bulged up to a certain pressure level. In particular, the burst pressure and the

Mechanical Properties Of AA 6061-T6 Aluminum Alloy Friction Stir Welds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asmaa M. Abdullah

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The different parameters on mechanical and microstructural properties of aluminium alloy 6061-T6 Friction stir-welded (FSW joints were investigated in the present study. Different welded specimens were produced by employing variable rotating speeds and welding speeds. Tensile strength of the produced joints was tested at room temperature and the the effecincy was assessed, it was 75% of the base metal at rotational speed 1500 rpm and weld speed 50 mm/min. Hardness of various zones of FSW welds are presented and analyzed by means of brinell hardness number . Besides to thess tests the bending properties investigated and showed good results in some specimen and not in onother the mamximum stress was 240 N/mm2 at rotational speed 1500 rpm and weld speed 50 mm/min , while the maximum stress at 1250 rpm and 75 mm/min 94 N/mm2 , hardness results shwed lower values in heat affected and nugget zones than the base metal with improving of hardness at 1500 rpm, 75 mm/min .

Heat input effect of friction stir welding on aluminum alloy AA 6061-T6 welded joint

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Sedmak, A.; Kumar, R.; Chattopadhyaya, S.; Hloch, Sergej; Tadić, S.; Djurdjević, A. A.; Čeković, I. R.; Dončeva, E.

2016-01-01

Roč. 20, č. 2 (2016), s. 637-641 ISSN 0354-9836 Institutional support: RVO:68145535 Keywords : friction stir welding * defect * heat input * maximum temperature Subject RIV: JQ - Machines ; Tools Impact factor: 1.093, year: 2016 http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0354-9836/2016/0354-98361500147D.pdf

Stir zone microstructure of commercial purity titanium friction stir welded using pcBN tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Yu; Sato, Yutaka S.; Kokawa, Hiroyuki; Park, Seung Hwan C.; Hirano, Satoshi

2008-01-01

In the present study, friction stir welding was applied to commercial purity titanium using a polycrystalline cubic boron nitride tool, and microstructure and hardness in the weld were examined. Additionally, the microstructural evolution during friction stir welding was also discussed. The stir zone consisted of fine equiaxed α grains surrounded by serrate grain boundaries, which were produced through the β → α allotropic transformation during the cooling cycle of friction stir welding. The fine α grains caused higher hardness than that in the base material. A lath-shaped α grain structure containing Ti borides and tool debris was observed in the surface region of the stir zone, whose hardness was the highest in the weld

Friction Stir Welding Process: A Green Technology

OpenAIRE

Esther T. Akinlabi; Stephen A. Akinlabi

2012-01-01

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid state welding process invented and patented by The Welding Institute (TWI) in the United Kingdom in 1991 for butt and lap welding of metals and plastics. This paper highlights the benefits of friction stir welding process as an energy efficient and a green technology process in the field of welding. Compared to the other conventional welding processes, its benefits, typical applications and its use in joining similar and dissimilar materia...

An investigation into the mechanism for enhanced mechanical properties in friction stir welded AA2024-T3 joints coated with cold spraying

Science.gov (United States)

Li, N.; Li, W. Y.; Yang, X. W.; Feng, Y.; Vairis, A.

2018-05-01

Using cold spraying (CS), a surface layer with a modified microstructure and enhanced mechanical properties was formed on a 3.2 mm thick friction stir welded (FSWed) AA2024-T3 joint. The combined effect of "shot peening effect (SPE)" and "heat flow effect (HFE)" during CS were used to enhance joint mechanical properties. The microstructure evolution of the FSWed AA2024-T3 joints in the surface layer following CS coatings and their effect on mechanical properties were systematically characterized with electron back-scattered diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and mechanical tests. Based on these experiments, a grain refinement, finer and more S phases, and improved amount of Guinier-Preston-Bagaryatsky (GPB) zones produced by CS treatments are proposed. The deposition of aluminum coating on the joint, lead to hardness recovery in the stir zone and the development of two low hardness zones as the density of GPB increased. The tensile properties of FSWed AA2024-T3 joints improved with the application of the aluminum coatings. Experiments and analysis of the enhanced mechanical properties mechanism indicate that SPE with a high plastic deformation and HFE with an intensive heat flow are necessary for the production of refined grains and increased numbers of GPB zones.

Effect of weld morphology on mechanical response and failure of friction stir welds in a naturally aged aluminium alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Imam, Murshid; Biswas, Kajal; Racherla, Vikranth

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Friction stir welds of AA 6063-T4 are obtained using three tool pin profiles. ► Signature of weld defects in mechanical response of welds is investigated. ► Correlation between peak temperatures in HAZs and their hardness is studied. ► Reasons for strengthening of WNZ and softening of HAZs are found using TEM and XRD. ► A FEM model for the weld zone is developed and validated. -- Abstract: Friction stir butt welds in 6063-T4 aluminium alloy were obtained using square and two tapered tool pin profiles. Tensile tests at 0°, 45°, and 90° to the weld line, hardness contours in the weld cross-section, temperatures in the heat affected zones, cross-sectional macrographs, transmission electron micrographs, and X-ray diffraction studies were used to characterize the welds. In transverse weld specimen, tunnel defects appearing at higher weld speeds for tapered pin profiles, were found to result in mechanical instabilities, i.e. sharp drops in load–displacement curves, much before macroscopic necking occured. Further, in comparison to the base metal, a marked reduction in ductility was observed even in transverse specimen with defect free welds. Hardness contours in the weld cross-section suggest that loss in ductility is due to significant softening in heat affected zone on the retreating side. Transmission electron microscopy images demonstrate that while recovery and overaging are responsible for softening in the heat affected zone, grain size refinement from dynamic recrystallization is responsible for strengthening of the weld nugget zone. X-ray diffraction studies in the three weld zones: weld nugget zone, heat affected zone, and the base metal corroborate these findings. A weld zone model, for use in forming simulations on friction stir welded plates of naturally aged aluminium alloys, was proposed based on mechanical characterization tests. The model was validated using finite element analysis.

Influence of groove size and reinforcements addition on mechanical properties and microstructure of friction stir welded joints

Science.gov (United States)

Reddy Baridula, Ravinder; Ibrahim, Abdullah Bin; Yahya, Che Ku Mohammad Faizal Bin Che Ku; Kulkarni, Ratnakar; Varma Ramaraju, Ramgopal

2018-03-01

The butt joints fabricated by friction stir welding were found to have more strength than the joints obtained by conventional joining process. The important outcome of this process is the successful fabrication of surface composites with improved properties. Thus in order to further enhance the strength of the dissimilar alloy joints the reinforcements can be deposited in to the aluminium matrix during the process of friction stir welding. In the present study the multi-walled carbon nanotubes were embedded in to the groove by varying the width during joining of dissimilar alloys AA2024 and AA7075. Four widths were selected with constant depth and optimum process parameters were selected to fabricate the sound welded joints. The results show that the mechanical properties of the fabricated butt joints were influenced by the size of the groove, due to variation in the deposition of reinforcement in the stir zone. The microstructural study and identification of the elements of the welded joints show that the reinforcements deposition is influenced by the size of the groove. It has also been observed that the groove with minimum width is more effective than higher width. The mechanical properties are found to be improved due to the pinning of grain boundaries.

Gimballed Shoulders for Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Robert; Lawless, Kirby

2008-01-01

In a proposed improvement of tooling for friction stir welding, gimballed shoulders would supplant shoulders that, heretofore, have been fixedly aligned with pins. The proposal is especially relevant to self-reacting friction stir welding. Some definitions of terms, recapitulated from related prior NASA Tech Briefs articles, are prerequisite to a meaningful description of the proposed improvement. In friction stir welding, one uses a tool that includes (1) a rotating shoulder on top (or front) of the workpiece and (2) a pin that rotates with the shoulder and protrudes from the shoulder into the depth of the workpiece. In conventional friction stir welding, the main axial force exerted by the tool on the workpiece is reacted through a ridged backing anvil under (behind) the workpiece. When conventional friction stir welding is augmented with an auto-adjustable pin-tool (APT) capability, the depth of penetration of the pin into the workpiece is varied in real time by a position- or forcecontrol system that extends or retracts the pin as needed to obtain the desired effect. In self-reacting (also known as self-reacted) friction stir welding as practiced heretofore, there are two shoulders: one on top (or front) and one on the bottom (or back) of the workpiece. In this case, a threaded shaft protrudes from the tip of the pin to beyond the back surface of the workpiece. The back shoulder is held axially in place against tension by a nut on the threaded shaft. Both shoulders rotate with the pin and remain aligned coaxially with the pin. The main axial force exerted on the workpiece by the tool and front shoulder is reacted through the back shoulder and the threaded shaft into the friction-stir-welding machine head, so that a backing anvil is no longer needed. A key transmits torque between the bottom shoulder and the threaded shaft, so that the bottom shoulder rotates with the shaft. This concludes the prerequisite definitions of terms.

Experimental Study on Dissimilar Friction Stir welding of Aluminium Alloys (5083-H111 and 6082-T6) to investigate the mechanical properties

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, H. M. Anil; Venkata Ramana, V.; Pawar, Mayur

2018-03-01

Friction stir welding is an innovative technology in the joining realm of metals and alloys. This technique is highly economical and suitable especially for non ferrous alloys compared to ferrous alloys. It finds many applications in various fields of aeronautics, automobile, ship building industries etc. The paper presents the comparative results of mechanical properties such as tensile strength, microstructure, macro structure and hardness on the similar and dissimilar aluminum alloys AA5083-H111 and AA6082-T6 under certain selected variables - constant tool rotational speed, its tilt angle, welding speed using friction stir welding process. It is observed from the experimental results that joint efficiency of dissimilar aluminium alloys is higher than the similar aluminum alloys.

Gimbaled-shoulder friction stir welding tool

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Robert W. (Inventor); Lawless, Kirby G. (Inventor)

2010-01-01

A gimbaled-shoulder friction stir welding tool includes a pin and first and second annular shoulders coupled to the pin. At least one of the annular shoulders is coupled to the pin for gimbaled motion with respect thereto as the tool is rotated by a friction stir welding apparatus.

Experimental and numerical investigation on under-water friction stir welding of armour grade AA2519-T87 aluminium alloy

OpenAIRE

Sree Sabari, S.; Malarvizhi, S.; Balasubramanian, V.; Madusudhan Reddy, G.

2016-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a promising welding process that can join age hardenable aluminium alloys with high joint efficiency. However, the thermal cycles experienced by the material to be joined during FSW resulted in the deterioration of mechanical properties due to the coarsening and dissolution of strengthening precipitates in the thermo-mechanical affected zone (TMAZ) and heat affected zone (HAZ). Under water friction stir welding (UWFSW) is a variant of FSW process which can maint...

A Study on Tooling and Its Effect on Heat Generation and Mechanical Properties of Welded Joints in Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Tikader, Sujoy; Biswas, Pankaj; Puri, Asit Baran

2018-04-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) has been the most attracting solid state welding process as it serves numerous advantages like good mechanical, metallurgical properties etc. Non weldable aluminium alloys like 5XXX, 7XXX series can be simply joined by this process. In this present study a mathematical model has been developed and experiments were successfully performed to evaluate mechanical properties of FSW on similar aluminium alloys i.e. AA1100 for different process parameters and mainly two kind of tool geometry (straight cylindrical and conical or cylindrical tapered shaped pin with flat shoulder). Tensile strength and micro hardness for different process parameters are reported of the welded plate sample. It was noticed that in FSW of similar alloy with tool made of SS-310 tool steel, friction is the major contributor for the heat generation. It was seen that tool geometry, tool rotational speed, plunging force by the tool and traverse speed have significant effect on tensile strength and hardness of friction stir welded joints.

Influence of tool pin in friction stir welding on activated carbon reinforced aluminium metal matrix composite

Science.gov (United States)

DijuSamuel, G.; Raja Dhas, J. Edwin

2017-10-01

This paper focus on impact of tool pin in friction stir welding on activated carbon reinforced aluminium metal matrix composite. For fabrication of metal matrix composite AA6061 is used as matrix and activated carbon is used as reinforcement and it is casted using modified stir casting technique. After casting metal matrix composite has undergone various microstructure tests like SEM,EDAX and XRD. FSW is carried out in this metal matrix composite by choosing various tool pin profile like square,round,Threaded round, hexagon and taper. The quality of welded plates is measured in terms of ultimate tensile strength and hardness.

Thermal Stir Welding Development at Marshall Space Flight Center

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Robert J.

2008-01-01

Solid state welding processes have become the focus of welding process development at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Unlike fusion weld processes such as tungsten inert gas (TIG), variable polarity plasma arc (VPPA), electron beam (EB), etc., solid state welding processes do not melt the material during welding. The resultant microstructure can be characterized as a dynamically recrystallized morphology much different than the casted, dentritic structure typical of fusion weld processes. The primary benefits of solid state processes over fusion weld processes include superior mechanic properties and the elimination of thermal distortion and residual stresses. These solid state processes attributes have profoundly influenced the direction of advanced welding research and development within the NASA agency. Thermal Stir Welding (TSW) is a new solid state welding process being developed at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Unlike friction stir welding, the heating, stirring and forging elements of the weld process can be decoupled for independent control. An induction coil induces energy into a workpiece to attain a desired plastic temperature. An independently controlled stir rod, captured within non-rotating containment plates, then stirs the plasticized material followed by forging plates/rollers that work the stirred weld joint. The independent control (decoupling) of heating, stirring and forging allows, theoretically, for the precision control of microstructure morphology. The TSW process is being used to evaluate the solid state joining of Haynes 230 for ARES J-2X applications. It is also being developed for 500-in (12.5 mm) thick commercially pure grade 2 titanium for navy applications. Other interests include Inconel 718 and stainless steel. This presentation will provide metallurgical and mechanical property data for these high melting temperature alloys.

Low temperature friction stir welding of P91 steel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prasad Rao Kalvala

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Bead-on-plate friction stir welds were made on P91 alloy with low and high rotational speeds (100 and 1000 RPM to study their effects on weld microstructural changes and impression creep behavior. Temperatures experienced by the stir zone were recorded at the weld tool tip. Different zones of welds were characterized for their microstructural changes, hardness and creep behavior (by impression creep tests. The results were compared with submerged arc fusion weld. Studies revealed that the stir zone temperature with 100 RPM was well below Ac1 temperature of P91 steel while it was above Ac3 with 1000 RPM. The results suggest that the microstructural degradation in P91 welds can be controlled by low temperature friction stir welding technique.

Material flow in butt friction stir welds in AA2024-T3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmidt, H.N.B.; Dickerson, T.L.; Hattel, J.H.

2006-01-01

The properties of a workpiece joined by friction stir welding (FSW) are directly related to the material flow around the tool. In the present work, the material flow is investigated by traditional metallography as well as X-ray and computer tomography (CT). By introducing a thin copper strip in the workpiece and welding through it, thus, acting as a marker material, detailed information about the flow field is gathered. The two- and three-dimensional CT images are used in parallel with micrographs for visualization of the flow field. Two procedures for estimating the average velocities for material flowing through the shear layer are presented. The procedures depend on the configuration of marker material relative to the welding direction, i.e. longitudinal and transverse. As such, the present work constitutes the first attempt in the literature to estimate flow velocities in FSW based on thorough experimental investigations

Damage Tolerance Behavior of Friction Stir Welds in Aluminum Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

McGill, Preston; Burkholder, Jonathan

2012-01-01

Friction stir welding is a solid state welding process used in the fabrication of various aerospace structures. Self-reacting and conventional friction stir welding are variations of the friction stir weld process employed in the fabrication of cryogenic propellant tanks which are classified as pressurized structure in many spaceflight vehicle architectures. In order to address damage tolerance behavior associated with friction stir welds in these safety critical structures, nondestructive inspection and proof testing may be required to screen hardware for mission critical defects. The efficacy of the nondestructive evaluation or the proof test is based on an assessment of the critical flaw size. Test data describing fracture behavior, residual strength capability, and cyclic mission life capability of friction stir welds at ambient and cryogenic temperatures have been generated and will be presented in this paper. Fracture behavior will include fracture toughness and tearing (R-curve) response of the friction stir welds. Residual strength behavior will include an evaluation of the effects of lack of penetration on conventional friction stir welds, the effects of internal defects (wormholes) on self-reacting friction stir welds, and an evaluation of the effects of fatigue cycled surface cracks on both conventional and selfreacting welds. Cyclic mission life capability will demonstrate the effects of surface crack defects on service load cycle capability. The fracture data will be used to evaluate nondestructive inspection and proof test requirements for the welds.

The investigation of typical welding defects for 5456 aluminum alloy friction stir welds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Huabin; Yan Keng; Lin Tao; Chen Shanben; Jiang Chengyu; Zhao Yong

2006-01-01

The external factors on the friction stir welding defects are so abundant that the experiments of friction stir welding were conducted for 5456 aluminum alloy. With the changes of the tool tilt angle and material condition, defects can be generated. These defects can be conventional ones (lack of penetration or voids), or lazy S, which are unique to friction stir welding. However, the origin of the defects remains an area of uncertainty. In this study, an attempt has been made to investigate the formation of these defects. The typical welding defects of friction stir welding joint for 5456 aluminum alloy were analyzed and discussed, respectively, by using optical microscopy (OM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The microscopic examination of the nugget zone and fracture location of the weld confirms that the tilt angle can change the plastic material flow patterns in the stir zone and accordingly control the weld properties. In addition, the oxide layer from the initial butt surface during FSW is dispersed at the grain boundary. These A1 2 O 3 particles are actually the major cause of failure of the joint

Finite element modelling and updating of friction stir welding (FSW joint for vibration analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahari Siti Norazila

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Friction stir welding of aluminium alloys widely used in automotive and aerospace application due to its advanced and lightweight properties. The behaviour of FSW joints plays a significant role in the dynamic characteristic of the structure due to its complexities and uncertainties therefore the representation of an accurate finite element model of these joints become a research issue. In this paper, various finite elements (FE modelling technique for prediction of dynamic properties of sheet metal jointed by friction stir welding will be presented. Firstly, nine set of flat plate with different series of aluminium alloy; AA7075 and AA6061 joined by FSW are used. Nine set of specimen was fabricated using various types of welding parameters. In order to find the most optimum set of FSW plate, the finite element model using equivalence technique was developed and the model validated using experimental modal analysis (EMA on nine set of specimen and finite element analysis (FEA. Three types of modelling were engaged in this study; rigid body element Type 2 (RBE2, bar element (CBAR and spot weld element connector (CWELD. CBAR element was chosen to represent weld model for FSW joints due to its accurate prediction of mode shapes and contains an updating parameter for weld modelling compare to other weld modelling. Model updating was performed to improve correlation between EMA and FEA and before proceeds to updating, sensitivity analysis was done to select the most sensitive updating parameter. After perform model updating, total error of the natural frequencies for CBAR model is improved significantly. Therefore, CBAR element was selected as the most reliable element in FE to represent FSW weld joint.

Low-cycle fatigue of dissimilar friction stir welded aluminum alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rodriguez, R.I. [The University of Alabama, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (United States); Jordon, J.B., E-mail: bjordon@eng.ua.edu [The University of Alabama, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (United States); Allison, P.G. [The University of Alabama, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (United States); Rushing, T.; Garcia, L. [Engineering Research and Development Center, Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, MS 39180 (United States)

2016-01-27

In this work, experiments were conducted to quantify structure-property relations of low-cycle fatigue behavior of dissimilar friction stir welding (FSW) of AA6061-to-AA7050 high strength aluminum alloys. In addition, a microstructure-sensitive fatigue model is employed to further elucidate cause-effect relationships. Experimental strain-controlled fatigue testing revealed an increase in the cyclic strain hardening and the number-of cycles to failure as the tool rotational speed was increased. At higher applied strain amplitudes (>0.3%), the corresponding stress amplitude increased and the plastic strain amplitude decreased, as the number of cycles increased. However, at 0.2% strain amplitude, the plastic strain decreased until it was almost negligible. Inspection of the hysteresis loops demonstrated that at low strain amplitudes, there was an initial stage of strain hardening that increased until it reached a maximum strain hardening level, afterwards a nearly perfect elastic behavior was observed. Under fully-reversed fatigue loading, all samples failed at the region between the heat-affected and thermomechanically-affected zones. Inspection of the fractured surfaces under scanning electron microscopy revealed that the cracks initiated at either the crown or the root surface of the weld, and from secondary intermetallic particles located near the free surface of the weld. Lastly, a microstructure-sensitive multistage fatigue model was employed to correlate the fatigue life of the dissimilar FSW of AA6061-to-AA7050 considering microstructural features such as grain size, intermetallic particles and mechanical properties.

A preliminary investigation on microstructure and mechanical properties of dissimilar Al to Cu friction stir welds prepared using silver interlayer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shailesh N. Pandya

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Due to its solid-state nature, friction stir welding (FSW process can be considered a better alternative for dissimilar welding metals. However, like fusion welding techniques, in friction stir welding growth of thick layers of brittle intermetallics - Cu9Al4 and CuAl2 is a significant issue. One solution to this problem is the use of the suitable interlayer material. Use of interlayer material modifies the joint microstructure with the replacement of thick, brittle intermetallics by more ductile intermetallics in a thin layer or particle form. The present study is a preliminary investigation about joining of AA6082-O to pure copper joints with and without silver (Ag wire interlayer. Friction stir welded joints were characterized regarding optical microscopy, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD analysis, microhardness measurement, tensile testing and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM based fractography. The Al-Cu weld prepared using silver interlayer was stronger than without it. The higher strength of the weld with silver interlayer is attributed to the formation of a composite type of structure with intercalation of more ductile Ag2Al intermetallics along with dispersion of Ag particles in stir zone.

Thermo-Mechanical Characterization of Friction Stir Spot Welded AA7050 Sheets by Means of Experimental and FEM Analyses.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Urso, Gianluca; Giardini, Claudio

2016-08-11

The present study was carried out to evaluate how the friction stir spot welding (FSSW) process parameters affect the temperature distribution in the welding region, the welding forces and the mechanical properties of the joints. The experimental study was performed by means of a CNC machine tool obtaining FSSW lap joints on AA7050 aluminum alloy plates. Three thermocouples were inserted into the samples to measure the temperatures at different distance from the joint axis during the whole FSSW process. Experiments was repeated varying the process parameters, namely rotational speed, axial feed rate and plunging depth. Axial welding forces were measured during the tests using a piezoelectric load cell, while the mechanical properties of the joints were evaluated by executing shear tests on the specimens. The correlation found between process parameters and joints properties, allowed to identify the best technological window. The data collected during the experiments were used to validate a simulation model of the FSSW process, too. The model was set up using a 2D approach for the simulation of a 3D problem, in order to guarantee a very simple and practical solution for achieving results in a very short time. A specific external routine for the calculation of the thermal energy due to friction acting between pin and sheet was developed. An index for the prediction of the joint mechanical properties using the FEM simulations was finally presented and validated.

Thermo-Mechanical Characterization of Friction Stir Spot Welded AA7050 Sheets by Means of Experimental and FEM Analyses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gianluca D’Urso

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The present study was carried out to evaluate how the friction stir spot welding (FSSW process parameters affect the temperature distribution in the welding region, the welding forces and the mechanical properties of the joints. The experimental study was performed by means of a CNC machine tool obtaining FSSW lap joints on AA7050 aluminum alloy plates. Three thermocouples were inserted into the samples to measure the temperatures at different distance from the joint axis during the whole FSSW process. Experiments was repeated varying the process parameters, namely rotational speed, axial feed rate and plunging depth. Axial welding forces were measured during the tests using a piezoelectric load cell, while the mechanical properties of the joints were evaluated by executing shear tests on the specimens. The correlation found between process parameters and joints properties, allowed to identify the best technological window. The data collected during the experiments were used to validate a simulation model of the FSSW process, too. The model was set up using a 2D approach for the simulation of a 3D problem, in order to guarantee a very simple and practical solution for achieving results in a very short time. A specific external routine for the calculation of the thermal energy due to friction acting between pin and sheet was developed. An index for the prediction of the joint mechanical properties using the FEM simulations was finally presented and validated.

Friction stir welding of AA6082-T6 sheets: Numerical analysis and experimental tests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buffa, G.; Fratini, L.

2004-01-01

3D numerical simulation of the Friction Stir Welding process is developed with the aim to highlight the process mechanics in terms of metal flux and temperature, strain and strain rate distributions. The numerical results have been validated though a set of experimental tests

Intergranular corrosion following friction stir welding of aluminum alloy 7075-T651

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lumsden, J.B.; Mahoney, M.W.; Pollock, G.; Rhodes, C.G.

1999-12-01

Friction stir welding (FSW), a relatively new solid-state joining process, is used to join Al alloys of all compositions, including alloys essentially considered unweldable. This study focused on microstructures in FSW Al alloy 7075-T651 (AA 7075-T651 [UNS 97075-T651]), an alloy not commonly fusion welded, and the resultant corrosion susceptibility. Although the heat input associated with FSW was relatively low and the time at temperature was short compared to fusion welding, localized microstructures, chemical segregation, and precipitate distributions were created that generally are not present in parent metal AA 7075-T651. Typically, in the weld and heat affected zone (HAZ), the times at peak temperature were short, cooling was relatively rapid, and peak temperatures were {lt} {approx}500 C. Accordingly, a corresponding microstructural gradient developed from the weld nugget into the unaffected parent metal with the precipitate distribution in and around grain boundaries reflecting this temperature excursion. Some of these microstructures, when exposed to a corrosive environment, showed selective grain boundary attack and a decrease in the pitting potential relative to the parent metal. A characterization of the microstructure and localized chemistry differences within the weld zones suggested that the decrease in corrosion resistance correlated with a depletion of Cu within the grain boundaries and precipitate-free zones. These results provided evidence that the lowered resistance to intergranular corrosion following FSW of AA 7075-T651 was caused by a difference in pitting potentials.

Effects of various tool pin profiles on mechanical and metallurgical properties of friction stir welded joints of cryorolled AA2219 aluminium alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Kamal Babu, Karupannan; Panneerselvam, Kavan; Sathiya, Paulraj; Noorul Haq, Abdul Haq; Sundarrajan, Srinivasan; Mastanaiah, Potta; Srinivasa Murthy, Chunduri Venkata

2018-02-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) process was conducted on cryorolled (CR) AA2219 plate using different tool pin profiles such as cylindrical pin, threaded cylindrical pin, square pin and hexagonal pin profiles. The FSW was carried out with pairs of 6 mm thick CR aluminium plates with different tool pin profiles. The different tool pin profile weld portions' behaviors like mechanical (tensile strength, impact and hardness) and metallurgical characteristics were analyzed. The results of the mechanical analysis revealed that the joint made by the hexagonal pin tool had good strength compared to other pin profiles. This was due to the pulsating action and material flow of the tool resulting in dynamic recrystallization in the weld zone. This was confirmed by the ultra fine grain structure formation in Weld Nugget (WN) of hexagonal pin tool joint with a higher percentage of precipitate dissolution. The fractograph of the hexagonal tool pin weld portion confirmed the finer dimple structure morphology without having any interior defect compared to other tool pin profiles. The lowest weld joint strength was obtained from cylindrical pin profile weld joint due to insufficient material flow during welding. The Transmission Electron Microscope and EDX analysis showed the dissolution of the metastable θ″, θ' (Al2Cu) partial precipitates in the WN and proved the influence of metastable precipitates on enhancement of mechanical behavior of weld. The XRD results also confirmed the Al2Cu precipitation dissolution in the weld zone.

Analysis and Comparison of Friction Stir Welding and Laser Assisted Friction Stir Welding of Aluminum Alloy.

Science.gov (United States)

Campanelli, Sabina Luisa; Casalino, Giuseppe; Casavola, Caterina; Moramarco, Vincenzo

2013-12-18

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining process; i.e. , no melting occurs. The welding process is promoted by the rotation and translation of an axis-symmetric non-consumable tool along the weld centerline. Thus, the FSW process is performed at much lower temperatures than conventional fusion welding, nevertheless it has some disadvantages. Laser Assisted Friction Stir Welding (LAFSW) is a combination in which the FSW is the dominant welding process and the laser pre-heats the weld. In this work FSW and LAFSW tests were conducted on 6 mm thick 5754H111 aluminum alloy plates in butt joint configuration. LAFSW is studied firstly to demonstrate the weldability of aluminum alloy using that technique. Secondly, process parameters, such as laser power and temperature gradient are investigated in order to evaluate changes in microstructure, micro-hardness, residual stress, and tensile properties. Once the possibility to achieve sound weld using LAFSW is demonstrated, it will be possible to explore the benefits for tool wear, higher welding speeds, and lower clamping force.

Microstructure Evolution during Friction Stir Spot Welding of TRIP Steel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lomholt, Trine Colding; Pantleon, Karen; Somers, Marcel A. J.

2010-01-01

In this study, the feasibility of friction stir spot welding of TRIP steel is investigated. In addition to manufacturing successful welds, the present study aims at a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms occurring at the (sub)micron scale during friction stir spot welding. As one of the ma...... electron microscopy, and electron backscatter diffraction. Microhardness measurements and lap-shear tensile tests completed the investigations of the welded samples and allow evaluation of the quality of the welds.......In this study, the feasibility of friction stir spot welding of TRIP steel is investigated. In addition to manufacturing successful welds, the present study aims at a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms occurring at the (sub)micron scale during friction stir spot welding. As one of the main...... parameters to control friction stir welding, the influence of the rotational speed of the tool was investigated. Three different rotational speeds (500 rpm, 1000 rpm and 1500 rpm, respectively) were applied. The microstructure of the welded samples was investigated with reflected light microscopy, scanning...

Friction stir spot welding of dissimilar aluminium alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bozkurt, Yahya

2016-01-01

Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) has been proposed as an effective technology to spot weld the so-called “difficult to be welded” metal alloys such as thin sheets aluminum alloys and dissimilar materials. FSSW is derived from friction stir welding technology, its principle benefit being low cost joining, lower welding temperature and shorter welding time than conventional welding methods. In this study, dissimilar AlMg 3 and AlCu 4 Mg 1 aluminium alloy plates were FSSWed by offsetting the low strength sheet on upper side of the weld. The effects of tool rotation speed on the microstructure, lap shear fracture load (LSFL), microhardness and fracture features of the weld are investigated by constant welding parameters. The maximum LSFL was obtained by increasing the tool rotational speed. However, the joints exhibited pull-out nugget fracture mode under lap shear tensile testing conditions. The largest completely bonded zone was observed as 5.86 mm which was narrower at the opposite position of the joint. Key words: friction stir spot welding, aluminium alloys, mechanical properties, dissimilar joint, welding parameters

Effect of welding speed on microstructural and mechanical properties of friction stir welded Inconel 600

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, K.H.; Fujii, H.; Nakata, K.

2009-01-01

In order to evaluate the properties of a friction stir welded Ni base alloy, Inconel 600 (single phase type) was selected. Sound friction stir welds without weld defect were obtained at 150 and 200 mm/min in welding speed, however, a groove like defect occurred at 250 mm/min. The electron back scattered diffraction (EBSD) method was used to analyze the grain boundary character distribution. As a result, dynamic recrystallization was observed at all conditions, and the grain refinement was achieved in the stir zone, and it was gradually accelerated from 19 μm in average grain size of the base material to 3.4 μm in the stir zone with increasing the welding speed. It also has an effect on the mechanical properties so that friction stir welded zone showed 20% higher microhardness and 10% higher tensile strength than those of base material.

Probing weld quality monitoring in friction stir welding through characterization of signals by fractal theory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Das, Bipul; Bag, Swarup; Pal, Sukhomay [Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam (India)

2017-05-15

Providing solutions towards the improvisation of welding technologies is the recent trend in the Friction stir welding (FSW) process. We present a monitoring approach for ultimate tensile strength of the friction stir welded joints based on information extracted from process signals through implementing fractal theory. Higuchi and Katz algorithms were executed on current and tool rotational speed signals acquired during friction stir welding to estimate fractal dimensions. Estimated fractal dimensions when correlated with the ultimate tensile strength of the joints deliver an increasing trend with the increase in joint strength. It is observed that dynamicity of the system strengthens the weld joint, i.e., the greater the fractal dimension, the better will be the quality of the weld. Characterization of signals by fractal theory indicates that the single-valued indicator can be an alternative for effective monitoring of the friction stir welding process.

Probing weld quality monitoring in friction stir welding through characterization of signals by fractal theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Das, Bipul; Bag, Swarup; Pal, Sukhomay

2017-01-01

Providing solutions towards the improvisation of welding technologies is the recent trend in the Friction stir welding (FSW) process. We present a monitoring approach for ultimate tensile strength of the friction stir welded joints based on information extracted from process signals through implementing fractal theory. Higuchi and Katz algorithms were executed on current and tool rotational speed signals acquired during friction stir welding to estimate fractal dimensions. Estimated fractal dimensions when correlated with the ultimate tensile strength of the joints deliver an increasing trend with the increase in joint strength. It is observed that dynamicity of the system strengthens the weld joint, i.e., the greater the fractal dimension, the better will be the quality of the weld. Characterization of signals by fractal theory indicates that the single-valued indicator can be an alternative for effective monitoring of the friction stir welding process.

Nondestructive Evaluation of Friction Stir-Welded Aluminum Alloy to Coated Steel Sheet Lap Joint

Science.gov (United States)

Das, H.; Kumar, A.; Rajkumar, K. V.; Saravanan, T.; Jayakumar, T.; Pal, Tapan Kumar

2015-11-01

Dissimilar lap joints of aluminum sheet (AA 6061) of 2 mm thickness and zinc-coated steel sheet of 1 mm thickness were produced by friction stir welding with different combinations of rotational speed and travel speed. Ultrasonic C- and B-scanning, and radiography have been used in a complementary manner for detection of volumetric (cavity and flash) and planar (de bond) defects as the defects are in micron level. Advanced ultrasonic C-scanning did not provide any idea about the defects, whereas B-scanning cross-sectional image showed an exclusive overview of the micron-level defects. A digital x-ray radiography methodology is proposed for quality assessment of the dissimilar welds which provide three-fold increase in signal-to-noise ratio with improved defect detection sensitivity. The present study clearly shows that the weld tool rotational speed and travel speed have a decisive role on the quality of the joints obtained by the friction stir welding process. The suitability of the proposed NDE techniques to evaluate the joint integrity of dissimilar FSW joints is thus established.

Constitutive model of friction stir weld with consideration of its inhomogeneous mechanical properties

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ling; Min, Junying; Wang, Bin; Lin, Jianping; Li, Fangfang; Liu, Jing

2016-03-01

In practical engineering, finite element(FE) modeling for weld seam is commonly simplified by neglecting its inhomogeneous mechanical properties. This will cause a significant loss in accuracy of FE forming analysis, in particular, for friction stir welded(FSW) blanks due to the large width and good formability of its weld seam. The inhomogeneous mechanical properties across weld seam need to be well characterized for an accurate FE analysis. Based on a similar AA5182 FSW blank, the metallographic observation and micro-Vickers hardness analysis upon the weld cross-section are performed to identify the interfaces of different sub-zones, i.e., heat affected zone(HAZ), thermal-mechanically affected zone(TMAZ) and weld nugget(WN). Based on the rule of mixture and hardness distribution, a constitutive model is established for each sub-zone to characterize the inhomogeneous mechanical properties across the weld seam. Uniaxial tensile tests of the AA5182 FSW blank are performed with the aid of digital image correlation(DIC) techniques. Experimental local stress-strain curves are obtained for different weld sub-zones. The experimental results show good agreement with those derived from the constitutive models, which demonstrates the feasibility and accuracy of these models. The proposed research gives an accurate characterization of inhomogeneous mechanical properties across the weld seam produced by FSW, which provides solutions for improving the FE simulation accuracy of FSW sheet forming.

Effects of welding parameters on friction stir spot welding of high density polyethylene sheets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bilici, Mustafa Kemal; Yukler, Ahmet Irfan

2012-01-01

Graphical abstract: (a) Schematic illustration of the cross section of a friction stir spot weld and (b) Geometry of the weld bonded area, x: nugget thickness and y: the thickness of the upper sheet. Highlights: → Welding parameters affect the FSSW nugget formation and the strength of the joint. → Melting of polyethylene occurred in the vicinity of the tool pin. → The joint that fractures with a pull nugget failure mode has a higher strength. -- Abstract: Friction stir spot welding parameters affect the weld strength of thermoplastics, such as high density polyethylene (HDPE) sheets. The effects of the welding parameters on static strength of friction stir spot welds of high density polyethylene sheets were investigated. For maximizing the weld strength, the selection of welding parameters is very important. In lap-shear tests two fracture modes were observed; cross nugget failure and pull nugget failure. The tool rotational speed, tool plunge depth and dwell time were determined to be important in the joint formation and its strength. The joint which had a better strength fails with a pull nugget failure morphology. Weld cross section image analysis of the joints were done with a video spectral comparator. The plunge rate of the tool was determined to have a negligible effect on friction stir spot welding.

Effect of process parameters on microstructure and mechanical behaviors of friction stir linear welded aluminum to magnesium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rao, H.M.; Ghaffari, B.; Yuan, W.; Jordon, J.B.; Badarinarayan, H.

2016-01-01

The microstructure and lap-shear behaviors of friction stir linear welded wrought Al alloy AA6022-T4 to cast Mg alloy AM60B joints were examined. A process window was developed to initially identify the potential process conditions. Multitudes of welds were produced by varying the tool rotation rate and tool traverse speed. Welds produced at 1500 revolutions per minute (rpm) tool rotation rate and either 50 mm/min or 75 mm/min tool traverse speed displayed the highest quasi-static failure load of ~3.3 kN per 30 mm wide lap-shear specimens. Analysis of cross sections of untested coupons indicated that the welds made at these optimum welding parameters had negligible microvoids and displayed a favorable weld geometry for the cold lap and hook features at the faying surface, compared to welds produced using other process parameters. Cross sections of the tested coupons indicated that the dominant crack initiated on the advancing side and progressed through the weld nugget, which consists of intermetallic compounds (IMC). This study demonstrates the feasibility of welding wrought Al and cast Mg alloy via friction stir linear welding with promising lap-shear strength results.

Effect of process parameters on microstructure and mechanical behaviors of friction stir linear welded aluminum to magnesium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rao, H.M. [Research & Development Division, Hitachi America Ltd., Farmington Hills, MI 48335 (United States); Ghaffari, B. [Research and Advanced Engineering, Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, MI 48121 (United States); Yuan, W., E-mail: wei.yuan@hitachi-automotive.us [Research & Development Division, Hitachi America Ltd., Farmington Hills, MI 48335 (United States); Jordon, J.B. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (United States); Badarinarayan, H. [Research & Development Division, Hitachi America Ltd., Farmington Hills, MI 48335 (United States)

2016-01-10

The microstructure and lap-shear behaviors of friction stir linear welded wrought Al alloy AA6022-T4 to cast Mg alloy AM60B joints were examined. A process window was developed to initially identify the potential process conditions. Multitudes of welds were produced by varying the tool rotation rate and tool traverse speed. Welds produced at 1500 revolutions per minute (rpm) tool rotation rate and either 50 mm/min or 75 mm/min tool traverse speed displayed the highest quasi-static failure load of ~3.3 kN per 30 mm wide lap-shear specimens. Analysis of cross sections of untested coupons indicated that the welds made at these optimum welding parameters had negligible microvoids and displayed a favorable weld geometry for the cold lap and hook features at the faying surface, compared to welds produced using other process parameters. Cross sections of the tested coupons indicated that the dominant crack initiated on the advancing side and progressed through the weld nugget, which consists of intermetallic compounds (IMC). This study demonstrates the feasibility of welding wrought Al and cast Mg alloy via friction stir linear welding with promising lap-shear strength results.

Nickel-base alloy overlay weld with improved ultrasonic flaw detection by magnetic stirring welding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takashi, Hirano; Kenji, Hirano; Masayuki, Watando; Takahiro, Arakawa; Minoru, Maeda

2001-01-01

Ultrasonic flaw detection is more difficult in Nickel-base alloy welds containing dendrites owing to the decrease ultrasonic transmissibility they cause. The present paper discusses application of magnetic stirring welding as a means for reducing dendrite growth with consequent improvement in ultrasonic transmissibility. Single pass and multi-pass welding tests were conducted to determine optimal welding conditions. By PT and macro observation subsequent to welding was carried out, optimal operation conditions were clarified. Overlay welding tests and UT clearly indicated ultrasonic beam transmissibility in overlay welds to be improved and detection capacity to be greater through application of magnetic stirring welding. Optimal operation conditions were determined based on examination of temper bead effects in the heat affected zone of low alloy steel by application of magnetic stirring welding to the butt welded joints between low alloy and stainless steel. Hardness in this zone of low alloy steel after the fourth layer was less than 350 HV. (author)

A Brief Introduction to the Theory of Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Nunes, Arthur C., Jr.

2008-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid state welding process invented in 1991 at The Welding Institute in the United Kingdom. A weld is made in the FSW process by translating a rotating pin along a weld seam so as to stir the sides of the seam together. FSW avoids deleterious effects inherent in melting and is already an important welding process for the aerospace industry, where welds of optimal quality are demanded. The structure of welds determines weld properties. The structure of friction stir welds is determined by the flow field in the weld metal in the vicinity of the weld tool. A simple kinematic model of the FSW flow field developed at Marshall Space Flight Center, which enables the basic features of FSW microstructure to be understood and related to weld process parameters and tool design, is explained.

Pulsed ultrasonic stir welding system

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, R. Jeffrey (Inventor)

2013-01-01

An ultrasonic stir welding system includes a welding head assembly having a plate and a rod passing through the plate. The rod is rotatable about a longitudinal axis thereof. During a welding operation, ultrasonic pulses are applied to the rod as it rotates about its longitudinal axis. The ultrasonic pulses are applied in such a way that they propagate parallel to the longitudinal axis of the rod.

Effect of Friction Stir Welding Parameters on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of AA2024-T4 Aluminum Alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. W. El-Morsy

2018-02-01

Full Text Available In this work, the effects of rotational and traverse speeds on the 1.5 mm butt joint performance of friction stir welded 2024-T4 aluminum alloy sheets have been investigated. Five rotational speeds ranging from 560 to 1800 rpm and five traverse speeds ranging from 11 to 45 mm/min have been employed. The characterization of microstructure and the mechanical properties (tensile, microhardness, and bending of the welded sheets have been studied. The results reveal that by varying the welding parameters, almost sound joints and high performance welded joints can be successfully produced at the rotational speeds of 900 rpm and 700 rpm and the traverse speed of 35 mm/min. The maximum welding performance of joints is found to be 86.3% with 900 rpm rotational speed and 35 mm/min traverse speed. The microhardness values along the cross-section of the joints show a dramatic drop in the stir zone where the lowest value reached is about 63% of the base metal due to the softening of the welded zone caused by the heat input during joining.

Unraveling the Processing Parameters in Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Judy; Nunes, Arthur C., Jr.

2005-01-01

In friction stir welding (FSW), a rotating threaded pin tool is translated along a weld seam, literally stirring the edges of the seam together. To determine optimal processing parameters for producing a defect free weld, a better understanding of the resulting metal deformation flow path or paths is required. In this study, various markers are used to trace the flow paths of the metal. X-ray radiographs record the segmentation and position of the wire. Several variations in the trajectories can be differentiated within the weld zone.

Influence of Welding Process and Post Weld Heat Treatment on Microstructure and Pitting Corrosion Behavior of Dissimilar Aluminium Alloy Welds

Science.gov (United States)

Venkata Ramana, V. S. N.; Mohammed, Raffi; Madhusudhan Reddy, G.; Srinivasa Rao, K.

2018-03-01

Welding of dissimilar Aluminum alloy welds is becoming important in aerospace, shipbuilding and defence applications. In the present work, an attempt has been made to weld dissimilar aluminium alloys using conventional gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) and friction stir welding (FSW) processes. An attempt was also made to study the effect of post weld heat treatment (T4 condition) on microstructure and pitting corrosion behaviour of these welds. Results of the present investigation established the differences in microstructures of the base metals in T4 condition and in annealed conditions. It is evident that the thickness of the PMZ is relatively more on AA2014 side than that of AA6061 side. In FS welds, lamellar like shear bands are well noticed on the top of the stir zone. The concentration profile of dissimilar friction stir weld in T4 condition revealed that no diffusion has taken place at the interface. Poor Hardness is observed in all regions of FS welds compared to that of GTA welds. Pitting corrosion resistance of the dissimilar FS welds in all regions was improved by post weld heat treatment.

Corrosion Behavior of Arc Weld and Friction Stir Weld in Al 6061-T6 Alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoon, Byoung Hyun; Kim, Heung Ju; Chang, Woong Seong; Kweon, Young Gak

2006-01-01

For the evaluation of corrosion resistance of Al 6061-T6 Alloy, Tafel method and immersion test was performed with Friction Stir Weld(FSW) and Gas Metal Arc Weld(GMAW). The Tafel and immersion test results indicated that GMA weld was severely attacked compared with those of friction stir weld. It may be mainly due to the galvanic corrosion mechanism act on the GMA weld

Recent developments in Micro Friction Stir Welding: A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sithole, Keydon; Rao, Veeredhi Vasudeva

2016-01-01

The advent of friction stir welding (FSW) in 1991 has been evolutionary in the joining of metals and related materials. Friction stir welding has enabled the joining of metals that could not be joined by other welding processes. Research has shown that dissimilar materials with very different properties, plastics, composites and even wood can be joined by FSW. Recent activities in the application of FSW has seen the development of micro friction stir welding (μFSW), which is the FSW of very thin sections of thickness 1000 μm (1 mm) or less. Micro friction stir welding further extends the applications of FSW to areas such as copper electrical contacts, tailor-welded blanks, wood. Though μFSW is relatively new development significant work has been done to date with interesting research findings being reported. This paper aims to review developments in μFSW to date. The focus of the paper will be on problems peculiar to μFSW due to downscaling to the micro scale and other practical considerations. (paper)

Mechanical properties of friction stir welded 11Cr-ferritic/martensitic steel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yano, Y.; Sato, Y.S.; Sekio, Y.; Ohtsuka, S.; Kaito, T.; Ogawa, R.; Kokawa, H.

2013-01-01

Friction stir welding was applied to the wrapper tube materials, 11Cr-ferritic/martensitic steel, designed for fast reactors and defect-free welds were successfully produced. The mechanical and microstructural properties of the friction stir welded steel were subsequently investigated. The hardness values of the stir zone were approximately 550 Hv (5.4 GPa) with minimal dependence on the rotational speed, even though they were much higher than those of the base material. However, tensile strengths and elongations of the stir zones were high at 298 K, compared to those of the base material. The excellent tensile properties are attributable to the fine grain formation during friction stir welding

Friction stir welding tool

Science.gov (United States)

Tolle,; Charles R. , Clark; Denis E. , Barnes; Timothy, A [Ammon, ID

2008-04-15

A friction stir welding tool is described and which includes a shank portion; a shoulder portion which is releasably engageable with the shank portion; and a pin which is releasably engageable with the shoulder portion.

Formation And Distribution of Brittle Structures in Friction Stir Welding of AA 6061 To Copper. Influence of Preheat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seyed Vahid Safi

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, apart from introducing brand – new warm friction stir welding (WFSW method, the effect of preheating on friction stir welded of copper and aluminum alloys sheets and its influence on improving the mechanical properties of the weld were investigated. Sheets of aluminum alloy 6061 and copper with thickness of 5mm were used. The tool was made of tool steel of grade H13 with a threaded cone shape. Rotational speeds (w of 1200-1400 rpm and traverse speeds (v of 50-100 mm/min were used for better understanding the behavior of the tools during the heat input. The sheets were kept in furnace with temperature of 75 ˚C and 125˚C and welding was done afterwards. At last, tensile and micro hardness tests were done to compare the mechanical properties of the welds. Considering to the high thermal conductivity of both copper and aluminum, the reason of increase in strength of the joints could be related to the low temperature gradient between the weld zone and base metal because the heat gets out of the stir zone with lower steep. A significant increase in hardness is observed in the SZ for the following reasons: (i the presence of concentric grains with intensely refined recrystallization and (ii the presence of intermetallic compounds. The tensile test results showed 85% increase in the strength of preheated joints. The maximum strength occurs for preheating of 75˚C, rotational speed of 1200 rpm and traverse speed of 50 mm/min. In the present study, intermetallic compounds and the precipitates are moved to the grain boundaries during the welding process. These precipitates act as strong obstacles to the movements of dislocations and increase the deformation resistance of material. This phenomenon may result in locking of grain boundaries and consequently decrease of grain size. This grain refinement can improve the mechanical properties of welds. Accordingly, hardness and strength of the material will be increased.

Enabling high speed friction stir welding of aluminum tailor welded blanks

Science.gov (United States)

Hovanski, Yuri

Current welding technologies for production of aluminum tailor-welded blanks (TWBs) are utilized in low-volume and niche applications, and have yet to be scaled for the high-volume vehicle market. This study targeted further weight reduction, part reduction, and cost savings by enabling tailor-welded blank technology for aluminum alloys at high-volumes. While friction stir welding (FSW) has traditionally been applied at linear velocities less than one meter per minute, high volume production applications demand the process be extended to higher velocities more amenable to cost sensitive production environments. Unfortunately, weld parameters and performance developed and characterized at low to moderate welding velocities do not directly translate to high speed linear friction stir welding. Therefore, in order to facilitate production of high volume aluminum FSW components, parameters were developed with a minimum welding velocity of three meters per minute. With an emphasis on weld quality, welded blanks were evaluated for post-weld formability using a combination of numerical and experimental methods. Evaluation across scales was ultimately validated by stamping full-size production door inner panels made from dissimilar thickness aluminum tailor-welded blanks, which provided validation of the numerical and experimental analysis of laboratory scale tests.

Pulsed ultrasonic stir welding method

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, R. Jeffrey (Inventor)

2013-01-01

A method of performing ultrasonic stir welding uses a welding head assembly to include a plate and a rod passing through the plate. The rod is rotatable about a longitudinal axis thereof. In the method, the rod is rotated about its longitudinal axis during a welding operation. During the welding operation, a series of on-off ultrasonic pulses are applied to the rod such that they propagate parallel to the rod's longitudinal axis. At least a pulse rate associated with the on-off ultrasonic pulses is controlled.

Performance Improvement of Friction Stir Welds by Better Surface Finish

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Sam; Nettles, Mindy

2015-01-01

The as-welded friction stir weld has a cross section that may act as a stress concentrator. The geometry associated with the stress concentration may reduce the weld strength and it makes the weld challenging to inspect with ultrasound. In some cases, the geometry leads to false positive nondestructive evaluation (NDE) indications and, in many cases, it requires manual blending to facilitate the inspection. This study will measure the stress concentration effect and develop an improved phased array ultrasound testing (PAUT) technique for friction stir welding. Post-welding, the friction stir weld (FSW) tool would be fitted with an end mill that would machine the weld smooth, trimmed shaved. This would eliminate the need for manual weld preparation for ultrasonic inspections. Manual surface preparation is a hand operation that varies widely depending on the person preparing the welds. Shaving is a process that can be automated and tightly controlled.

Friction stir welding of F82H steel for fusion applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Noh, Sanghoon, E-mail: shnoh@kaeri.re.kr [Fusion Structural Materials Division, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Rokkasho, Aomori (Japan); Nuclear Materials Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Ando, Masami; Tanigawa, Hiroyasu [Fusion Structural Materials Division, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Rokkasho, Aomori (Japan); Fujii, Hidetoshi [Joining and Welding Research Institute, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka (Japan); Kimura, Akihiko [Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto (Japan)

2016-09-15

In the present study, friction stir welding was employed to join F82H steels and develop a potential joining technique for a reduced activation ferritic/martensitic steel. The microstructures and mechanical properties on the joint region were investigated to evaluate the applicability of friction stir welding. F82H steel sheets were successfully butt-joined with various welding parameters. In welding conditions, 100 rpm and 100 mm/min, the stirred zone represented a comparable hardness distribution with a base metal. Stirred zone induced by 100 rpm reserved uniformly distributed precipitates and very fine ferritic grains, whereas the base metal showed a typical tempered martensite with precipitates on the prior austenite grain boundary and lath boundary. Although the tensile strength was decreased at 550 °C, the stirred zone treated at 100 rpm showed comparable tensile behavior with base metal up to 500 °C. Therefore, friction stir welding is considered a potential welding method to preserve the precipitates of F82H steel.

Friction stir welding of F82H steel for fusion applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noh, Sanghoon; Ando, Masami; Tanigawa, Hiroyasu; Fujii, Hidetoshi; Kimura, Akihiko

2016-01-01

In the present study, friction stir welding was employed to join F82H steels and develop a potential joining technique for a reduced activation ferritic/martensitic steel. The microstructures and mechanical properties on the joint region were investigated to evaluate the applicability of friction stir welding. F82H steel sheets were successfully butt-joined with various welding parameters. In welding conditions, 100 rpm and 100 mm/min, the stirred zone represented a comparable hardness distribution with a base metal. Stirred zone induced by 100 rpm reserved uniformly distributed precipitates and very fine ferritic grains, whereas the base metal showed a typical tempered martensite with precipitates on the prior austenite grain boundary and lath boundary. Although the tensile strength was decreased at 550 °C, the stirred zone treated at 100 rpm showed comparable tensile behavior with base metal up to 500 °C. Therefore, friction stir welding is considered a potential welding method to preserve the precipitates of F82H steel.

Microstructures and electrochemical behaviors of the friction stir welding dissimilar weld.

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Changbin; Zhang, Jiayan; Ge, Jiping

2011-06-01

By using optical microscope, the microstructures of 5083/6082 friction stir welding (FSW) weld and parent materials were analyzed. Meanwhile, at ambient temperature and in 0.2 mol/L NaHS03 and 0.6 mol/L NaCl solutionby gravimetric test, potentiodynamic polarization curve test, electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation, the electrochemical behavior of 5083/6082 friction stir welding weld and parent materials were comparatively investigated by gravimetric test, potentiodynamic polarization curve test, electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation. The results indicated that at given processing parameters, the anti-corrosion property of the dissimilar weld was superior to those of the 5083 and 6082 parent materials. Copyright © 2011 The Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Versatile Friction Stir Welding/Friction Plug Welding System

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Robert

2006-01-01

A proposed system of tooling, machinery, and control equipment would be capable of performing any of several friction stir welding (FSW) and friction plug welding (FPW) operations. These operations would include the following: Basic FSW; FSW with automated manipulation of the length of the pin tool in real time [the so-called auto-adjustable pin-tool (APT) capability]; Self-reacting FSW (SRFSW); SR-FSW with APT capability and/or real-time adjustment of the distance between the front and back shoulders; and Friction plug welding (FPW) [more specifically, friction push plug welding] or friction pull plug welding (FPPW) to close out the keyhole of, or to repair, an FSW or SR-FSW weld. Prior FSW and FPW systems have been capable of performing one or two of these operations, but none has thus far been capable of performing all of them. The proposed system would include a common tool that would have APT capability for both basic FSW and SR-FSW. Such a tool was described in Tool for Two Types of Friction Stir Welding (MFS- 31647-1), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 30, No. 10 (October 2006), page 70. Going beyond what was reported in the cited previous article, the common tool could be used in conjunction with a plug welding head to perform FPW or FPPW. Alternatively, the plug welding head could be integrated, along with the common tool, into a FSW head that would be capable of all of the aforementioned FSW and FPW operations. Any FSW or FPW operation could be performed under any combination of position and/or force control.

Microstructural Characterization of Friction Stir Welded Aluminum-Steel Joints

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-01

Sterling, R.J. Steel, C.-O. Pettersson. “Microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded SAF 2507 super duplex stainless steel.” Mater...MICROSTRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF FRICTION STIR WELDED ALUMINUM-STEEL JOINTS By ERIN ELIZABETH PATTERSON A thesis submitted in...for his work producing the dissimilar weld samples used in this study. Without his work, this project would not have been possible. I would also

Heat Control via Torque Control in Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Venable, Richard; Colligan, Kevin; Knapp, Alan

2004-01-01

In a proposed advance in friction stir welding, the torque exerted on the workpiece by the friction stir pin would be measured and controlled in an effort to measure and control the total heat input to the workpiece. The total heat input to the workpiece is an important parameter of any welding process (fusion or friction stir welding). In fusion welding, measurement and control of heat input is a difficult problem. However, in friction stir welding, the basic principle of operation affords the potential of a straightforward solution: Neglecting thermal losses through the pin and the spindle that supports it, the rate of heat input to the workpiece is the product of the torque and the speed of rotation of the friction stir weld pin and, hence, of the spindle. Therefore, if one acquires and suitably processes data on torque and rotation and controls the torque, the rotation, or both, one should be able to control the heat input into the workpiece. In conventional practice in friction stir welding, one uses feedback control of the spindle motor to maintain a constant speed of rotation. According to the proposal, one would not maintain a constant speed of rotation: Instead, one would use feedback control to maintain a constant torque and would measure the speed of rotation while allowing it to vary. The torque exerted on the workpiece would be estimated as the product of (1) the torque-multiplication ratio of the spindle belt and/or gear drive, (2) the force measured by a load cell mechanically coupled to the spindle motor, and (3) the moment arm of the load cell. Hence, the output of the load cell would be used as a feedback signal for controlling the torque (see figure).

Hybrid friction stir welding for dissimilar materials through electro-plastic effect

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xun; Lan, Shuhuai; Ni, Jun

2018-05-29

A hybrid Friction Stir Welding approach and device for dissimilar materials joining employing Electro-Plastic Effect. The approach and device include an introduction of high density, short period current pulses into traditional friction stir welding process, which therefore can generate a localized softened zone in the workpiece during plastic stirring without significant additional temperature increase. This material softened zone is created by high density current pulses based on Electro-Plastic Effect and will move along with the friction stir welding tool. Smaller downward force, larger processing window and better joint quality for dissimilar materials are expected to be achieved through this hybrid welding technique.

Recent Developments and Research Progress on Friction Stir Welding of Titanium Alloys: An Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Karna, Sivaji; Cheepu, Muralimohan; Venkateswarulu, D.; Srikanth, V.

2018-03-01

Titanium and its alloys are joined by various welding processes. However, Fusion welding of titanium alloys resulted solidification problems like porosity, segregation and columnar grains. The problems occurred in conventional welding processes can be resolved using a solid state welding i.e. friction stir welding. Aluminium and Magnesium alloys were welded by friction stir welding. However alloys used for high temperature applications such as titanium alloys and steels are arduous to weld using friction stir welding process because of tool limitations. Present paper summarises the studies on joining of Titanium alloys using friction stir welding with different tool materials. Selection of tool material and effect of welding conditions on mechanical and microstructure properties of weldments were also reported. Major advantage with friction stir welding is, we can control the welding temperature above or below β-transus temperature by optimizing the process parameters. Stir zone in below beta transus condition consists of bi-modal microstructure and microstructure in above β-transus condition has large prior β- grains and α/β laths present in the grain. Welding experiments conducted below β- transus condition has better mechanical properties than welding at above β-transus condition. Hardness and tensile properties of weldments are correlated with the stir zone microstructure.

Friction stir welding tool and process for welding dissimilar materials

Science.gov (United States)

Hovanski, Yuri; Grant, Glenn J; Jana, Saumyadeep; Mattlin, Karl F

2013-05-07

A friction stir welding tool and process for lap welding dissimilar materials are detailed. The invention includes a cutter scribe that penetrates and extrudes a first material of a lap weld stack to a preselected depth and further cuts a second material to provide a beneficial geometry defined by a plurality of mechanically interlocking features. The tool backfills the interlocking features generating a lap weld across the length of the interface between the dissimilar materials that enhances the shear strength of the lap weld.

Analysing the strength of friction stir welded dissimilar aluminium alloys using Sugeno Fuzzy model

Science.gov (United States)

Barath, V. R.; Vaira Vignesh, R.; Padmanaban, R.

2018-02-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a promising solid state joining technique for aluminium alloys. In this study, FSW trials were conducted on two dissimilar plates of aluminium alloy AA2024 and AA7075 by varying the tool rotation speed (TRS) and welding speed (WS). Tensile strength (TS) of the joints were measured and a Sugeno - Fuzzy model was developed to interconnect the FSW process parameters with the tensile strength. From the developed model, it was observed that the optimum heat generation at WS of 15 mm.min-1 and TRS of 1050 rpm resulted in dynamic recovery and dynamic recrystallization of the material. This refined the grains in the FSW zone and resulted in peak tensile strength among the tested specimens. Crest parabolic trend was observed in tensile strength with variation of TRS from 900 rpm to 1200 rpm and TTS from 10 mm.min-1 to 20 mm.min-1.

Mechanical properties of friction stir welded aluminum alloys 5083 and 5383

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeom Kee Paik

2009-09-01

Full Text Available The use of high-strength aluminum alloys is increasing in shipbuilding industry, particularly for the design and construction of war ships, littoral surface craft and combat ships, and fast passenger ships. While various welding methods are used today to fabricate aluminum ship structures, namely gas metallic arc welding (GMAW, laser welding and friction stir welding (FSW, FSW technology has been recognized to have many advantages for the construction of aluminum structures, as it is a low-cost welding process. In the present study, mechanical properties of friction stir welded aluminum alloys are examined experimentally. Tensile testing is undertaken on dog-bone type test specimen for aluminum alloys 5083 and 5383. The test specimen includes friction stir welded material between identical alloys and also dissimilar alloys, as well as unwelded (base alloys. Mechanical properties of fusion welded aluminum alloys are also tested and compared with those of friction stir welded alloys. The insights developed from the present study are documented together with details of the test database. Part of the present study was obtained from the Ship Structure Committee project SR-1454 (Paik, 2009, jointly funded by its member agencies.

Experimental investigation of hardness of FSW and TIG joints of Aluminium alloys of AA7075 and AA6061

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chetan Patil

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This paper reports hardness testing conducted on welded butt joints by FSW and TIG welding process on similar and dissimilar aluminium alloys. FSW joints were produced for similar alloys of AA7075T651 and dissimilar alloys of AA7075T651- AA6061T6. The Friction stir welds of AA7075 & AA6061 aluminium alloy were produced at different tool rotational speeds of 650,700, 800, 900, 1000 and transverse speed of 30, 35, 40 mm/min. TIG welding was conducted along the rolling direction of similar and dissimilar aluminium plates. The Brinell hardness testing techniques were employed to conduct the tests; these tests were conducted on the welds to ascertain the joint integrity before characterization to have an idea of the quality of the welds

Friction Stir Weld Restart+Reweld Repair Allowables

Science.gov (United States)

Clifton, Andrew

2008-01-01

A friction stir weld (FSW) repair method has been developed and successfully implemented on Al 2195 plate material for the Space Shuttle External Fuel Tank (ET). The method includes restarting the friction stir weld in the termination hole of the original weld followed by two reweld passes. Room temperature and cryogenic temperature mechanical properties exceeded minimum FSW design strength and compared well with the development data. Simulated service test results also compared closely to historical data for initial FSW, confirming no change to the critical flaw size or inspection requirements for the repaired weld. Testing of VPPA fusion/FSW intersection weld specimens exhibited acceptable strength and exceeded the minimum design value. Porosity, when present at the intersection was on the root side toe of the fusion weld, the "worst case" being 0.7 inch long. While such porosity may be removed by sanding, this "worst case" porosity condition was tested "as is" and demonstrated that porosity did not negatively affect the strength of the intersection weld. Large, 15-inch "wide panels" FSW repair welds were tested to demonstrate strength and evaluate residual stresses using photo stress analysis. All results exceeded design minimums, and photo stress analysis showed no significant stress gradients due to the presence of the restart and multi-pass FSW repair weld.

Fatigue and Damage Tolerance of Friction Stir Welded Joints for Aerospace Applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lemmen, H.J.K.

2010-01-01

Friction stir welding is a young welding process with high potential to replace riveted joints in aerospace structures like the fuselage. Friction stir welding is a robust process and capable of welding high strength aluminum alloys. Therefore it can lead to both costs and weight savings. To

Understanding Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Nunes, A. C., Jr.

2018-01-01

This Technical Memorandum explains the friction stir welding process in terms of two basic concepts: the concentration of deformation in a shear surface enveloping the tool and the composition of the overall plastic flow field around the tool from simple flow field components. It is demonstrated how weld structure may be understood and torque, drag, and lateral tool forces may be estimated using these concepts. Some discrepancies between computations and accompanying empirical data are discussed in the text. This work is intended to be helpful to engineers in diagnosing problems and advancing technology.

Friction stir welding process to repair voids in aluminum alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Rosen, Charles D. (Inventor); Litwinski, Edward (Inventor); Valdez, Juan M. (Inventor)

1999-01-01

The present invention provides an in-process method to repair voids in an aluminum alloy, particularly a friction stir weld in an aluminum alloy. For repairing a circular void or an in-process exit hole in a weld, the method includes the steps of fabricating filler material of the same composition or compatible with the parent material into a plug form to be fitted into the void, positioning the plug in the void, and friction stir welding over and through the plug. For repairing a longitudinal void (30), the method includes machining the void area to provide a trough (34) that subsumes the void, fabricating filler metal into a strip form (36) to be fitted into the trough, positioning the strip in the trough, and rewelding the void area by traversing a friction stir welding tool longitudinally through the strip. The method is also applicable for repairing welds made by a fusing welding process or voids in aluminum alloy workpieces themselves.

Enhancement of wear and ballistic resistance of armour grade AA7075 aluminium alloy using friction stir processing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Sudhakar

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Industrial applications of aluminium and its alloys are restricted because of their poor tribological properties. Thermal spraying, laser surfacing, electron beam welding are the most widely used techniques to alter the surface morphology of base metal. Preliminary studies reveal that the coating and layering of aluminium alloys with ceramic particles enhance the ballistic resistance. Furthermore, among aluminium alloys, 7075 aluminium alloy exhibits high strength which can be compared to that of steels and has profound applications in the designing of lightweight fortification structures and integrated protection systems. Having limitations such as poor bond integrity, formation of detrimental phases and interfacial reaction between reinforcement and substrate using fusion route to deposit hard particles paves the way to adopt friction stir processing for fabricating surface composites using different sizes of boron carbide particles as reinforcement on armour grade 7075 aluminium alloy as matrix in the present investigation. Wear and ballistic tests were carried out to assess the performance of friction stir processed AA7075 alloy. Significant improvement in wear resistance of friction stir processed surface composites is attributed to the change in wear mechanism from abrasion to adhesion. It has also been observed that the surface metal matrix composites have shown better ballistic resistance compared to the substrate AA7075 alloy. Addition of solid lubricant MoS2 has reduced the depth of penetration of the projectile to half that of base metal AA7075 alloy. For the first time, the friction stir processing technique was successfully used to improve the wear and ballistic resistances of armour grade high strength AA7075 alloy.

Thermomechanical conditions and stresses on the friction stir welding tool

Science.gov (United States)

Atthipalli, Gowtam

Friction stir welding has been commercially used as a joining process for aluminum and other soft materials. However, the use of this process in joining of hard alloys is still developing primarily because of the lack of cost effective, long lasting tools. Here I have developed numerical models to understand the thermo mechanical conditions experienced by the FSW tool and to improve its reusability. A heat transfer and visco-plastic flow model is used to calculate the torque, and traverse force on the tool during FSW. The computed values of torque and traverse force are validated using the experimental results for FSW of AA7075, AA2524, AA6061 and Ti-6Al-4V alloys. The computed torque components are used to determine the optimum tool shoulder diameter based on the maximum use of torque and maximum grip of the tool on the plasticized workpiece material. The estimation of the optimum tool shoulder diameter for FSW of AA6061 and AA7075 was verified with experimental results. The computed values of traverse force and torque are used to calculate the maximum shear stress on the tool pin to determine the load bearing ability of the tool pin. The load bearing ability calculations are used to explain the failure of H13 steel tool during welding of AA7075 and commercially pure tungsten during welding of L80 steel. Artificial neural network (ANN) models are developed to predict the important FSW output parameters as function of selected input parameters. These ANN consider tool shoulder radius, pin radius, pin length, welding velocity, tool rotational speed and axial pressure as input parameters. The total torque, sliding torque, sticking torque, peak temperature, traverse force, maximum shear stress and bending stress are considered as the output for ANN models. These output parameters are selected since they define the thermomechanical conditions around the tool during FSW. The developed ANN models are used to understand the effect of various input parameters on the total

Bobbin-Tool Friction-Stir Welding of Thick-Walled Aluminum Alloy Pressure Vessels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dalder, E C; Pastrnak, J W; Engel, J; Forrest, R S; Kokko, E; Ternan, K M; Waldron, D

2007-06-06

It was desired to assemble thick-walled Al alloy 2219 pressure vessels by bobbin-tool friction-stir welding. To develop the welding-process, mechanical-property, and fitness-for-service information to support this effort, extensive friction-stir welding-parameter studies were conducted on 2.5 cm. and 3.8 cm. thick 2219 Al alloy plate. Starting conditions of the plate were the fully-heat-treated (-T62) and in the annealed (-O) conditions. The former condition was chosen with the intent of using the welds in either the 'as welded' condition or after a simple low-temperature aging treatment. Since preliminary stress-analyses showed that stresses in and near the welds would probably exceed the yield-strength of both 'as welded' and welded and aged weld-joints, a post-weld solution-treatment, quenching, and aging treatment was also examined. Once a suitable set of welding and post-weld heat-treatment parameters was established, the project divided into two parts. The first part concentrated on developing the necessary process information to be able to make defect-free friction-stir welds in 3.8 cm. thick Al alloy 2219 in the form of circumferential welds that would join two hemispherical forgings with a 102 cm. inside diameter. This necessitated going to a bobbin-tool welding-technique to simplify the tooling needed to react the large forces generated in friction-stir welding. The bobbin-tool technique was demonstrated on both flat-plates and plates that were bent to the curvature of the actual vessel. An additional issue was termination of the weld, i.e. closing out the hole left at the end of the weld by withdrawal of the friction-stir welding tool. This was accomplished by friction-plug welding a slightly-oversized Al alloy 2219 plug into the termination-hole, followed by machining the plug flush with both the inside and outside surfaces of the vessel. The second part of the project involved demonstrating that the welds were fit for the intended

Effect of tool geometry on friction stir spot welding of polypropylene sheets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. K. Bilici

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The effects of tool geometry and properties on friction stir spot welding properties of polypropylene sheets were studied. Four different tool pin geometries, with varying pin angles, pin lengths, shoulder diameters and shoulder angles were used for friction stir spot welding. All the welding operations were done at the room temperature. Lap-shear tensile tests were carried out to find the weld static strength. Weld cross section appearance observations were also done. From the experiments the effect of tool geometry on friction stir spot weld formation and weld strength were determined. The optimum tool geometry for 4 mm thick polypropylene sheets were determined. The tapered cylindrical pin gave the biggest and the straight cylindrical pin gave the lowest lap-shear fracture load.

Influential Parameters and Numerical Simulation of Heat Generated in the Process of Friction Stir Welding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilija KOVACEVIC

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The paper analyzes the problem of friction stir welding (FSW technology. The mechanism of thermo-mechanical process of the FSW method has been identified and a correlation between the weld zone and its microstructure established. Presented are the basic analytical formulations for the definition of temperature fields. Analysis of influential parameters of welding FSW technology at the zone of the weld material and mechanical properties of the realized joint was performed. Influential welding parameters were defined based on tool geometry, technological parameters of processing and the axial load of tool. Specific problems with the FSW process are related to gaps (holes left behind by a tool at the end of the process and inflexibility of welding regarding the degree of variation of material thickness. Numerical simulation of process welding FSW proceeding was carried out on the example of Aluminum Alloy (AA 2219 using the ANSYS Mechanical ADPL (Transient Thermal software package. The defined was the temperature field in the welding process at specified time intervals.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.22.3.10022

On use of weld zone temperatures for online monitoring of weld quality in friction stir welding of naturally aged aluminium alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Imam, Murshid; Biswas, Kajal; Racherla, Vikranth

2013-01-01

Highlights: • FSWs for 6063-T4 AA are done at different process parameters and sheet thicknesses. • Weld nugget zone and heat affected zone temperatures are monitored for each case. • Microstructural and mechanical characterisation of welds is done in all cases. • Weld ductility is found to be particularly sensitive to weld zone temperatures. • Strong correlation is found between WNZ and HAZ temperatures and weld properties. - Abstract: 6063-T4 aluminium alloy sheets of 3 and 6 mm thicknesses were friction stir butt welded using a square tool pin at a wide range of tool rotational speeds. Properties of obtained welds were characterised using tensile tests, optical micrographs, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. Shape, size, and distribution of precipitates in weld zones, and strength and ductility of welds were seen to directly correlate with peak temperatures in weld nugget and heat affected zones, independent of sheet thickness. In addition, fluctuations in measured temperature profiles, for 3 mm sheets, were seen to correlate with an increase in scatter of weld nugget zone properties for 3 mm sheets. Optimal weld strength and ductility were obtained for peak weld nugget zone temperatures of around 450 °C and corresponding peak heat affected zone temperatures of around 360–380 °C. Results obtained suggest that, at least for naturally aged aluminium alloys, nature of temperature evolution and magnitudes of peak temperatures in weld nugget and heat affected zones provide information on uniformity of properties in weld zones, overaging of heat affected zones, and formation of tunnel defects from improper material mixing at low weld zone temperatures

Retractable Pin Tools for the Friction Stir Welding Process

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

Two companies have successfully commercialized a specialized welding tool developed at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Friction stir welding uses the high rotational speed of a tool and the resulting frictional heat created from contact to crush, 'stir' together, and forge a bond between two metal alloys. It has had a major drawback, reliance on a single-piece pin tool. The pin is slowly plunged into the joint between two materials to be welded and rotated as high speed. At the end of the weld, the single-piece pin tool is retracted and leaves a 'keyhole,' something which is unacceptable when welding cylindrical objects such as drums, pipes and storage tanks. Another drawback is the requirement for different-length pin tools when welding materials of varying thickness. An engineer at the MSFC helped design an automatic retractable pin tool that uses a computer-controlled motor to automatically retract the pin into the shoulder of the tool at the end of the weld, preventing keyholes. This design allows the pin angle and length to be adjusted for changes in material thickness and results in a smooth hole closure at the end of the weld. Benefits of friction stir welding, using the MSFC retractable pin tool technology, include the following: The ability to weld a wide range of alloys, including previously unweldable and composite materials; provision of twice the fatigue resistance of fusion welds and no keyholes; minimization of material distortion; no creation of hazards such as welding fumes, radiation, high voltage, liquid metals, or arcing; automatic retraction of the pin at the end of the weld; and maintaining full penetration of the pin.

Corrosion behavior of Al6061 alloy weldment produced by friction stir welding process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farhad Gharavi

2015-07-01

Full Text Available In this work, the corrosion behavior of welded lap joints of AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy produced by friction stir welding process has been investigated. Corrosion properties of welded lap joints were studied by cyclic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests. All tests were performed in an aerated 0.6 mol L−1 NaCl aqueous solution with pH = 6.5 at a temperature of 30 °C to characterize corrosion morphology and realize corrosion features of weld regions as opposed to the parent alloy. The microstructure of weld nugget (WN, heated affected zone (HAZ, and parent alloy were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The experimental results indicated that the welding process has a major effect on the corrosion resistance, which possibly associated to the break-down and dissolution of intermetallic particles. It is supposed that an increasing in intermetallic distributed throughout the matrix of weld regions increases the galvanic corrosion couples. Furthermore, by decreasing the grain size in the weld regions, the susceptibility to corrosion is enhanced. The pitting corrosion and intergranular attack are the dominant corrosion types in the weld regions and the parent alloy.

Physics-based process model approach for detecting discontinuity during friction stir welding

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shrivastava, Amber; Pfefferkorn, Frank E.; Duffie, Neil A.; Ferrier, Nicola J.; Smith, Christopher B.; Malukhin, Kostya; Zinn, Michael

2015-02-12

The goal of this work is to develop a method for detecting the creation of discontinuities during friction stir welding. This in situ weld monitoring method could significantly reduce the need for post-process inspection. A process force model and a discontinuity force model were created based on the state-of-the-art understanding of flow around an friction stir welding (FSW) tool. These models are used to predict the FSW forces and size of discontinuities formed in the weld. Friction stir welds with discontinuities and welds without discontinuities were created, and the differences in force dynamics were observed. In this paper, discontinuities were generated by reducing the tool rotation frequency and increasing the tool traverse speed in order to create "cold" welds. Experimental force data for welds with discontinuities and welds without discontinuities compared favorably with the predicted forces. The model currently overpredicts the discontinuity size.

Multiple pass and multiple layer friction stir welding and material enhancement processes

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Zhili [Knoxville, TN; David, Stan A [Knoxville, TN; Frederick, David Alan [Harriman, TN

2010-07-27

Processes for friction stir welding, typically for comparatively thick plate materials using multiple passes and multiple layers of a friction stir welding tool. In some embodiments a first portion of a fabrication preform and a second portion of the fabrication preform are placed adjacent to each other to form a joint, and there may be a groove adjacent the joint. The joint is welded and then, where a groove exists, a filler may be disposed in the groove, and the seams between the filler and the first and second portions of the fabrication preform may be friction stir welded. In some embodiments two portions of a fabrication preform are abutted to form a joint, where the joint may, for example, be a lap joint, a bevel joint or a butt joint. In some embodiments a plurality of passes of a friction stir welding tool may be used, with some passes welding from one side of a fabrication preform and other passes welding from the other side of the fabrication preform.

A fundamental study on the structural integrity of magnesium alloys joined by friction stir welding

Science.gov (United States)

Rao, Harish Mangebettu

The goal of this research is to study the factors that influence the physical and mechanical properties of lap-shear joints produced using friction stir welding. This study focuses on understanding the effect of tool geometry and weld process parameters including the tool rotation rate, tool plunge depth and dwell time on the mechanical performance of similar magnesium alloy and dissimilar magnesium to aluminum alloy weld joints. A variety of experimental activities were conducted including tensile and fatigue testing, fracture surface and failure analysis, microstructure characterization, hardness measurements and chemical composition analysis. An investigation on the effect of weld process conditions in friction stir spot welding of magnesium to magnesium produced in a manner that had a large effective sheet thickness and smaller interfacial hook height exhibited superior weld strength. Furthermore, in fatigue testing of friction stir spot welded of magnesium to magnesium alloy, lap-shear welds produced using a triangular tool pin profile exhibited better fatigue life properties compared to lap-shear welds produced using a cylindrical tool pin profile. In friction stir spot welding of dissimilar magnesium to aluminum, formation of intermetallic compounds in the stir zone of the weld had a dominant effect on the weld strength. Lap-shear dissimilar welds with good material mixture and discontinues intermetallic compounds in the stir zone exhibited superior weld strength compared to lap-shear dissimilar welds with continuous formation of intermetallic compounds in the stir zone. The weld structural geometry like the interfacial hook, hook orientation and bond width also played a major role in influencing the weld strength of the dissimilar lap-shear friction stir spot welds. A wide scatter in fatigue test results was observed in friction stir linear welds of aluminum to magnesium alloys. Different modes of failure were observed under fatigue loading including crack

A Rotating Plug Model of Friction Stir Welding Heat Transfer

Science.gov (United States)

Raghulapadu J. K.; Peddieson, J.; Buchanan, G. R.; Nunes, A. C.

2006-01-01

A simplified rotating plug model is employed to study the heat transfer phenomena associated with the fiction stir welding process. An approximate analytical solution is obtained based on this idealized model and used both to demonstrate the qualitative influence of process parameters on predictions and to estimate temperatures produced in typical fiction stir welding situations.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded SAF 2507 super duplex stainless steel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, Y.S.; Nelson, T.W.; Sterling, C.J.; Steel, R.J.; Pettersson, C.-O.

2005-01-01

The microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir (FS) welded SAF 2507 super duplex stainless steel were examined. High-quality, full-penetration welds were successfully produced in the super duplex stainless steel by friction stir welding (FSW) using polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) tool. The base material had a microstructure consisting of the ferrite matrix with austenite islands, but FSW refined grains of the ferrite and austenite phases in the stir zone through dynamic recrystallisation. Ferrite content was held between 50 and 60% throughout the weld. The smaller grain sizes of the ferrite and austenite phases caused increase in hardness and strength within the stir zone. Welded transverse tensile specimen failed near the border between the stir zone and TMAZ at the retreating side as the weld had roughly the same strengths as the base material

Thermal modelling of friction stir welding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Henrik Nikolaj Blicher; Hattel, Jesper Henri

2008-01-01

The objective of the present work is to present the basic elements of the thermal modelling of friction stir welding as well as to clarify some of the uncertainties in the literature regarding the different contributions to the heat generation. Some results from a new thermal pseudomechanical model...... in which the temperature-dependent yield stress of the weld material controls the heat generation are also presented....

Laser beam welding and friction stir welding of 6013-T6 aluminium alloy sheet

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Braun, R.; Dalle Donne, C.; Staniek, G.

2000-01-01

Butt welds of 1.6 mm thick 6013-T6 sheet were produced using laser beam welding and friction stir welding processes. Employing the former joining technique, filler powders of the alloys Al-5%Mg and Al-12%Si were used. Microstructure, hardness profiles, tensile properties and the corrosion behaviour of the welds in the as-welded condition were investigated. The hardness in the weld zone was lower compared to that of the base material in the peak-aged temper. Hardness minima were measured in the fusion zone and in the thermomechanically affected zone for laser beam welded and friction stir welded joints, respectively. Metallographic and fractographic examinations revealed pores in the fusion zone of the laser beam welds. Porosity was higher in welds made using the filler alloy Al-5%Mg than using the filler metal Al-12%Si. Transmission electron microscopy indicated that the β '' (Mg 2 Si) hardening precipitates were dissolved in the weld zone due to the heat input of the joining processes. Joint efficiencies achieved for laser beam welds depended upon the filler powders, being about 60 and 80% using the alloys Al-5%Mg and Al-12%Si, respectively. Strength of the friction stir weld approached over 80% of the ultimate tensile strength of the 6013-T6 base material. Fracture occurred in the region of hardness minima unless defects in the weld zone led to premature failure. The heat input during welding did not cause a degradation of the corrosion behaviour of the welds, as found in continuous immersion tests in an aqueous chloride-peroxide solution. In contrast to the 6013-T6 parent material, the weld zone was not sensitive to intergranular corrosion. Alternate immersion tests in 3.5% NaCl solution indicated high stress corrosion cracking resistance of the joints. For laser beam welded sheet, the weld zone of alternately immersed specimens suffered severe degradation by pitting and intergranular corrosion, which may be associated with galvanic coupling of filler metal and

Influence of shoulder diameter on Temperature and Z-parameter during friction stir welding of Al 6082 alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Kishore Mugada, Krishna; Adepu, Kumar

2018-03-01

In this research article, the effect of increasing shoulder diameter on temperature and Zener Holloman (Z)-parameter for friction stir butt welded AA6082-T6 was studied. The temperature at the Advancing side (AS) of weld was measured using the K-Type thermocouple at four different equidistant locations. The developed analytical model is utilized to predict the maximum temperature (Tpeak) during the welding. The strain, strain rate, Z- Parameter for all the shoulders at four distinct locations were evaluated. The temperature increases with increase in shoulder diameter and the maximum temperature was recorded for 24mm shoulder diameter. The computed log Z values are compared with the available process map and results shows that the values are in stable flow region and near to stir zone the values are in Dynamic recrystallization region (DRX). The axial load (Fz) and total tool torque (N-m) are found to be higher for shoulder diameter of 21 mm i.e., 6.3 kN and 56.5 N-m respectively.

Friction stir welding of Aluminium matrix composites – A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Subramanya Prabhu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Friction stir welding (FSW is established as one of the prominent welding techniques to join aluminium matrix composites (AMCs. It is a solid state welding process, takes place well below the melting temperature of the material, eliminates the detrimental effects of conventional fusion welding process. Although the process is capable to join AMCs, challenges are still open that need to be fulfill to widen its applications. This paper gives the outline of the friction stir welding technique used to join AMCs. Effect of process variables on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the joints, behavior of reinforcing materials during welding, effect of tool profiles on the joint strength are discussed in detail. Few improvements and direction for future research are also proposed.

Friction stir welding of single crystal aluminium

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fonda, Richard Warren; Wert, John A.; Reynolds, A.P.

2007-01-01

Friction stir welds were prepared in different orientations in an aluminium single crystal. The welds were quenched to preserve the microstructure surrounding the tool and then electron backscattered diffraction was used to reveal the generation of grain boundaries and the evolution...... of crystallographic texture around the tool in each weld. The extent of both dynamic recrystallisation and conventional recrystallisation varied considerably as a function of weld orientation. As the base plate begins to interact with the deformation field surrounding the tool, regions of the single crystal rotate...

Effect of friction stir welding and post-weld heat treatment on a nanostructured ferritic alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazumder, B.; Yu, X.; Edmondson, P.D.; Parish, C.M.; Miller, M.K.; Meyer, H.M.; Feng, Z.

2016-01-01

Nanostructured ferritic alloys (NFAs) are new generation materials for use in high temperature energy systems, such as nuclear fission or fusion reactors. However, joining these materials is a concern, as their unique microstructure is destroyed by traditional liquid-state welding methods. The microstructural evolution of a friction stir welded 14YWT NFA was investigated by atom probe tomography, before and after a post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) at 1123K. The particle size, number density, elemental composition, and morphology of the titanium-yttrium-oxygen-enriched nanoclusters (NCs) in the stir and thermally-affected zones were studied and compared with the base metal. No statistical difference in the size of the NCs was observed in any of these conditions. After the PWHT, increases in the number density and the oxygen enrichment in the NCs were observed. Therefore, these new results provide additional supporting evidence that friction stir welding appears to be a viable joining technique for NFAs, as the microstructural parameters of the NCs are not strongly affected, in contrast to traditional welding techniques.

Effect of friction stir welding and post-weld heat treatment on a nanostructured ferritic alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mazumder, B., E-mail: mazumderb@ornl.gov [Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States); Yu, X.; Edmondson, P.D.; Parish, C.M. [Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States); Miller, M.K. [Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States); Meyer, H.M.; Feng, Z. [Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States)

2016-02-15

Nanostructured ferritic alloys (NFAs) are new generation materials for use in high temperature energy systems, such as nuclear fission or fusion reactors. However, joining these materials is a concern, as their unique microstructure is destroyed by traditional liquid-state welding methods. The microstructural evolution of a friction stir welded 14YWT NFA was investigated by atom probe tomography, before and after a post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) at 1123K. The particle size, number density, elemental composition, and morphology of the titanium-yttrium-oxygen-enriched nanoclusters (NCs) in the stir and thermally-affected zones were studied and compared with the base metal. No statistical difference in the size of the NCs was observed in any of these conditions. After the PWHT, increases in the number density and the oxygen enrichment in the NCs were observed. Therefore, these new results provide additional supporting evidence that friction stir welding appears to be a viable joining technique for NFAs, as the microstructural parameters of the NCs are not strongly affected, in contrast to traditional welding techniques.

Microstructure and properties of friction stir butt-welded AZ31 magnesium alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Xunhong; Wang Kuaishe

2006-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a relatively new joining technique particularly for magnesium and aluminum alloys that are difficult to fusion weld. In this paper, an excellent friction stir weld of AZ31 magnesium alloy was obtained at proper parameter. In the friction stir zone (FSZ), the microstructure of the base material (BM) is replaced by fine grains and small particles of intermetallic compounds. The average microhardness of the friction stir zone is higher than that of the base material. The maximum tensile strength of joint can reach 93% that of the base material. And the failure locations are almost at the heating affected zone

On the Similarity of Deformation Mechanisms During Friction Stir Welding and Sliding Friction of the AA5056 Alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Kolubaev, A. V.; Zaikina, A. A.; Sizova, O. V.; Ivanov, K. V.; Filippov, A. V.; Kolubaev, E. A.

2018-04-01

A comparative investigation of the structure of an aluminum-manganese alloy is performed after its friction stir welding and sliding friction. Using the methods of optical and electron microscopy, it is shown that during friction identical ultrafine-grained structures are formed in the weld nugget and in the surface layer, in which the grains measure 5 μm irrespective of the initial grain size of the alloy. An assumption is made that the microstructure during both processes under study is formed by the mechanism of rotational plasticity.

Artificial neural networks application for modeling of friction stir welding effects on mechanical properties of 7075-T6 aluminum alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Maleki, E.

2015-12-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a relatively new solid-state joining technique that is widely adopted in manufacturing and industry fields to join different metallic alloys that are hard to weld by conventional fusion welding. Friction stir welding is a very complex process comprising several highly coupled physical phenomena. The complex geometry of some kinds of joints makes it difficult to develop an overall governing equations system for theoretical behavior analyse of the friction stir welded joints. Weld quality is predominantly affected by welding effective parameters, and the experiments are often time consuming and costly. On the other hand, employing artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as artificial neural networks (ANNs) as an efficient approach to solve the science and engineering problems is considerable. In present study modeling of FSW effective parameters by ANNs is investigated. To train the networks, experimental test results on thirty AA-7075-T6 specimens are considered, and the networks are developed based on back propagation (BP) algorithm. ANNs testing are carried out using different experimental data that they are not used during networks training. In this paper, rotational speed of tool, welding speed, axial force, shoulder diameter, pin diameter and tool hardness are regarded as inputs of the ANNs. Yield strength, tensile strength, notch-tensile strength and hardness of welding zone are gathered as outputs of neural networks. According to the obtained results, predicted values for the hardness of welding zone, yield strength, tensile strength and notch-tensile strength have the least mean relative error (MRE), respectively. Comparison of the predicted and the experimental results confirms that the networks are adjusted carefully, and the ANN can be used for modeling of FSW effective parameters.

Microstructural variation through weld thickness and mechanical properties of peened friction stir welded 6061 aluminum alloy joints

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abdulstaar, Mustafa A., E-mail: mustafa.abdulstaar@gmail.com [Institute of Material Science and Engineering, Clausthal University of Technology, Agricolastr. 6, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany); Al-Fadhalah, Khaled J. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering & Petroleum, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 5969, Safat 13060 (Kuwait); Wagner, Lothar [Institute of Material Science and Engineering, Clausthal University of Technology, Agricolastr. 6, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany)

2017-04-15

The current study examined the effect of microstructure variation on the development of mechanical properties in friction stir welded joints of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy, which were subsequently processed by shot peening (SP). Following to FSW, fatigue specimens were extracted perpendicularly to the welding direction. Surface Skimming to 0.5 mm from crown and root sides of the joint was made and SP was later applied on the two sides using ceramic shots of two different Almen intensities of 0.18 mmA and 0.24 mmA. Microstructural examination by electron back scattered diffraction (EBSD) indicated variation in the grain refinement of the weld zone, with coarsest grains (5 μm) at the crown side and finest grains (2 μm) at the root side. Reduction of microhardness to 60 HV occurred in the weld zone for samples in FSW condition. Application of SP promoted significant strain hardening at the crown side, with Almen intensities of 0.24 mmA providing maximum increase in microhardness to 120 HV. On the contrary, only a maximum microhardness of 75 HV was obtained at the root side. The difference in strain hardening capability at the two sides was strongly dependent on grain size. The two Almen intensities produced similar distribution of compressive residual stresses in the subsurface regions that led to enhance the fatigue strength to the level of base metal for N ≥ 10{sup 5} cycles. Yet, the increase in fatigue strength was more pronounced with increasing Almen intensity to 0.24 mmA, demonstrating further enhancement by strain hardening. - Highlights: • Grain refinement was observed after friction stir welding of AA 6061-T6. • Reduction in microhardness and fatigue strength were obtained after welding. • Variation in grain refinement led to different hardening behavior after peening. • Shot peening induced beneficial compressive residual stresses. • Shot peening and surface skimming markedly improved the fatigue performance.

Friction stir welding process and material microstructure evolution modeling in 2000 and 5000 series of aluminum alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Yalavarthy, Harshavardhan

Interactions between the rotating and advancing pin-shaped tool (terminated at one end with a circular-cylindrical shoulder) with the clamped welding-plates and the associated material and heat transport during a Friction Stir Welding (FSW) process are studied computationally using a fully-coupled thermo-mechanical finite-element analysis. To surmount potential numerical problems associated with extensive mesh distortions/entanglement, an Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) formulation was used which enabled adaptive re-meshing (to ensure the continuing presence of a high-quality mesh) while allowing full tracking of the material free surfaces. To demonstrate the utility of the present computational approach, the analysis is applied to the cases of same-alloy FSW of two Aluminum-alloy grades: (a) AA5083 (a solid-solution strengthened and strain-hardened/stabilized Al-Mg-Mn alloy); and (b) AA2139 (a precipitation hardened quaternary Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloy). Both of these alloys are currently being used in military-vehicle hull structural and armor systems. In the case of non-age-hardenable AA5083, the dominant microstructure evolution processes taking place during FSW are extensive plastic deformation and dynamic recrystallization of highly-deformed material subjected to elevated temperatures approaching the melting temperature. To account for the competition between plastic-deformation controlled strengthening and dynamic-recrystallization induced softening phenomena during the FSW process, the original Johnson-Cook strain- and strain-rate hardening and temperature-softening material strength model is modified in the present work using the available recrystallization-kinetics experimental data. In the case of AA2139, in addition to plastic deformation and dynamic recrystallization, precipitates coarsening, over-aging, dissolution and re-precipitation had to be also considered. Limited data available in the open literature pertaining to the kinetics of the aforementioned

The Influence of Friction Stir Weld Tool Form and Welding Parameters on Weld Structure and Properties: Nugget Bulge in Self-Reacting Friction Stir Welds

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Judy; Nunes, Arthur C., Jr.; Brendel, Michael S.

2010-01-01

Although friction stir welding (FSW) was patented in 1991, process development has been based upon trial and error and the literature still exhibits little understanding of the mechanisms determining weld structure and properties. New concepts emerging from a better understanding of these mechanisms enhance the ability of FSW engineers to think about the FSW process in new ways, inevitably leading to advances in the technology. A kinematic approach in which the FSW flow process is decomposed into several simple flow components has been found to explain the basic structural features of FSW welds and to relate them to tool geometry and process parameters. Using this modelling approach, this study reports on a correlation between the features of the weld nugget, process parameters, weld tool geometry, and weld strength. This correlation presents a way to select process parameters for a given tool geometry so as to optimize weld strength. It also provides clues that may ultimately explain why the weld strength varies within the sample population.

Effects of Laser Peening, and Shot Peening, on Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Hatamleh, Omar; Hackel, Lloyd; Rankin, Jon; Truong, Chanh; Walter, Matt

2006-01-01

A viewgraph presentation describing the effects of laser peening and shot peening on friction stir welding is shown. The topics include: 1) Background; 2) Friction Stir Welding (FSW); 3) Microstructure; 4) Laser & Shot Peening; 5) Residual Stresses; 6) Tensile Behavior; 7) Fatigue Life & Surface Roughness; 8) Crack Growth; and 9) Benefits.

Finite Element Simulation of Temperature and Strain Distribution during Friction Stir Welding of AA2024 Aluminum Alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, Rahul; Pal, Surjya Kanta; Singh, Shiv Brat

2017-02-01

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid state joining process and is handy for welding aluminum alloys. Finite Element Method (FEM) is an important tool to predict state variables of the process but numerical simulation of FSW is highly complex due to non-linear contact interactions between tool and work piece and interdependency of displacement and temperature. In the present work, a three dimensional coupled thermo-mechanical method based on Lagrangian implicit method is proposed to study the thermal history, strain distribution and thermo-mechanical process in butt welding of Aluminum alloy 2024 using DEFORM-3D software. Workpiece is defined as rigid-visco plastic material and sticking condition between tool and work piece is defined. Adaptive re-meshing is used to tackle high mesh distortion. Effect of tool rotational and welding speed on plastic strain is studied and insight is given on asymmetric nature of FSW process. Temperature distribution on the workpiece and tool is predicted and maximum temperature is found in workpiece top surface.

Numerical Simulation of Mechanical Property of Post Friction Stir Weld Artificial Ageing of Aluminum Alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

WAN Zhenyu

2017-08-01

Full Text Available KWN model was used to establish the precipitation evolution model of friction stir welding of Al-Mg-Si alloy. The yield strength was divided into three parts:the contribution from grain size, the contribution from solid solution and the contribution from the precipitations. Based on this model, the yield strength and hardness of friction stir weld was predicted. The effect of post weld artificial ageing on mechanical properties of friction stir weld was further investigated. The results indicate that longer holding time can be beneficial to the recovery of mechanical properties in the stirring zone. Higher temperature can lead to quick recovery of mechanical properties in the stirring zone, but when the holding temperature is higher than 200℃, longer holding time can lead the base metal softened, which is harmful to the service of friction stir welds. The mechanical property in the heat affected zone cannot be improved by post weld artificial ageing.

Automatic Gap Detection in Friction Stir Welding Processes (Preprint)

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Yang, Yu; Kalya, Prabhanjana; Landers, Robert G; Krishnamurthy, K

2006-01-01

.... This paper develops a monitoring algorithm to detect gaps in Friction Stir Welding (FSW) processes. Experimental studies are conducted to determine how the process parameters and the gap width affect the welding process...

Experimental studies of parameters affecting the heat generation in friction stir welding process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mijajlović Miroslav M.

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Heat generation is a complex process of transformation of a specific type of energy into heat. During friction stir welding, one part of mechanical energy delivered to the welding tool is consumed in the welding process, another is used for deformational processes etc., and the rest of the energy is transformed into heat. The analytical procedure for the estimation of heat generated during friction stir welding is very complex because it includes a significant number of variables and parameters, and many of them cannot be fully mathematically explained. Because of that, the analytical model for the estimation of heat generated during friction stir welding defines variables and parameters that dominantly affect heat generation. These parameters are numerous and some of them, e. g. loads, friction coefficient, torque, temperature, are estimated experimentally. Due to the complex geometry of the friction stir welding process and requirements of the measuring equipment, adequate measuring configurations and specific constructional solutions that provide adequate measuring positions are necessary. This paper gives an overview of the process of heat generation during friction stir welding, the most influencing parameters on heat generation, constructional solutions for the measuring equipment needed for these experimental researches and examples of measured values.

Modelling of the temperature field that accompanies friction stir welding

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Nosal Przemysław

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The thermal modelling of the Friction Stir Welding process allows for better recognition and understanding of phenomena occurring during the joining process of different materials. It is of particular importance considering the possibilities of process technology parameters, optimization and the mechanical properties of the joint. This work demonstrates the numerical modelling of temperature distribution accompanying the process of friction stir welding. The axisymmetric problem described by Fourier’s type equation with internal heat source is considered. In order to solve the diffusive initial value problem a fully implicit scheme of the finite difference method is applied. The example under consideration deals with the friction stir welding of a plate (0.7 cm thick made of Al 6082-T6 by use of a tool made of tungsten alloy, whereas the material subjected to welding was TiC powder. Obtained results confirm both quantitatively and qualitatively experimental observations that the superior temperature corresponds to the zone where the pin joints the shoulder.

Orbital friction stir welding of aluminium pipes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Engelhard, G.; Hillers, T.

2002-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) was originally developed for flat plates. This contribution shows how it can be applied to the welding of aluminium pipes. Pipes made of AlMG 3 (EN5754), AlMg 4.5Mn (EN5083) and AlMgSi 0.5 (EN6106) with dimensions of Da 600 and 520 x 10-8 mm were welded. The FSW orbital system comprises an annular cage with integrated FSW head, a hydraulic system, and a control unit. The welds were tested successfully according to EN 288. The mechanical and technical properties of the welds were somewhat better than with the TIG orbital process, and welding times were about 40 percent shorter [de

Effect of microstructure on properties of friction stir welded Inconel Alloy 600

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, Y.S.; Arkom, P.; Kokawa, H.; Nelson, T.W.; Steel, R.J.

2008-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) has been widely used to metals with moderate melting temperatures, primarily Al alloys. Recently, tool materials that withstand high stresses and temperatures necessary for FSW of materials with high melting temperatures have been developed. In the present study, polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) tool was used for partially penetrated FSW of Inconel Alloy 600, and a defect-free weld was successfully produced. Microstructural characteristics, mechanical and corrosion properties in the weld were examined. The weld had better mechanical properties than the base material due to formation of fine grain structure in the stir zone, but exhibited slightly the lower corrosion resistance in a part of the stir zone and heat-affected zone (HAZ)

Defect Detectability Improvement for Conventional Friction Stir Welds

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Chris

2013-01-01

This research was conducted to evaluate the effects of defect detectability via phased array ultrasound technology in conventional friction stir welds by comparing conventionally prepped post weld surfaces to a machined surface finish. A machined surface is hypothesized to improve defect detectability and increase material strength.

The improvement of ultrasonic characteristics in weld metal of austenitic stainless steel using magnetic stirring method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arakawa, T.; Tomisawa, Y.

1988-01-01

The magnetic stirring welding process was tested to save the difficulty of ultrasonic testing of austenitic stainless steel overlayed welds, due to grain refinement of weld solidification structure. The testing involved stirring the molten pool with Lorenz force induced by the interaction of welding current and alternative magnetic field applied from the outside magnetic coil. This report summarizes improvement of ultrasonic characteristic in austenitic stainless steel overlayed welds caused by magnetic stirring welding process

Friction Stir Weld Failure Mechanisms in Aluminum-Armor Structures Under Ballistic Impact Loading Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

REPORT Friction Stir Weld Failure Mechanisms in Aluminum-Armor Structures Under Ballistic Impact Loading Conditions 14. ABSTRACT 16. SECURITY...properties and of the attendant ballistic-impact failure mechanisms in prototypical friction stir welding (FSW) joints found in armor structures made of high...mechanisms, friction stir welding M. Grujicic, B. Pandurangan, A. Arakere, C-F. Yen, B. A. Cheeseman Clemson University Office of Sponsored Programs 300

Weldability of AA 5052 H32 aluminium alloy by TIG welding and FSW process - A comparative study

Science.gov (United States)

Shanavas, S.; Raja Dhas, J. Edwin

2017-10-01

Aluminium 5xxx series alloys are the strongest non-heat treatable aluminium alloy. Its application found in automotive components and body structures due to its good formability, good strength, high corrosion resistance, and weight savings. In the present work, the influence of Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding parameters on the quality of weld on AA 5052 H32 aluminium alloy plates were analyzed and the mechanical characterization of the joint so produced was compared with Friction stir (FS) welded joint. The selected input variable parameters are welding current and inert gas flow rate. Other parameters such as welding speed and arc voltage were kept constant throughout the study, based on the response from several trial runs conducted. The quality of the weld is measured in terms of ultimate tensile strength. A double side V-butt joints were fabricated by double pass on one side to ensure maximum strength of TIG welded joints. Macro and microstructural examination were conducted for both welding process.

Ultrasonic stir welding process and apparatus

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, R. Jeffrey (Inventor)

2009-01-01

An ultrasonic stir welding device provides a method and apparatus for elevating the temperature of a work piece utilizing at least one ultrasonic heater. Instead of relying on a rotating shoulder to provide heat to a workpiece an ultrasonic heater is utilized to provide ultrasonic energy to the workpiece. A rotating pin driven by a motor assembly performs the weld on the workpiece. A handheld version can be constructed as well as a fixedly mounted embodiment.

Artificial neural networks application for modeling of friction stir welding effects on mechanical properties of 7075-T6 aluminum alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maleki, E

2015-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a relatively new solid-state joining technique that is widely adopted in manufacturing and industry fields to join different metallic alloys that are hard to weld by conventional fusion welding. Friction stir welding is a very complex process comprising several highly coupled physical phenomena. The complex geometry of some kinds of joints makes it difficult to develop an overall governing equations system for theoretical behavior analyse of the friction stir welded joints. Weld quality is predominantly affected by welding effective parameters, and the experiments are often time consuming and costly. On the other hand, employing artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as artificial neural networks (ANNs) as an efficient approach to solve the science and engineering problems is considerable. In present study modeling of FSW effective parameters by ANNs is investigated. To train the networks, experimental test results on thirty AA-7075-T6 specimens are considered, and the networks are developed based on back propagation (BP) algorithm. ANNs testing are carried out using different experimental data that they are not used during networks training. In this paper, rotational speed of tool, welding speed, axial force, shoulder diameter, pin diameter and tool hardness are regarded as inputs of the ANNs. Yield strength, tensile strength, notch-tensile strength and hardness of welding zone are gathered as outputs of neural networks. According to the obtained results, predicted values for the hardness of welding zone, yield strength, tensile strength and notch-tensile strength have the least mean relative error (MRE), respectively. Comparison of the predicted and the experimental results confirms that the networks are adjusted carefully, and the ANN can be used for modeling of FSW effective parameters. (paper)

Joining of hybrid AA6063-6SiCp-3Grp composite and AISI 1030 steel by friction welding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Rajesh Jesudoss Hynes

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Joining of metals and aluminium hybrid metal matrix composites has significant applications in aviation, ship building and automotive industries. In the present work, investigation is carried out on Friction Welding of AISI 1030 steel and hybrid AA6063-6SiCp-3Grpcomposite, that are difficult to weld by fusion welding technique. Silicon carbide and graphite particle reinforced AA6063 matrix hybrid composite was developed successfully using stir casting method and the joining feasibility of AISI1030 steel with AA6063-6SiCp-3Grp hybrid composite was tried out by friction stud welding technique. During friction stage of welding process, the particulates (SiC & Graphite used for reinforcement, tend to increase the viscosity and lead to improper mixing of matrix and reinforcement. This eventually results in lower strength in dissimilar joints. To overcome this difficulty AA1100 interlayer is used while joining hybrid composite to AISI 1030 steel. Experimentation was carried out using Taguchi based design of experiments (DOE technique. Multiple regression methods were applied to understand the relationship between process parameters of the friction stud welding process. Micro structural examination reveals three separate zones namely fully plasticized zone, partially deformed zone and unaffected base material zone. Ultra fine dynamically recrystallized grains of about 341 nm were observed at the fully plasticized zone. EDX analysis confirms the presence of intermetallic compound Fe2Al5 at the joint interface. According to the experimental analysis using DOE, rotational speed and interlayer sheet thickness contribute about 39% and 36% respectively in determining the impact strength of the welded joints. It is found that joining with 0.5 mm interlayer sheet provides efficient joints. Developed regression model could be used to predict the axial shortening distance and impact strength of the welded joint with reasonable accuracy.

Friction Stir Welding of Dissimilar Al/Al and Al/Non-Al Alloys: A Review

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiangbin; Pan, Yi; Lados, Diana A.

2018-05-01

Friction stir welding is a solid-state welding technique that has many advantages over traditional fusion welding, and has been widely adopted in the aerospace and automotive industries. This article reviews research developments in friction stir welding of dissimilar alloys systems, including combinations of aluminum alloys with Mg alloys, Cu, and steel. Microstructural evolution, hardness, tensile and fatigue properties, residual stresses, and corrosion behavior of dissimilar welds will be reported. The effects of processing parameters such as tool rotation and traverse speeds, tool position, material position, and tool geometry on the weld quality are also presented. Discussions on future research directions in friction stir welding will also be provided in the context of existing literature and future high-integrity applications.

Optimization and Characterization of the Friction Stir Welded Sheets of AA 5754-H111: Monitoring of the Quality of Joints with Thermographic Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luigi Alberto Ciro De Filippis

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Friction Stir Welding (FSW is a solid-state welding process, based on frictional and stirring phenomena, that offers many advantages with respect to the traditional welding methods. However, several parameters can affect the quality of the produced joints. In this work, an experimental approach has been used for studying and optimizing the FSW process, applied on 5754-H111 aluminum plates. In particular, the thermal behavior of the material during the process has been investigated and two thermal indexes, the maximum temperature and the heating rate of the material, correlated to the frictional power input, were investigated for different process parameters (the travel and rotation tool speeds configurations. Moreover, other techniques (micrographs, macrographs and destructive tensile tests were carried out for supporting in a quantitative way the analysis of the quality of welded joints. The potential of thermographic technique has been demonstrated both for monitoring the FSW process and for predicting the quality of joints in terms of tensile strength.

Optimization and Characterization of the Friction Stir Welded Sheets of AA 5754-H111: Monitoring of the Quality of Joints with Thermographic Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

De Filippis, Luigi Alberto Ciro; Serio, Livia Maria; Palumbo, Davide; De Finis, Rosa; Galietti, Umberto

2017-10-11

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state welding process, based on frictional and stirring phenomena, that offers many advantages with respect to the traditional welding methods. However, several parameters can affect the quality of the produced joints. In this work, an experimental approach has been used for studying and optimizing the FSW process, applied on 5754-H111 aluminum plates. In particular, the thermal behavior of the material during the process has been investigated and two thermal indexes, the maximum temperature and the heating rate of the material, correlated to the frictional power input, were investigated for different process parameters (the travel and rotation tool speeds) configurations. Moreover, other techniques (micrographs, macrographs and destructive tensile tests) were carried out for supporting in a quantitative way the analysis of the quality of welded joints. The potential of thermographic technique has been demonstrated both for monitoring the FSW process and for predicting the quality of joints in terms of tensile strength.

Investigation of effects of process parameters on properties of friction stir welded joints

Science.gov (United States)

Chauhan, Atul; Soota, Tarun; Rajput, S. K.

2018-03-01

This work deals with application of friction stir welding (FSW) using application of Taguchi orthogonal array. FSW procedure is used for joining the aluminium alloy AA6063-T0 plates in butt configuration with orthogonal combination of factors and their levels. The combination of factors involving tool rotation speed, tool travel speed and tool pin profile are used in three levels. Grey relational analysis (GRA) has been applied to select optimum level of factors for optimising UTS, ductility and hardness of joint. Experiments have been conducted with two different tool materials (HSS and HCHCr steel) with various factors level combinations for joining AA6063-T0. On the basis of grey relational grades at different levels of factors and analysis of variance (ANOVA) ideal combination of factors are determined. The influence of tool material is also studied.

Friction stir scribe welding technique for dissimilar joining of aluminium and galvanised steel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Tianhao [Center for Friction Stir Processing, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA; Sidhar, Harpreet [Center for Friction Stir Processing, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA; Mishra, Rajiv S. [Center for Friction Stir Processing, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA; Hovanski, Yuri [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Energy Materials and Manufacturing, Richland, WA, USA; Upadhyay, Piyush [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Energy Materials and Manufacturing, Richland, WA, USA; Carlson, Blair [General Motors Technical Center, Warren, MI, USA

2017-10-04

Friction stir scribe technology, a derivative of friction stir welding, was applied for the dissimilar lap welding of an aluminum alloy and galvanized mild steel sheets. During the process, the rotating tool with a cobalt steel scribe first penetrated the top material — aluminum — and then the scribe cut the bottom material — steel. The steel was displaced into the upper material to produce a characteristic hook feature. Lap welds were shear tested, and their fracture paths were studied. Welding parameters affected the welding features including hook height, which turned out to be highly related to fracture position. Therefore, in this paper, the relationships among welding parameters, hook height, joint strength and fracture position are presented. In addition, influence of zinc coating on joint strength was also studied. Keywords: friction stir scribe technology; dissimilar material welding; zinc coating; hook height; joint strength; fracture position

Thermomechanical Modelling of Friction Stir Welding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hattel, Jesper Henri; Schmidt, Henrik Nikolaj Blicher; Tutum, Cem Celal

2009-01-01

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a fully coupled thermomechanical process and should in general be modelled as such. Basically, there are two major application areas of thermomechanical models in the investigation of the FSW process: i) Analysis of the thermomechanical conditions such as e.g. heat...... generation and local material deformation (often referred to as flow) during the welding process itself. ii) Prediction of the residual stresses that will be present in the joint structure post to welding. While the former in general will call for a fully-coupled thermomechanical procedure, however...... for the FSW process at hand, the heat generation must either be prescribed analytically or based on a fully coupled analysis of the welding process itself. Along this line, a recently proposed thermal-pseudo-mechanical model is presented in which the temperature dependent yield stress of the weld material...

Prediction of mechanical properties in friction stir welds of pure copper

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heidarzadeh, A.; Saeid, T.

2013-01-01

Highlights: • Range of parameters for defect-free friction stir welded pure copper was reached. • Models were developed for predicting UTS, TE and hardness of pure copper joints. • Analysis of variance was used to validate the developed models. • Effect of welding parameters on mechanical behavior of welded joints was explored. • The microstructure and fracture surface of welded joints were investigated. - Abstract: This research was carried out to predict the mechanical properties of friction stir welded pure copper joints. Response surface methodology based on a central composite rotatable design with three parameters, five levels, and 20 runs, was used to conduct the experiments and to develop the mathematical regression model by using of Design-Expert software. The three welding parameters considered were rotational speed, welding speed, and axial force. Analysis of variance was applied to validate the predicted models. Microstructural characterization and fractography of joints were examined using optical and scanning electron microscopes. Also, the effects of the welding parameters on mechanical properties of friction stir welded joints were analyzed in detail. The results showed that the developed models were reasonably accurate. The increase in welding parameters resulted in increasing of tensile strength of the joints up to a maximum value. Elongation percent of the joints increased with increase of rotational speed and axial force, but decreased by increasing of welding speed, continuously. In addition, hardness of the joints decreased with increase of rotational speed and axial force, but increased by increasing of welding speed. The joints welded at higher heat input conditions revealed more ductility fracture mode

Friction stir weld tools having fine grain structure

Science.gov (United States)

Grant, Glenn J.; Frye, John G.; Kim, Jin Yong; Lavender, Curt A.; Weil, Kenneth Scott

2016-03-15

Tools for friction stir welding can be made with fewer process steps, lower cost techniques, and/or lower cost ingredients than other state-of-the-art processes by utilizing improved compositions and processes of fabrication. Furthermore, the tools resulting from the improved compositions and processes of fabrication can exhibit better distribution and homogeneity of chemical constituents, greater strength, and/or increased durability. In one example, a friction stir weld tool includes tungsten and rhenium and is characterized by carbide and oxide dispersoids, by carbide particulates, and by grains that comprise a solid solution of the tungsten and rhenium. The grains do not exceed 10 micrometers in diameter.

Characterization and Strain-Hardening Behavior of Friction Stir-Welded Ferritic Stainless Steel

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Gaurav; Dwivedi, Dheerendra Kumar; Jain, Pramod Kumar

2017-12-01

In this study, friction stir-welded joint of 3-mm-thick plates of 409 ferritic stainless steel (FSS) was characterized in light of microstructure, x-ray diffraction analysis, hardness, tensile strength, ductility, corrosion and work hardening properties. The FSW joint made of ferritic stainless steel comprises of three distinct regions including the base metal. In stir zone highly refined ferrite grains with martensite and some carbide precipitates at the grain boundaries were observed. X-ray diffraction analysis also revealed precipitation of Cr23C6 and martensite formation in heat-affected zone and stir zone. In tensile testing of the transverse weld samples, the failure eventuated within the gauge length of the specimen from the base metal region having tensile properties overmatched to the as-received base metal. The tensile strength and elongation of the longitudinal (all weld) sample were found to be 1014 MPa and 9.47%, respectively. However, in potentiodynamic polarization test, the corrosion current density of the stir zone was highest among all the three zones. The strain-hardening exponent for base metal, transverse and longitudinal (all weld) weld samples was calculated using various equations. Both the transverse and longitudinal weld samples exhibited higher strain-hardening exponents as compared to the as-received base metal. In Kocks-Mecking plots for the base metal and weld samples at least two stages of strain hardening were observed.

Mitigating Abnormal Grain Growth for Friction Stir Welded Al-Li 2195 Spun Formed Domes

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Po-Shou; Russell, Carolyn

2012-01-01

Formability and abnormal grain growth (AGG) are the two major issues that have been encountered for Al alloy spun formed dome development using friction stir welded blanks. Material properties that have significant influence on the formability include forming range and strain hardening exponent. In this study, tensile tests were performed for two 2195 friction stir weld parameter sets at 400 F to study the effects of post weld anneal on the forming range and strain hardening exponent. It was found that the formability can be enhanced by applying a newly developed post weld anneal to heat treat the friction stir welded panels. This new post weld anneal leads to a higher forming range and much improved strain hardening exponent. AGG in the weld nugget is known to cause a significant reduction of ductility and fracture toughness. This study also investigated how AGG may be influenced by the heating rate to the solution heat treatment temperature. After post-weld annealing, friction stir welds were strained to 15% and 39% by compression at 400 F before they were subjected to SHT at 950 F for 1 hour. Salt bath SHT is very effective in reducing the grain size as it helps arrest the onset of AGG and promote normal recrystallization and grain growth. However, heat treating a 18 ft dome using a salt bath is not practical. Efforts are continuing at Marshall Space Flight Center to identify the welding parameters and heat treating parameters that can help mitigate the AGG in the friction stir welds.

The Effect of Cu Powder During Friction Stir Welding on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of AA3003-H18

Science.gov (United States)

Abnar, B.; Kazeminezhad, M.; Kokabi, A. H.

2014-08-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) was used to join 3003-H18 non-heat-treatable aluminum alloy plates by adding copper powder. The copper powder was first added to the gap (0.1 and 0.2 mm) between two plates and then the FSW was performed. The specimens were joined at various rotational speeds of 800, 1000, and 1200 rpm at traveling speeds of 70 and 100 mm/min. The effects of rotational speed, second pass of FSW, and direction of second pass also were studied on copper particle distribution and formation of Al-Cu intermetallic compounds in the stir zone. The second pass of FSW was carried out in two ways; in line with the first pass direction (2F) and in the reverse direction of the first pass (FB). The microstructure, mechanical properties, and formation of intermetallic compounds type were investigated. In high copper powder compaction into the gap, large clusters were formed in the stir zone, while fine clusters and sound copper particles distribution were obtained in low powder compaction. The copper particle distribution and amount of Al-Cu intermetallic compounds were increased in the stir zone with increasing the rotational speed and applying the second pass. Al2Cu and AlCu intermetallic phases were formed in the stir zone and consequently the hardness was significantly increased. The copper particles and in situ intermetallic compounds were symmetrically distributed in both advancing and retreating sides of weld zone after FB passes. Thus, the wider area was reinforced by the intermetallic compounds. Also, the tensile test specimens tend to fracture from the coarse copper aggregation at the low rotational speeds. At high rotational speeds, the fracture locations are placed in HAZ and TMAZ.

Effect of shoulder to pin ratio on magnesium alloy Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Othman, N. H.; Ishak, M.; Shah, L. H.

2017-09-01

This study focuses on the effect of shoulder to pin diameter ratio on friction stir welding of magnesium alloy AZ31. Two pieces of AZ31 alloy with thickness of 2 mm were friction stir welded by using conventional milling machine. The shoulder to pin diameter ratio used in this experiment are 2.25, 2.5, 2.75, 3, 3.33, 3.66, 4.5, 5 and 5.5. The rotational speed and welding speed used in this study are 1000 rpm and 100 mm/min, respectively. Microstructure observation of welded area was studied by using optical microscope. Equiaxed grains were observed at the TMAZ and stir zone indicating fully plastic deformation. The grain size of stir zone increased with decreasing shoulder to pin ratio from ratio 3.33 to 5.5 due to higher heat input. It is observed that, surface galling and faying surface defect is produced when excessive heat input is applied. To evaluate the mechanical properties of this specimen, tensile test was used in this study. Shoulder to pin ratio 5.5 shows lowest tensile strength while shoulder to pin diameter ratio 3.33 shows highest tensile strength with weld efficiency 91 % from based metal.

The effect of postprocessing on tensile property and microstructure evolution of friction stir welding aluminum alloy joint

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu, Z.L.; Wang, X.S.; Pang, Q.; Huang, F.; Qin, X.P.; Hua, L.

2015-01-01

Friction stir welding is an efficient manufacturing method for joining aluminum alloy and can dramatically reduce grain size conferring excellent plastic deformation properties. Consequently, friction stir welding is used to manufacture tailor welded blanks to optimize weight or performance in the final component. In the study, the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of friction stir welding joint during plastic forming and subsequent heat treatment were investigated. The microstructural characteristics of the friction stir welding joints were studied by Electron Backscattered Diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscopy. The mechanical properties were evaluated by tensile and microhardness tests. It is found that the tensile and yield strengths of friction stir welding joints are significantly improved after severe plastic deformation due to the grain refinement. Following heat treatment, the strength of the friction stir welding joints significantly decrease due to the obvious abnormal grain growth. Careful attention must be given to the processing route of any friction stir welding joint intended for plastic forming, especially the annealing between forming passes. Severe plastic deforming of the friction stir welding joint leads to a high level of stored energy/dislocation density, which causes the abnormal grain growth during subsequent heat treatment, and consequently reduce the mechanical properties of the friction stir welding joint. - Highlights: • Great changes are observed in the microstructure of FSW joint after postprocessing. • Postprocessing shows great effect on the microstructure stability of FSW joint. • The weld shows more significant decrease in strength than the BM due to the AGG. • Attention must be given to the processing route of FSW joint for plastic forming

Effect of process parameters on mechanical properties of friction stir spot welded magnesium to aluminum alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rao, H.M.; Yuan, W.; Badarinarayan, H.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Lap-shear failure load of ∼2.5 kN was achieved in dissimilar Mg to Al spot welds. • Failure load depends on both welding geometrical features and IMCs formation. • Thin and discontinuous IMCs formed in stir zone are beneficial for weld strength. • Low heat input and good material mixing/interlocking is essential for high strength. - Abstract: Friction stir spot welding was applied to dissimilar cast magnesium (Mg) alloy AM60B and wrought aluminum (Al) alloy 6022-T4 under various welding conditions. The influence of tool rotation rate and shoulder plunge depth on lap-shear failure load was examined. Welds were made at four different tool rotation rates of 1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500 revolution per minute (rpm) and various tool shoulder plunge depths from 0 mm to 0.9 mm. The cross section of each weld exhibited the formation of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) in the stir zone. An increase in tool rotation rate decreased the width of the stir zone and resulted in lower lap-shear failure loads. The stir zone width increased and interlocking of IMCs was observed with an increase in tool shoulder plunge depth at 1000 rpm. High lap-shear failure loads were achieved in welds having a large stir zone width with formation of discontinuous IMCs at the tip of the interfacial hook. An average lap-shear failure load of 2.5 kN was achieved for welds made at 1000 rpm and 0.9 mm shoulder plunge. The present study suggests that the mechanical properties of friction stir spot welded dissimilar alloys are greatly influenced by the stir zone width, interfacial hooks and IMCs which are all weld process dependent

Metal Flow in Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Nunes, Arthur C., Jr.

2006-01-01

The plastic deformation field in Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is compared to that in metal cutting. A shear surface around the FSW tool analogous to the metal cutting shear plane is identified and comprises the basis of the "rotating plug" flow field model and the "wiping" model of tool interaction with weld metal. Within the context of these models: The FSW shear rate is estimated to be comparable to metal cutting shear rates. The effect of tool geometry on the FSW shear surface is discussed and related to published torque measurements. Various FS W structural features are explained, including a difference in structure of bimetallic welds when alloys on the advancing and retreating sides of the weld seam are exchanged. The joining mechanism and critical parameters of the FSW process are made clear.

Some microstructural characterisations in a friction stir welded oxide dispersion strengthened ferritic steel alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Legendre, F.; Poissonnet, S.; Bonnaillie, P.; Boulanger, L.; Forest, L.

2009-01-01

The goal of this study is to characterize microstructure of a friction stir welded oxide dispersion strengthened alloy. The welded material is constituted by two sheets of an yttria-dispersion-strengthened PM 2000 ferritic steel. Different areas of the friction stir welded product were analyzed using field emission gun secondary electron microscopy (FEG-SEM) and electron microprobe whereas nanoindentation was used to evaluate mechanical properties. The observed microstructural evolution, including distribution of the yttria dispersoids, after friction stir welding process is discussed and a correlation between the microstructure and the results of nanoindentation tests is established.

Caratterizzazione microstrutturale e prove di resilienza su giunti Friction Stir Welding e Linear Friction Welding di compositi a matrice metallica

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Merlin

2010-04-01

Full Text Available In questo studio sono stati caratterizzati giunti Friction Stir Welding e Linear Friction Welding su compositi a matrice in lega di alluminio e rinforzo particellare ceramico. Il processo FSW è stato applicato a due compositi ottenuti con processo fusorio, quindi estrusi e trattati termicamente T6: AA6061/20%vol.Al2O3p e AA7005/10%vol.Al2O3p. I giunti LFW sono stati invece realizzati su un composito con matrice in lega di alluminio e rinforzo particellare in carburo di silicio, ottenuto mediante metallurgia delle polveri, quindi forgiato e trattato termicamente T4: AA2124/25%vol.SiCp. Sono stati esaminati gli effetti della saldatura sullecaratteristiche microstrutturali dei giunti, avvalendosi di tecniche di microscopia ottica con analisi di immagine e di microscopia elettronica in scansione (SEM con microsonda a dispersione di energia (EDS. Sono state quindi condotte prove di resilienza con pendolo strumentato Charpy. Lo studio dei meccanismi di danneggiamento è stato effettuato mediante analisi al SEM delle superfici di frattura. Entrambi i processi di saldatura hanno portato a giunti sostanzialmente esenti da difetti. La microstruttura dei cordoni è risultata dipendente sia dalle caratteristiche microstrutturali iniziali dei compositi considerati, sia dalla tipologia di processo di saldatura. Nel caso dei compositi AA6061/20%Al2O3p e AA7005/10%Al2O3p saldati FSW si è osservato un sostanziale incremento di resilienza, rispetto al materiale base, in conseguenza dell’affinamento dei grani della matrice, della riduzione della dimensione media delle particelle di rinforzo e della loro spigolosità, indotte dal processo di saldatura. Il composito AA2124/25%SiCp saldato LFW ha presentato valori di resilienza confrontabili con quelli del materiale base, in conseguenza, soprattutto, dei limitati effetti della saldatura su dimensione e distribuzione delle particelle di rinforzo.

Improving friction stir welding of blanks of different thicknesses

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fratini, L. [Dipartimento di Tecnologia Meccanica, Produzione e Ingegneria Gestionale, Universita di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo (Italy)], E-mail: abaqus@dtpm.unipa.it; Buffa, G. [Dipartimento di Tecnologia Meccanica, Produzione e Ingegneria Gestionale, Universita di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo (Italy); Shivpuri, R. [Ohio State University, Department of Industrial, Welding and Systems Engineering, 1971 Neil Avenue, 210 Baker Systems, Columbus, Ohio 43210 (United States)

2007-06-25

Friction stir welding (FSW) appears to be a promising process even in the welding of blanks of different thicknesses. Actually, such particular tailor welded blanks (TWBs) are usually characterized by a reduction in ductility due to the utilized fusion welding process. In this paper the authors, starting from a preliminary feasibility study, investigate the possibility to improve the mechanical performances of friction stir welded blanks of aluminum alloy with different thicknesses. Both experiments and a FE analyses are developed for a few case studies with different thickness ratios between the blanks. The numerical investigations are performed with the aim to highlight the material temperature distribution during the process in order to determine process conditions for which an almost symmetric thermal flow is obtained in the two blanks of the joint. In this way, a few simple process design rules are derived and verified through experiments. In particular a thickness ratio up to 2 was considered and a joint resistance of about the 80% of the parent material ultimate tensile strength was observed.

Improving friction stir welding of blanks of different thicknesses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fratini, L.; Buffa, G.; Shivpuri, R.

2007-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) appears to be a promising process even in the welding of blanks of different thicknesses. Actually, such particular tailor welded blanks (TWBs) are usually characterized by a reduction in ductility due to the utilized fusion welding process. In this paper the authors, starting from a preliminary feasibility study, investigate the possibility to improve the mechanical performances of friction stir welded blanks of aluminum alloy with different thicknesses. Both experiments and a FE analyses are developed for a few case studies with different thickness ratios between the blanks. The numerical investigations are performed with the aim to highlight the material temperature distribution during the process in order to determine process conditions for which an almost symmetric thermal flow is obtained in the two blanks of the joint. In this way, a few simple process design rules are derived and verified through experiments. In particular a thickness ratio up to 2 was considered and a joint resistance of about the 80% of the parent material ultimate tensile strength was observed

The Simulation of Precipitation Evolutions and Mechanical Properties in Friction Stir Welding with Post-Weld Heat Treatments

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Z.; Wan, Z. Y.; Lindgren, L.-E.; Tan, Z. J.; Zhou, X.

2017-12-01

A finite element model of friction stir welding capable of re-meshing is used to simulate the temperature variations. Re-meshing of the finite element model is used to maintain a fine mesh resolving the gradients of the solution. The Kampmann-Wagner numerical model for precipitation is then used to study the relation between friction stir welds with post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) and the changes in mechanical properties. Results indicate that the PWHT holding time and PWHT holding temperature need to be optimally designed to obtain FSW with better mechanical properties. Higher precipitate number with lower precipitate sizes gives higher strength in the stirring zone after PWHT. The coarsening of precipitates in HAZ are the main reason to hinder the improvement of mechanical property when PWHT is used.

Microstructure characterization of Friction Stir Spot Welded TRIP steel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lomholt, Trine Colding; Adachi, Yoshitaka; Peterson, Jeremy

2012-01-01

Transformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) steels have not yet been successfully joined by any welding technique. It is desirable to search for a suitable welding technique that opens up for full usability of TRIP steels. In this study, the potential of joining TRIP steel with Friction Stir Spot...

Microhardness, strength and strain field characterization of self-reacting friction stir and plug welds of dissimilar aluminum alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Horton, Karla Renee

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid state welding process with potential advantages for aerospace and automotive industries dealing with light alloys. Self-reacting friction stir welding (SR-FSW) is one variation of the FSW process being developed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for use in the fabrication of propellant tanks. Friction plug welding is used to seal the exit hole that remains in a circumferential SR-FSW. This work reports on material properties and strain patterns developed in a SR-FSW with a friction plug weld. Specifically, this study examines the behavior of a SR-FSW formed between an AA2014-T6 plate on the advancing side and an AA2219-T87 plate on the retreating side and a SR-FSW (AA2014-T6 to AA2219-T87) with a 2219-T87 plug weld. This study presents the results of a characterization of the micro-hardness, joint strength, and strain field characterization of SR-FSW and FPW joints tested at room temperature and cryogenic temperatures. The initial weld microstructure analysis showed a nugget region with fine grains and a displaced weld seam from the advancing side past the thermo-mechanical affected zone (TMAZ) into the nugget region. The displaced material shared the same hardness as the parent material. Dynamic recrystallization was observed in the SR-FSW zone and the displaced weld seam region. The welds revealed a fine grain structure in the SR-FSW zone with a sharp demarcation seen on the advancing side and fairly diffuse flow observed on the retreating side. The parent material hardness is 145 HV700g with a drop in hardness starting at the HAZ to 130 HV700g. The hardness further drops in the TMAZ to118 HV700g with an increase representing a dispersed interface of AA2014-T6 material to 135 HV700g. The hardness then drops significantly within the nugget region to 85 HV700g followed by an increase through the retreating side TMAZ into the HAZ to 135 HV 700g. There was a sharp increase in the hardness value within

Unstable Temperature Distribution in Friction Stir Welding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sadiq Aziz Hussein

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In the friction stir welding process, a nonuniform and high generated temperature is undesirable. Unstable temperature and distribution affect thermal and residual stresses along the welding line, thus necessitating mitigation. This paper presents a simple method to prevent significant temperature difference along the welding line and also to help nullifying some defect types associated with this welding, such as end-hole, initial unwelded line, and deformed areas. In the experimental investigation, a heat and force thermocouple and dynamometer were utilized while couple-field thermomechanical models were used to evaluate temperature and its distribution, plastic strain, and material displacement. The suggested method generated uniform temperature distributions. Measurement results are discussed, showing a good correlation with predictions.

In-Space Friction Stir Welding Machine, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Longhurst Engineering, PLC, and Vanderbilt University propose an in-space friction stir welding (FSW) machine for joining complex structural aluminum components. The...

Residual stresses analysis of friction stir welding using one-way FSI simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, Sung Wook; Jang, Beom Seon; Song, Ha Cheol

2015-01-01

When certain mechanisms, such as plastic deformations and temperature gradients, occur and are released in a structure, stresses remain because of the shape of the structure and external constraints. These stresses are referred to as residual stresses. The base material locally expands during heating in the welding process. When the welding is completed and cooled to room temperature, the residual stresses are left at nearly the yield strength level. In the case of friction stir welding, the maximum temperature is 80% to 90% of the melting point of the materials. Thus, the residual stresses in the welding process are smaller than those in other fusion welding processes; these stresses have not been considered previously. However, friction stir welding residual stresses are sometimes measured at approximately 70% or above. These residual stresses significantly affect fatigue behavior and lifetime. The present study investigates the residual stress distributions in various welding conditions and shapes of friction stir welding. In addition, the asymmetric feature is considered in temperature and residual stress distribution. Heat transfer analysis is conducted using the commercial computational fluid dynamics program Fluent, and results are used in the finite element structural analysis with the ANSYS Multiphysics software. The calculated residual stresses are compared with experimental values using the X-ray diffraction method.

The inhomogeneous microstructure and deformation of similar and dissimilar Al-Zn containing Mg friction stir welds

Science.gov (United States)

Hiscocks, Jessica

The magnesium-based aluminum-zinc alloys have excellent stiffness to weight ratios, and may be combined by friction stir welding to expand the possible applications. The high aluminum alloy AZ80 in particular has the advantage of being relatively stiff but still extrudable. However limited friction stir welding research is available for this alloy and extrapolation from the extensive work in aluminum alloys is impractical due differences in precipitation behaviour, and magnesium's high plastic anisotropy and tendency to form strong textures during friction stir welding. This work investigates the correlations between local friction stir welded microstructures, textures, residual strains, and the local deformation behaviour based on strain mapping during tensile tests. Covering bead-on-plate and butt configurations, joining of similar and dissimilar materials, and a range of processing conditions, many findings of interest for deformation modelling and industrial applications are presented. Synchrotron x-ray diffraction study of an entire friction stir weld was used to determine texture, residual strain and dislocation density data from a single experiment. A number of unique findings were made, mainly related to the asymmetric distribution of properties both between sides of the weld and through the depth. Particularly in the case of strain measurements, features not detectable at coarser measurement spacing or by line scan are presented and compared for multiple processing conditions. Investigation of the longitudinal material flow during welding showed that even when periodicity in grain size, precipitate distribution, or texture was not observed, periodic changes in texture intensity resulting from compaction of material behind the tool were present, providing evidence that movement of nugget material remained periodic. Strain localisation and fracture behaviour were found to be completely different between good quality similar and dissimilar friction stir welds

Development of liquid-nitrogen-cooling friction stir spot welding for AZ31 magnesium alloy joints

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Dong; Shen, Jun; Zhou, Meng-bing; Cheng, Liang; Sang, Jia-xing

2017-10-01

A liquid-nitrogen-cooling friction stir spot welding (C-FSSW) technology was developed for welding AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets. The liquid-nitrogen cooling degraded the deformability of the welded materials such that the width of interfacial cracks increased with increasing cooling time. The grain size of the stirred zone (SZ) and the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of the C-FSSW-welded joints decreased, whereas that of the thermomechanically affected zone (TMAZ) increased with increasing cooling time. The maximum tensile shear load of the C-FSSW-welded joints welded with a cooling time of 5 or 7 s was larger than that of the friction stir spot welding (FSSW)-welded joint, and the tensile shear load decreased with increasing cooling time. The microhardness of the C-FSSW-welded joints was greater than that of the FSSW-welded joint. Moreover, the microhardness of the SZ and the HAZ of the C-FSSW-welded joints increased, whereas that of the TMAZ decreased, with increasing cooling time.

A continuum based fem model for friction stir welding-model development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buffa, G. [Ohio State University, Department of Industrial, Welding and Systems Engineering, 1971 Neil Avenue, 210 Baker Systems, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States) and Dipartimento di Tecnologia Meccanica, Produzione e Ingegneria Gestionale, Universita di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo (Italy)]. E-mail: g.buffa@dtpm.unipa.it; Hua, J. [Ohio State University, Department of Industrial, Welding and Systems Engineering, 1971 Neil Avenue, 210 Baker Systems, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)]. E-mail: hua.14@osu.edu; Shivpuri, R. [Ohio State University, Department of Industrial, Welding and Systems Engineering, 1971 Neil Avenue, 210 Baker Systems, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)]. E-mail: shivpuri.1@osu.edu; Fratini, L. [Dipartimento di Tecnologia Meccanica, Produzione e Ingegneria Gestionale, Universita di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo (Italy)]. E-mail: abaqus@dtpm.unipa.it

2006-03-15

Although friction stir welding (FSW) has been successfully used to join materials that are difficult-to-weld or unweldeable by fusion welding methods, it is still in its early development stage and, therefore, a scientific knowledge based predictive model is of significant help for thorough understanding of FSW process. In this paper, a continuum based FEM model for friction stir welding process is proposed, that is 3D Lagrangian implicit, coupled, rigid-viscoplastic. This model is calibrated by comparing with experimental results of force and temperature distribution, then is used to investigate the distribution of temperature and strain in heat affect zone and the weld nugget. The model correctly predicts the non-symmetric nature of FSW process, and the relationships between the tool forces and the variation in the process parameters. It is found that the effective strain distribution is non-symmetric about the weld line while the temperature profile is almost symmetric in the weld zone.

A continuum based fem model for friction stir welding-model development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buffa, G.; Hua, J.; Shivpuri, R.; Fratini, L.

2006-01-01

Although friction stir welding (FSW) has been successfully used to join materials that are difficult-to-weld or unweldeable by fusion welding methods, it is still in its early development stage and, therefore, a scientific knowledge based predictive model is of significant help for thorough understanding of FSW process. In this paper, a continuum based FEM model for friction stir welding process is proposed, that is 3D Lagrangian implicit, coupled, rigid-viscoplastic. This model is calibrated by comparing with experimental results of force and temperature distribution, then is used to investigate the distribution of temperature and strain in heat affect zone and the weld nugget. The model correctly predicts the non-symmetric nature of FSW process, and the relationships between the tool forces and the variation in the process parameters. It is found that the effective strain distribution is non-symmetric about the weld line while the temperature profile is almost symmetric in the weld zone

Effect of Trailing Intensive Cooling on Residual Stress and Welding Distortion of Friction Stir Welded 2060 Al-Li Alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Shude; Yang, Zhanpeng; Wen, Quan; Yue, Yumei; Zhang, Liguo

2018-04-01

Trailing intensive cooling with liquid nitrogen has successfully applied to friction stir welding of 2 mm thick 2060 Al-Li alloy. Welding temperature, plastic strain, residual stress and distortion of 2060 Al-Li alloy butt-joint are compared and discussed between conventional cooling and trailing intensive cooling using experimental and numerical simulation methods. The results reveal that trailing intensive cooling is beneficial to shrink high temperature area, reduce peak temperature and decrease plastic strain during friction stir welding process. In addition, the reduction degree of plastic strain outside weld is smaller than that inside weld. Welding distortion presents an anti-saddle shape. Compared with conventional cooling, the reductions of welding distortion and longitudinal residual stresses of welding joint under intense cooling reach 47.7 % and 23.8 %, respectively.

Material Characterization of Dissimilar Friction Stir Spot Welded Aluminium and Copper Alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Sanusi, K. O.; Akinlabi, E. T.

2017-08-01

In this research study, material characterization of dissimilar friction stir spot welded Aluminium and Copper was evaluated. Rotational speeds of 800 rpm and transverse speeds of 50 mm/min, 150 mm/min and 250 mm/min were used. The total numbers of samples evaluated were nine altogether. The spot welds were characterised by microstructure characterization using optical microscope (OEM) and scanning electron microscopy technique (SEM) by observing the evolution of the microstructure across the weld’s cross-section. lap-shear test of the of the spot weld specimens were also done. From the results, it shows that welding of metals and alloys using Friction stir spot welding is appropriate and can be use in industrial applications.

Microstructural evolution in friction stir welding of nanostructured ODS alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, C.-L.; Tatlock, G.J.; Jones, A.R.

2010-01-01

Nanostructured oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) Fe-based alloys manufactured by mechanical alloying (MA) are generally considered to be promising candidate materials for high-temperature applications up to at least 1100 o C because of their excellent creep strength and good oxidation resistance. However, a key issue with these alloys is the difficulty in using fusion welding techniques to join components due to oxide particle agglomeration and loss in the weld zone and the disruption and discontinuity in the grain structure introduced at the bond. In this study, the evolution of microstructure has been comprehensively studied in friction stir welds in a ferritic ODS alloy. Initially, electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) was used to analyze the grain orientation, the grain boundary geometries and recrystallization behaviour. It suggested that deformation heterogeneities were introduced during the friction stirring process which facilitated the onset of recrystallization. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) were used to observe the effects of the friction stir welding (FSW) process on the grain structure and the distribution of Y 2 O 3 and other particles in the metal substrates in the FSW and adjacent regions, after the alloys had been recrystallized at temperatures up to 1380 o C for 1 h in air. The results show that fine-equiaxed grains and a uniform distribution of oxide particles were present in the friction stirred region but that the grain boundaries in the parent metal were pinned by particles. Friction stirring appeared to release these boundaries and allowed secondary recrystallization to occur after further heat treatment. The FSW process appears to be a promising technique for joining ferritic ODS alloys in the form of sheet and tube.

Torque Control of Friction Stir Welding, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Longhurst Engineering, PLC and Vanderbilt University propose the innovation of torque control of friction stir welding (FSW) as a replacement to force control of...

Numerical optimisation of friction stir welding: review of future challenges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tutum, Cem Celal; Hattel, Jesper Henri

2011-01-01

During the last decade, the combination of increasingly more advanced numerical simulation software with high computational power has resulted in models for friction stir welding (FSW), which have improved the understanding of the determining physical phenomena behind the process substantially....... This has made optimisation of certain process parameters possible and has in turn led to better performing friction stir welded products, thus contributing to a general increase in the popularity of the process and its applications. However, most of these optimisation studies do not go well beyond manual...

Multi-Objective Optimization of Friction Stir Welding of Aluminium Alloy Using Grey Relation Analysis with Entropy Measurement Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SAURABH KUMAR GUPTA

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The present research focus on optimization of Friction Stir Welding (FSW process parameters for joining of AA6061 aluminium alloy using hybrid approach. The FSW process parameters considered are tool rotational speed, welding speed and axial force. The quality characteristics considered are tensile strength (TS and percentage of tensile elongation (TE. Taguchi based experimental design L9 orthogonal array is used for determining the experimental results. The value of weights corresponding to each quality characteristic is determined by using the entropy measurement method so that their importance can be properly explained. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA is used to determine the contribution of FSW process parameters. The confirmation tests also have been done for verifying the results.

Systematic investigation of the fatigue performance of a friction stir welded low alloy steel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toumpis, Athanasios; Galloway, Alexander; Molter, Lars; Polezhayeva, Helena

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The fatigue behaviour of a friction stir welded low alloy steel has been assessed. • The welds’ fatigue lives outperform the International Institute of Welding’s recommendations for fusion welds. • The slow weld exhibits the best fatigue performance of the investigated welds. • Fracture surface analysis shows that minor embedded flaws do not offer crack initiation sites. • Process-related surface breaking flaws have a significant effect on the fatigue life. - Abstract: A comprehensive fatigue performance assessment of friction stir welded DH36 steel has been undertaken to address the relevant knowledge gap for this process on low alloy steel. A detailed set of experimental procedures specific to friction stir welding has been put forward, and the consequent study extensively examined the weld microstructure and hardness in support of the tensile and fatigue testing. The effect of varying welding parameters was also investigated. Microstructural observations have been correlated to the weldments’ fatigue behaviour. The typical fatigue performance of friction stir welded steel plates has been established, exhibiting fatigue lives well above the weld detail class of the International Institute of Welding even for tests at 90% of yield strength, irrespective of minor instances of surface breaking flaws which have been identified. An understanding of the manner in which these flaws impact on the fatigue performance has been established, concluding that surface breaking irregularities such as these produced by the tool shoulder’s features on the weld top surface can be the dominant factor for crack initiation under fatigue loading

The Concept of Electrically Assisted Friction Stir Welding (EAFSW) and Application to the Processing of Various Metals

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ferrando, William A

2008-01-01

This report introduces a novel variant of conventional friction stir welding (FSW). Since 1991, friction stir welding provides an alternative to arc welding as a metal joining method in numerous applications...

Development of a process envelope for friction stir welding of DH36 steel – A step change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toumpis, Athanasios; Galloway, Alexander; Cater, Stephen; McPherson, Norman

2014-01-01

Highlights: • The friction stir welding speed on DH36 steel has been substantially increased. • Excellent quality welds offering potential economic advantages are obtained. • Friction stir welding of steel generates a very complex metallurgical system. • Slow and intermediate welding speed tensile samples fractured in the parent material. • Increasing traverse speed is seen to improve the impact toughness of the weld. - Abstract: Friction stir welding of steel presents an array of advantages across many industrial sectors compared to conventional fusion welding techniques. However, the fundamental knowledge of the friction stir welding process in relation to steel remains relatively limited. A microstructure and property evaluation of friction stir welded low alloy steel grade DH36 plate, commonly used in ship and marine applications has been undertaken. In this comprehensive study, plates of 2000 × 200 × 6 mm were butt welded together at varying rotational and traverse speeds. Samples were examined microscopically and by transverse tensile tests. In addition, the work was complemented by Charpy impact testing and micro-hardness testing in various regions of the weld. The study examined a wide range of process parameters; from this, a preliminary process parameter envelope has been developed and initial process parameter sets established that produce commercially attractive excellent quality welds through a substantial increase in the conventionally recognised weld traverse speed

Controlling Force and Depth in Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Glynn; Loftus, Zachary; McCormac, Nathan; Venable, Richard

2005-01-01

Feedback control of the penetration force applied to a pin tool in friction stir welding has been found to be a robust and reliable means for controlling the depth of penetration of the tool. This discovery has made it possible to simplify depth control and to weld with greater repeatability, even on workpieces with long weld joints. Prior to this discovery, depths of penetration in friction stir welding were controlled by hard-tooled roller assemblies or by depth actuators controlled by feedback from such external sensors as linear variable-differential transformers or laser-based devices. These means of control are limited: A hard-tooled roller assembly confines a pin tool to a preset depth that cannot be changed easily during the welding process. A measurement by an external sensor is only an indirect indicative of the depth of penetration, and computations to correlate such a measurement with a depth of penetration are vulnerable to error. The present force-feedback approach exploits the proportionality between the depth and the force of penetration Unlike a depth measurement taken by an external sensor, a force measurement can be direct because it can be taken by a sensor coupled directly to the pin tool. The reading can be processed through a modern electronic servo control system to control an actuator to keep the applied penetration force at the desired level. In comparison with the older depth-control methods described above, this method offers greater sensitivity to plasticizing of the workpiece metal and is less sensitive to process noise, resulting in a more consistent process. In an experiment, a tapered panel was friction stir welded while controlling the force of penetration according to this method. The figure is a plot of measurements taken during the experiment, showing that force was controlled with a variation of 200 lb (890 N), resulting in control of the depth of penetration with a variation of 0.004 in. (0.1 mm).

The Effect of Vibration during Friction Stir Welding on Corrosion Behavior, Mechanical Properties, and Machining Characteristics of Stir Zone

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sajad Fouladi

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Different methods have been applied to refine various characteristics of the zone (or nugget obtained by friction stir welding (FSW. In the current research, joining components are vibrated normal to the weld line during FSW to refine the zone microstructure. This process is described as friction stir vibration welding (FSVW. The effect of FSVW on mechanical properties, corrosion behavior, and machining characteristics of the zone are investigated. Al5052 alloy specimens are welded using FSW and FSVW processes and their different characteristics are compared and discussed. The results show that the strength and ductility of the welded parts increase when the vibration is applied. The outcomes also show that corrosion resistance of the nugget for FSV-welded specimens is lower than FS welded samples, and machining force of the former specimens is higher than the latter ones. These are related to smaller grain size in the zone of FSV-welded specimens compared to FS welded parts. Smaller grain size leads to a greater volume fraction of grain boundaries and, correspondingly, higher strength and hardness, as well as lower corrosion resistance.

The effect of post-welding conditions in friction stir welds: From weld simulation to Ductile Failure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hattel, Jesper Henri; Nielsen, Kim Lau; Tutum, Cem Celal

2012-01-01

software ANSYS, a thermo-mechanical model is employed to predict the thermally induced stresses and strains during welding, while an in-house finite element code is used to study the plastic flow localization and failure in a subsequent structural analysis. The coupling between the two models is made......The post-welding stress state, strain history and material conditions of friction stir welded joints are often strongly idealized when used in subsequent modeling analyses, typically by neglecting one or more of the features above. But, it is obvious that the conditions after welding do influence......, showed the largest influence of the post-welding conditions, even though significant relaxation of the residual stress state was predicted....

Metal Cutting Theory and Friction Stir Welding Tool Design

Science.gov (United States)

Payton, Lewis N.

2003-01-01

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a relatively new industrial process that was invented at The Weld Institute (TWI, United Kingdom) and patented in 1992 under research funded by in part by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Often quoted advantages of the process include good strength and ductility along with minimization of residual stress and distortion. Less well advertised are the beneficial effects of this solid state welding process in the field of occupational and environmental safety. It produces superior weld products in difficult to weld materials without producing any toxic fumes or solid waste that must be controlled as hazardous waste. In fact, it reduces noise pollution in the workspace as well. In the early days of FSW, most welding was performed on modified machine tools, in particular on milling machines with modified milling cutters. In spite of the obvious milling heritage of the process, the techniques and lessons learned from almost 250 years of successful metalworking with milling machines have not been applied in the field of modern Friction Stir Welding. The goal of the current research was to study currently successful FSW tools and parameterize the process in such a way that the design of new tools for new materials could be accelerated. Along the way, several successful new tooling designs were developed for current issues at the Marshall Space Flight Center with accompanying patent disclosures

Friction stir welding (FSW of aluminium foam sandwich panels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Bušić

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The article focuses on the influence of welding speed and tool tilt angle upon the mechanical properties at the friction stir welding of aluminium foam sandwich panels. Double side welding was used for producing butt welds of aluminium sandwich panels applying insertion of extruded aluminium profile. Such insertion provided lower pressure of the tool upon the aluminium panels, providing also sufficient volume of the material required for the weldment formation. Ultimate tensile strength and flexural strength for three-point bending test have been determined for samples taken from the welded joints. Results have confirmed anticipated effects of independent variables.

Influence of tool geometry and rotational speed on mechanical properties and defect formation in friction stir lap welded 5456 aluminum alloy sheets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salari, Emad; Jahazi, Mohammad; Khodabandeh, Alireza; Ghasemi-Nanesa, Hadi

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Successful lap joint friction stir welding of AA5456 with two different tempers. • New stepped conical threaded pin for FSW of lap joints is introduced. • Investigated interactions between tool geometry and mechanical properties. • Microstructure and fracture surface analysis of dissimilar lap welds. - Abstract: Friction stir welding of AA5456 aluminum alloy in lap joint configuration is with two different tempers, T321 and O, and different thicknesses, 5 mm and 2.5 mm was investigated. The influences of tool geometry and various rotational speeds on macrostructure, microstructure and joint strength are presented. Specifically, four different tool pin profiles (a conical thread pin, a cylindrical–conical thread pin, a stepped conical thread pin and Flared Triflute pin tool) and two rotational speeds, 600 and 800 rpm, were used. The results indicated that, tool geometry influences significantly material flow in the nugget zone and accordingly control the weld mechanical properties. Of particular interest is the stepped conical threaded pin, which is introduced for the first time in the present investigation. Scanning electron microscopy investigation of the fracture location of samples was carried out and the findings correlated with tool geometry features and their influences on material flow and tension test results. The optimum microstructure and mechanical properties were obtained for the joints produced with the stepped conical thread pin profile and rotational speed of 600 rpm. The characteristics of the nugget zone microstructure, hooking height, and fracture location of the weld joints were used as criteria to quantify the influence of processing conditions on joint performance and integrity. The results are interpreted in the framework of physical metallurgy properties and compared with published literature

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) of Aged CuCrZr Alloy Plates

Science.gov (United States)

Jha, Kaushal; Kumar, Santosh; Nachiket, K.; Bhanumurthy, K.; Dey, G. K.

2018-01-01

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) of Cu-0.80Cr-0.10Zr (in wt pct) alloy under aged condition was performed to study the effects of process parameters on microstructure and properties of the joint. FSW was performed over a wide range of process parameters, like tool-rotation speed (from 800 to 1200 rpm) and tool-travel speed (from 40 to 100 mm/min), and the resulting thermal cycles were recorded on both sides (advancing and retreating) of the joint. The joints were characterized for their microstructure and tensile properties. The welding process resulted in a sound and defect-free weld joint, over the entire range of the process parameters used in this study. Microstructure of the stir zone showed fine and equiaxed grains, the scale of which varied with FSW process parameters. Grain size in the stir zone showed direct correlation with tool rotation and inverse correlation with tool-travel speed. Tensile strength of the weld joints was ranging from 225 to 260 MPa, which is substantially lower than that of the parent metal under aged condition ( 400 MPa), but superior to that of the parent material under annealed condition ( 220 MPa). Lower strength of the FSW joint than that of the parent material under aged condition can be attributed to dissolution of the precipitates in the stir zone and TMAZ. These results are presented and discussed in this paper.

Microstructure feature of friction stir butt-welded ferritic ductile iron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Hung-Tu; Wang, Chaur-Jeng; Cheng, Chin-Pao

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Defect-free ferritic ductile iron joints is fabricated by FSW. • The welding nugget is composed of graphite, martensite, and recrystallized ferrite. • The graphite displays a striped pattern in the surface and advancing side. • The ferritic matrix transforms into martensite structure during welding. • High degree of plastic deformation is found on the advancing side. - Abstract: This study conducted friction stir welding (FSW) by using the butt welding process to join ferritic ductile iron plates and investigated the variations of microsturcture in the joined region formed after welding. No defects appeared in the resulting experimental weld, which was formed using a 3-mm thick ductile iron plate and tungsten carbide alloy stir rod to conduct FSW at a rotational speed of 982 rpm and traveling speed of 72 mm/min. The welding region was composed of deformed graphite, martensite phase, and dynamically recrystallized ferrite structures. In the surface region and on the advancing side (AS), the graphite displayed a striped configuration and the ferritic matrix transformed into martensite. On the retreating side (RS), the graphite surrounded by martensite remained as individual granules and the matrix primarily comprised dynamically recrystallized ferrite. After welding, diffusion increased the carbon content of the austenite around the deformed graphite nodules, which transformed into martensite during the subsequent cooling process. A micro Vickers hardness test showed that the maximum hardness value of the martensite structures in the weld was approximately 800 HV. An analysis using an electron probe X-ray microanalyzer (EPMA) indicated that its carbon content was approximately 0.7–1.4%. The peak temperature on the RS, 8 mm from the center of the weld, measured 630 °C by the thermocouple. Overall, increased severity of plastic deformation and process temperature near the upper stir zone (SZ) resulted in distinct phase transformation

High-Speed Friction-Stir Welding to Enable Aluminum Tailor-Welded Blanks

Science.gov (United States)

Hovanski, Yuri; Upadhyay, Piyush; Carsley, John; Luzanski, Tom; Carlson, Blair; Eisenmenger, Mark; Soulami, Ayoub; Marshall, Dustin; Landino, Brandon; Hartfield-Wunsch, Susan

2015-05-01

Current welding technologies for production of aluminum tailor-welded blanks (TWBs) are utilized in low-volume and niche applications, and they have yet to be scaled for the high-volume vehicle market. This study targeted further weight reduction, part reduction, and cost savings by enabling tailor-welded blank technology for aluminum alloys at high volumes. While friction-stir welding (FSW) has been traditionally applied at linear velocities less than 1 m/min, high-volume production applications demand the process be extended to higher velocities more amenable to cost-sensitive production environments. Unfortunately, weld parameters and performance developed and characterized at low-to-moderate welding velocities do not directly translate to high-speed linear FSW. Therefore, to facilitate production of high-volume aluminum FSW components, parameters were developed with a minimum welding velocity of 3 m/min. With an emphasis on weld quality, welded blanks were evaluated for postweld formability using a combination of numerical and experimental methods. An evaluation across scales was ultimately validated by stamping full-size production door inner panels made from dissimilar thickness aluminum TWBs, which provided validation of the numerical and experimental analysis of laboratory-scale tests.

Microstructures and mechanical properties of magnesium alloy and stainless steel weld-joint made by friction stir lap welding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wei, Yanni; Li, Jinglong; Xiong, Jiangtao; Huang, Fu; Zhang, Fusheng

2012-01-01

Highlights: → Friction stir lap welding technology with cutting pin was successfully employed to form lap joint of magnesium and steel. → The cutting pin made the lower steel participate in deformation and the interface was no longer flat. → A saw-toothed structure formed due to a mechanical mixing of the magnesium and steel was found at the interface. → A high-strength joint was produced which fractured in the magnesium side. -- Abstract: Friction stir lap welding was conducted on soft/hard metals. A welding tool was designed with a cutting pin of rotary burr made of tungsten carbide, which makes the stirring pin possible to penetrate and cut the surface layer of the hard metal. Magnesium alloy AZ31 and stainless steel SUS302 were chosen as soft/hard base metals. The structures of the joining interface were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The joining strength was evaluated by tensile shear test. The results showed that flower-like interfacial morphologies were presented with steel flashes and scraps, which formed bonding mechanisms of nail effect by long steel flashes, zipper effect by saw-tooth structure and metallurgical bonding. The shear strength of the lap joint falls around the shear strength of butt joint of friction stir welded magnesium alloy.

Near Net Manufacturing Using Thin Gage Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Takeshita, Jennifer; Potter, David; Holquin, Michael

2006-01-01

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) and near net spin forming of FSW aluminumn blanks were investigated for large-scale pressure vessel applications. With a specific focus on very thin gage 2xxx and 7xxx aluminum alloys, the program concentrated on the following: the criteria used for material selection, a potential manufacturing flow, and the effectiveness and associated risks of near net spin forming. Discussion will include the mechanical properties of the friction stir welds and the parent material from before and after the spin forming process. This effort was performed under a NASA Space Exploration initiative focused on increasing the affordability, reliability and performance of pressure vessels larger than 10 ft. diameter.

A Survey on Friction Stir Welding Of Dissimilar Magnesium Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Unnikrishnan, M. A.; Raja, Dhas. J. Edwin

2017-10-01

There is a consistent demand for superior materials in every industry. The areas on demand are automobile and aerospace sectors in major.. The most commonly used material in these fields is Aluminium.Though it possess all the properties up to some extent constant demand is pushing for alternate materials. Dissimilar alloys have been a relatively new approach towards these fields.. Friction stir welding dissimilar alloys is a big leap in Automobile sector. In this paper a detailed review of Friction stir welding of Dissimilar Magnesium alloys has been done. This work will serve as a reference to subsequent researchers.

Deconvoluting the Friction Stir Weld Process for Optimizing Welds

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Judy; Nunes, Arthur C.

2008-01-01

In the friction stir welding process, the rotating surfaces of the pin and shoulder contact the weld metal and force a rotational flow within the weld metal. Heat, generated by the metal deformation as well as frictional slippage with the contact surface, softens the metal and makes it easier to deform. As in any thermo-mechanical processing of metal, the flow conditions are critical to the quality of the weld. For example, extrusion of metal from under the shoulder of an excessively hot weld may relax local pressure and result in wormhole defects. The trace of the weld joint in the wake of the weld may vary geometrically depending upon the flow streamlines around the tool with some geometry more vulnerable to loss of strength from joint contamination than others. The material flow path around the tool cannot be seen in real time during the weld. By using analytical "tools" based upon the principles of mathematics and physics, a weld model can be created to compute features that can be observed. By comparing the computed observations with actual data, the weld model can be validated or adjusted to get better agreement. Inputs to the model to predict weld structures and properties include: hot working properties ofthe metal, pin tool geometry, travel rate, rotation and plunge force. Since metals record their prior hot working history, the hot working conditions imparted during FSW can be quantified by interpreting the final microstructure. Variations in texture and grain size result from variations in the strain accommodated at a given strain rate and temperature. Microstructural data from a variety of FSWs has been correlated with prior marker studies to contribute to our understanding of the FSW process. Once this stage is reached, the weld modeling process can save significant development costs by reducing costly trial-and-error approaches to obtaining quality welds.

Structure and Mechanical Properties of Friction Stir Weld Joints of Magnesium Alloy AZ31

Science.gov (United States)

Nagasawa, T.; Otsuka, M.; Yokota, T.; Ueki, T.

The applicability of friction stir welding to hot rolled sheet of commercial magnesium alloy AZ31 plates has been investigated. Friction stir weld joint showed mechanical strength comparable to that of base material, though the ductility remained at one half of that of the latter. The results are consistent with the microstructure which is characterized by a fine grained bond layer bounded by-intermediate grained base metals. It is found that both anodizing treatment and insertion of aluminum foil between batting faces do not degrade the joint properties at all. The results suggest that friction stir welding can be potentially applied to magnesium alloy.

In temperature forming of friction stir lap welds in aluminium alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Bruni, Carlo; Cabibbo, Marcello; Greco, Luciano; Pieralisi, Massimiliano

2018-05-01

The objective of such investigation is the study in depth of the forming phase of welds realized on three sheet metal blanks in aluminium alloys by friction stir lap welding. Such forming phase was performed by upsetting at different constant forming temperatures varying from 200°C to 350°C with constant ram velocities of 0.01 and 0.1 mm/s. The temperature values were obtained by the use of heating strips applied on the upper tool and on the lower tool. It was observed an increase in the friction factor, acting at the upsetting tool-workpiece interface, with increasing temperature that is very useful in producing the required localized deformation with which to improve the weld. It was also confirmed that the forming phase allows to realize a required thickness in the weld area allowing to neglect the surficial perturbation produced by the friction stir welding tool shoulder. The obtained thickness could be subjected to springback when too low temperatures are considered.

The Effect of Friction Stir Welding on Corrosion Behavior of Ti-6Al-4V

Science.gov (United States)

Nasresfahani, Ali Reza; Soltanipur, Abdol Reza; Farmanesh, Khosro; Ghasemi, Ali

2017-09-01

Fusion welding can deteriorate corrosion behavior of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. However, the use of friction stir welding leads to a more appropriate corrosion resistance. In this study, the corrosion resistance of welded zones of Ti-6Al-4V alloy using friction stir welding technique is evaluated. For these purposes, the study of structural characteristics using SEM and FESEM equipped with EDS micro-analyses was conducted. Micro-hardness test was also employed to estimate the hardness of welded zones. Corrosion behavior was investigated by a potentiostat instrument. SEM micrographs, EDS and XRD analyses confirmed non-uniformity of chemical composition within the welded zones. The results reveal that the stir zone contains typical alpha and prior beta phases. Nevertheless, thermomechanical zone included equiaxed and bimodal lamellae structure. Furthermore, the presence of different types of phases and microstructure in the thermomechanical zone led to reduced corrosion resistance. The corresponding values of corrosion current density in the stir zone, thermomechanical zone and base metal were 0.048, 0.55 and 0.032 µA, respectively. Corresponding corrosion potential for these zones was estimated as -207, -110 and -157 mV. Evidently, the results show that corrosion resistance of thermomechanical zone is less than that of the stir zone and both zones have lower value than the base metal.

Microstructure of friction stir welded joints of 2017A aluminium alloy sheets.

Science.gov (United States)

Mroczka, K; Dutkiewicz, J; Pietras, A

2010-03-01

The present study examines a friction stir welded 2017A aluminium alloy. Transmission electron microscope investigations of the weld nugget revealed the average grain size of 5 microm, moderate density of dislocations as well as the presence of nanometric precipitates located mostly in grains interiors. Scanning electron microscope observations of fractures showed the presence of ductile fracture in the region of the weld nugget with brittle precipitates in the lower part. The microhardness analysis performed on the cross-section of the joints showed fairly small changes; however, after the artificial ageing process an increase in hardness was observed. The change of the joint hardness subject to the ageing process indicates partial supersaturation in the material during friction stir welding and higher precipitation hardening of the joint.

Quantification of Microtexture at Weld Nugget of Friction Stir-Welded Carbon Steel

Science.gov (United States)

Husain, Md M.; Sarkar, R.; Pal, T. K.; Ghosh, M.; Prabhu, N.

2017-05-01

Friction stir welding of C-Mn steel was carried out under 800-1400 rpm tool rotation. Tool traversing speed of 50 mm/min remained same for all joints. Effect of thermal state and deformation on texture and microstructure at weld nugget was investigated. Weld nugget consisted of ferrite + bainite/Widmanstatten ferrite with different matrix grain sizes depending on peak temperature. A texture around ( ϕ 2 = 0°, φ = 30°, ϕ 2 = 45°) was developed at weld nugget. Grain boundary misorientation at weld nugget indicated that continuous dynamic recrystallization influenced the development of fine equiaxed grain structure. Pole figures and orientation distribution function were used to determine crystallographic texture at weld nugget and base metal. Shear texture components D1, D2 and F were present at weld nugget. D1 shear texture was more prominent among all. Large number of high-angle grain boundaries ( 60-70%) was observed at weld nugget and was the resultant of accumulation of high amount of dislocation, followed by subgrain formation.

Weldability of an iron meteorite by Friction Stir Spot Welding: A contribution to in-space manufacturing

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, William Todd; Neely, Kelsay E.; Strauss, Alvin M.; Cook, George E.

2017-11-01

Friction Stir Welding has been proposed as an efficient and appropriate method for in space welding. It has the potential to serve as a viable option for assembling large scale space structures. These large structures will require the use of natural in space materials such as those available from iron meteorites. Impurities present in most iron meteorites limit its ability to be welded by other space welding techniques such as electron beam laser welding. This study investigates the ability to weld pieces of in situ Campo del Cielo meteorites by Friction Stir Spot Welding. Due to the rarity of the material, low carbon steel was used as a model material to determine welding parameters. Welded samples of low carbon steel, invar, and Campo del Cielo meteorite were compared and found to behave in similar ways. This study shows that meteorites can be Friction Stir Spot Welded and that they exhibit properties analogous to that of FSSW low carbon steel welds. Thus, iron meteorites can be regarded as another viable option for in-space or Martian construction.

The investigation of abnormal particle-coarsening phenomena in friction stir repair weld of 2219-T6 aluminum alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Bo; Shen, Yifu

2011-01-01

Highlights: → Defective friction stir welds were repaired by overlapping FSW technique. → Abnormal Al 2 Cu-coarsening phenomena were found in 2219-T6 friction stir repair weld. → Three formation mechanisms were proposed for reasonable explanations. -- Abstract: The single-pass friction stir weld of aluminum 2219-T6 with weld-defects was repaired by overlapping friction stir welding technique. However, without any post weld heat treatment process, it was found that the phenomena of abnormal particle-coarsening of Al 2 Cu had occurred in the overlapping friction stir repair welds. The detecting results of non-destructive X-ray inspection proved that not only one group of repair FSW process parameters could lead to occurrence of the abnormal phenomena. And the abnormally coarsened particles always appeared on the advancing side of repair welds rather than the retreating side where the fracture behaviors occurred after mechanical tensile testing. The size of the biggest particle lying in the dark bands of 'Onion-rings' was more than 150 μm. After the related investigation by scanning electron microscope and X-ray energy spectrometer, three types of formation mechanisms were proposed for reasonably explaining the abnormal phenomenon: Aggregation Mechanism, Diffusion Mechanisms I and II. Aggregation Mechanism was according to the motion-laws of stir-pin. Diffusion Mechanisms were based on the classical theories of precipitate growth in metallic systems. The combined action of the three detailed mechanisms contributed to the abnormal coarsening behavior of Al 2 Cu particles in the friction stir repair weld.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded 18Cr–2Mo ferritic stainless steel thick plate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Jian; Li, Huijun; Zhu, Zhixiong; Barbaro, Frank; Jiang, Laizhu; Xu, Haigang; Ma, Li

2014-01-01

Highlights: • We focus on friction stir welding of 18Cr–2Mo ferritic stainless steel thick plate. • We produce high-quality joints with special tool and optimised welding parameters. • We compare microstructure and mechanical properties of steel and joint. • Friction stir welding is a method that can maintain the properties of joint. - Abstract: In this study, microstructure and mechanical properties of a friction stir welded 18Cr–2Mo ferritic stainless steel thick plate were investigated. The 5.4 mm thick plates with excellent properties were welded at a constant rotational speed and a changeable welding speed using a composite tool featuring a chosen volume fraction of cubic boron nitride (cBN) in a W–Re matrix. The high-quality welds were successfully produced with optimised welding parameters, and studied by means of optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) and standard hardness and impact toughness testing. The results show that microstructure and mechanical properties of the joints are affected greatly, which is mainly related to the remarkably fine-grained microstructure of equiaxed ferrite that is observed in the friction stir welded joint. Meanwhile, the ratios of low-angle grain boundary in the stir zone regions significantly increase, and the texture turns strong. Compared with the base material, mechanical properties of the joint are maintained in a comparatively high level

Microstructural transformations and mechanical properties of cast NiAl bronze: Effects of fusion welding and friction stir processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fuller, M.D.; Swaminathan, S.; Zhilyaev, A.P.; McNelley, T.R.

2007-01-01

A plate of as-cast NiAl bronze (NAB) material was sectioned from a large casting. A six-pass fusion weld overlay was placed in a machined groove; a portion of the weld reinforcement was removed by milling and a single friction stir processing (FSP) pass was conducted in a direction transverse to the axis of and over the weld overlay. A procedure was developed for machining of miniature tensile samples and the distributions of strength and ductility were evaluated for the fusion weld metal; for the stir zone (SZ) produced by the friction stir processing; and for a region wherein friction stir processing had taken place over the fusion weld. A region of low ductility in the heat affected zone (HAZ) of the fusion weld and in the thermomechanically affected zone (TMAZ) of friction stir processed material was attributed to partial reversion of an equilibrium lamellar eutectoid constituent upon local heating above ∼800 deg. C and formation of non-equilibrium transformation products upon subsequent cooling. The adverse effect on ductility is worse in the heat affected zone of the fusion weld than in the thermomechanically affected zone of friction stir processing due to the lower heat input of the latter process. The implications of this work to engineering applications of friction stir processing are discussed

New Materials Design Through Friction Stir Processing Techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buffa, G.; Fratini, L.; Shivpuri, R.

2007-01-01

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) has reached a large interest in the scientific community and in the last years also in the industrial environment, due to the advantages of such solid state welding process with respect to the classic ones. The complex material flow occurring during the process plays a fundamental role in such solid state welding process, since it determines dramatic changes in the material microstructure of the so called weld nugget, which affects the effectiveness of the joints. What is more, Friction Stir Processing (FSP) is mainly being considered for producing high-strain-rate-superplastic (HSRS) microstructure in commercial aluminum alloys. The aim of the present research is the development of a locally composite material through the Friction Stir Processing (FSP) of two AA7075-T6 blanks and a different material insert. The results of a preliminary experimental campaign, carried out at the varying of the additional material placed at the sheets interface under different conditions, are presented. Micro and macro observation of the such obtained joints permitted to investigate the effects of such process on the overall joint performance

Effect of process parameters on microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded joints: A review

Science.gov (United States)

Wanare, S. P.; Kalyankar, V. D.

2018-04-01

Friction stir welding is emerging as a promising technique for joining of lighter metal alloys due to its several advantages over conventional fusion welding processes such as low thermal distortion, good mechanical properties, fine weld joint microstructure, etc. This review article mainly focuses on analysis of microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded joints. Various microstructure characterization techniques used by previous researchers such as optical microscopes, x-ray diffraction, electron probe microscope, transmission electron microscope, scanning electron microscopes with electron back scattered diffraction, electron dispersive microscopy, etc. are thoroughly overviewed and their results are discussed. The effects of friction stir welding process parameters such as tool rotational speed, welding speed, tool plunge depth, axial force, tool shoulder diameter to tool pin diameter ratio, tool geometry etc. on microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joints are studied and critical observations are noted down. The microstructure examination carried out by previous researchers on various zones of welded joints such as weld zone, heat affected zone and base metal are studied and critical remarks have been presented. Mechanical performances of friction stir welded joints based on tensile test, micro-hardness test, etc. are discussed. This article includes exhaustive literature review of standard research articles which may become ready information for subsequent researchers to establish their line of action.

Modelling the residual stresses and microstructural evolution in Friction Stir Welding of AA2024-T3 including the Wagner-Kampmann precipitation model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sonne, Mads Rostgaard; Hattel, Jesper Henri

In this work, a numerical finite element model for friction stir welding of 2024-T3 aluminum alloy, consisting of a heat transfer analysis and a sequentially coupled quasi-static stress analysis is proposed. Metallurgical softening of the material is properly considered and included...

Formation Mechanisms for Entry and Exit Defects in Bobbin Friction Stir Welding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abbas Tamadon

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Bobbin friction stir welding (BFSW is an innovative variant for the solid state welding process whereby a rotating symmetrical tool causes a fully penetrated bond. Despite the process development, there are still unknown variables in the characterization of the process parameters which can cause uncontrolled weld defects. The entry zone and the exit zone consist of two discontinuity-defects and removing them is one of the current challenges for improving the weld quality. In the present research, the characteristic features of the entry and exit defects in the weld structure and formation mechanism of them during the BFSW processing was investigated. Using stacked layers of multi-colour plasticine the material flow, analogous to metal flow, can be visualised. By using different colours as the path markers of the analogue model, the streamline flow can be easily delineated in the discontinuity defects compared with the metal welds. AA6082-T6 aluminium plates and multi-layered plasticine slabs were employed to replicate the entry-exit defects in the metal weld and analogue samples. The fixed-bobbin tool utilized for this research was optimized by adding a thread feature and tri-flat geometry to the pin and closed-end spiral scrolls on both shoulder surfaces. Samples were processed at different rotating and longitudinal speeds to show the degree of dependency on the welding parameters for the defects. The analogue models showed that the entry zone and the exit zone of the BFSW are affected by the inhomogeneity of the material flow regime which causes the ejection or disruption of the plastic flow in the gap between the bobbin shoulders. The trial aluminium welds showed that the elimination of entry-exit defects in the weld body is not completely possible but the size of the defects can be minimized by modification of the welding parameters. For the entry zone, the flow pattern evolution suggested formation mechanisms for a sprayed tail, island zone

Magnetic stirring welding method applied to nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirano, Kenji; Watando, Masayuki; Morishige, Norio; Enoo, Kazuhide; Yasuda, Yuuji

2002-01-01

In construction of a new nuclear power plant, carbon steel and stainless steel are used as base materials for the bottom linear plate of Reinforced Concrete Containment Vessel (RCCV) to achieve maintenance-free requirement, securing sufficient strength of structure. However, welding such different metals is difficult by ordinary method. To overcome the difficulty, the automated Magnetic Stirring Welding (MSW) method that can demonstrate good welding performance was studied for practical use, and weldability tests showed the good results. Based on the study, a new welding device for the MSW method was developed to apply it weld joints of different materials, and it practically used in part of a nuclear power plant. (author)

Colosed-Loop Control of the Thermal Stir Welding Process to Enable Rapid Process/Ppart Qualification, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Thermal Stir Welding (TSW) provides advancement over the more conventional Friction Stir Welding (C-FSW) process because it separates the primary processes variables...

Closed-Loop Control of the Thermal Stir Welding Process to Enable Rapid Process/Part Qualification, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Thermal Stir Welding (TSW) provides advancement over the more conventional Friction Stir Welding (C-FSW) process because it separates the primary processes variables...

Friction stir welding and processing of oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Weiju

2014-11-11

A method of welding including forming a filler material of a first oxide dispersoid metal, the first oxide dispersoid material having first strengthening particles that compensate for decreases in weld strength of friction stir welded oxide dispersoid metals; positioning the filler material between a first metal structure and a second metal structure each being comprised of at least a second oxide dispersoid metal; and friction welding the filler material, the first metal structure and the second metal structure to provide a weld.

Inverse Thermal Analysis of Ti-6Al-4V Friction Stir Welds Using Numerical-Analytical Basis Functions with Pseudo-Advection

Science.gov (United States)

Lambrakos, S. G.

2018-04-01

Inverse thermal analysis of Ti-6Al-4V friction stir welds is presented that demonstrates application of a methodology using numerical-analytical basis functions and temperature-field constraint conditions. This analysis provides parametric representation of friction-stir-weld temperature histories that can be adopted as input data to computational procedures for prediction of solid-state phase transformations and mechanical response. These parameterized temperature histories can be used for inverse thermal analysis of friction stir welds having process conditions similar those considered here. Case studies are presented for inverse thermal analysis of friction stir welds that use three-dimensional constraint conditions on calculated temperature fields, which are associated with experimentally measured transformation boundaries and weld-stir-zone cross sections.

Ultrasonically-assisted Thermal Stir Welding System

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, R. Jeffrey (Inventor)

2014-01-01

A welding head assembly has a work piece disposed between its containment plates' opposing surfaces with the work piece being maintained in a plastic state thereof at least in a vicinity of the welding head assembly's stir rod as the rod is rotated about its longitudinal axis. The welding head assembly and the work piece experience relative movement there between in a direction perpendicular to the rod's longitudinal axis as the work piece is subjected to a compressive force applied by the containment plates. A first source coupled to the first containment plate applies a first ultrasonic wave thereto such that the first ultrasonic wave propagates parallel to the direction of relative movement. A second source coupled to the second containment plate applies a second ultrasonic wave thereto such that the second ultrasonic wave propagates parallel to the direction of relative movement.propagates parallel to the direction of relative movement.

A review of literature from the First International Conference on Friction Stir Welding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bowyer, W.H.

2000-06-01

The papers from the first international conference on Friction Stir Welding (FSW) have been reviewed. Taken together the papers provide a very optimistic picture for the development and application of friction stir welding in general and to the case of the copper canister in particular. Whilst a considerable development effort is in progress the process has been industrialised for joining of aluminium sheet and it is accepted by Lloyds register for this purpose. Development of procedures and equipment to weld thicker materials and a wider range of materials is progressing ahead of the research activity to aid the understanding of the process at this stage. Nevertheless, well-established weld assessment procedures are being applied to experimental welds with very encouraging results. Summaries of the key papers are presented in an appendix

Study of the feasibility of friction STIR welding applied to the fabrication of monolithic fuel elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cabot, Pedro J.; Moglioni, A.; Mirandou, Marcela; Balart, Silvia N.

2004-01-01

The monolithic U-Mo fuel elements consist in a foil of a U-Mo alloy encased in Al. One of the techniques that is being tried to apply in their fabrication is Friction Stir Welding in the 'no contact at the interface' mode. The Laboratory of Welding at the National Atomic Energy Commission (Argentina) has a great experience in the conventional form of this technique so has started working on this new application. This paper describes the experiments performed to obtain the operative parameters. In the first experiments AA6061 T6 (Al) plates and sheets of AISI 316 (SS) were used to obtain the optimal operative parameters of the process. Welds were performed and evaluated for different operative variables such speed, angle and diameter of the tool and tool-interface gap keeping the rotation speed constant. Tensile test, pressure leak-proof test, bending test, non-destructive test and metallography were used to characterize the welds. Finally, SS and U-Mo foils were encased using the parameters selected from the first experiments. The samples prepared with U-Mo alloy will be used as diffusion couples and for the studies of interdiffusion under irradiation. (author)

Microstructure and Mechanical Performance of Friction Stir Spot-Welded Aluminum-5754 Sheets

Science.gov (United States)

Pathak, N.; Bandyopadhyay, K.; Sarangi, M.; Panda, Sushanta Kumar

2013-01-01

Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) is a recent trend of joining light-weight sheet metals while fabricating automotive and aerospace body components. For the successful application of this solid-state welding process, it is imperative to have a thorough understanding of the weld microstructure, mechanical performance, and failure mechanism. In the present study, FSSW of aluminum-5754 sheet metal was tried using tools with circular and tapered pin considering different tool rotational speeds, plunge depths, and dwell times. The effects of tool design and process parameters on temperature distribution near the sheet-tool interface, weld microstructure, weld strength, and failure modes were studied. It was found that the peak temperature was higher while welding with a tool having circular pin compared to tapered pin, leading to a bigger dynamic recrystallized stir zone (SZ) with a hook tip bending towards the upper sheet and away from the keyhole. Hence, higher lap shear separation load was observed in the welds made from circular pin compared to those made from tapered pin. Due to influence of size and hardness of SZ on crack propagation, three different failure modes of weld nugget were observed through optical cross-sectional micrograph and SEM fractographs.

An analytical model for the heat generation in friction stir welding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Henrik Nikolaj Blich; Hattel, Jesper; Wert, John

2004-01-01

The objective of this work is to establish an analytical model for heat generation by friction stir welding (FSW), based on different assumptions of the contact condition between the rotating tool surface and the weld piece. The material flow and heat generation are characterized by the contact...

Friction stir welding (FSW process of copper alloys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Miličić

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The present paper analyzes the structure of the weld joint of technically pure copper, which is realized using friction stir welding (FSW. The mechanism of thermo-mechanical processes of the FSW method has been identified and a correlation between the weld zone and its microstructure established. Parameters of the FSW welding technology influencing the zone of the seam material and the mechanical properties of the resulting joint were analyzed. The physical joining consists of intense mixing the base material along the joint line in the “doughy” phase. Substantial plastic deformations immediately beneath the frontal surface of tool provide fine-grained structure and a good quality joint. The optimum shape of the tool and the optimum welding regime (pressure force, rotation speed and the traverse speed of the tool in the heat affected zone enable the achievement of the same mechanical properties as those of the basic material, which justifies its use in welding reliable structures.

Dissimilar Joining of ODS and F/M Steel Tube by Friction Stir Welding

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kang, Suk Hoon; Noh, Sanghoon; Kim, Jun Hwan; Kim, Tae Kyu [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-05-15

Oxide Dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels, it is well known that uniform nano-oxide dispersoids act as pinning points to obstruct dislocation and grain boundary motion, however, those advantages will be disappeared while the material is subjected to the high temperature of conventional fusion welding. Rotary friction welding, also referred to as friction stir welding (FSW), has shown great promise as a method for welding traditionally difficult to weld materials such as aluminum alloys. This relatively new technology has more recently been applied to higher melting temperature alloys such as steels, nickel-based and titanium alloys. Friction stir processing (FSP) is a method of changing the properties of a metal through intense, localized plastic deformation. FSW is the precursor of the FSP technique. When ideally implemented, this process mixes the material without changing the phase and creates a microstructure with fine, equiaxed grains. This homogeneous grain structure, separated by high-angle boundaries, allows some alloys to take on superplastic properties. In this study, FSW is used as a substitutive welding process between FMS tube and ODS parts. The dimension of tube is 7.0 OD, 0.5 T. During the FSW, dynamic-recrystallized grains are developed; the uniform oxides Dispersion is preserved in the metal matrix. The microstructure and microtexture of the material near the stir zone is found to be influenced by the rotational behavior of the tool. The additive effect from FSP on sample surface is considered. Since the mechanical alloying (MA) and FSP commonly apply extreme shear deformation on materials, the Dispersion of oxide particle in ODS steels is very active during both processes. Friction stir welding appears to be a very promising technique for the welding of FMS and ODS steels in the form of sheet and tube. FSW could successfully produce defect-free welds on FMS tubes and ODS ring assembly. FSW produces a fine grain structure consisting of ferrite and

Dissimilar Joining of ODS and F/M Steel Tube by Friction Stir Welding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, Suk Hoon; Noh, Sanghoon; Kim, Jun Hwan; Kim, Tae Kyu

2014-01-01

Oxide Dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels, it is well known that uniform nano-oxide dispersoids act as pinning points to obstruct dislocation and grain boundary motion, however, those advantages will be disappeared while the material is subjected to the high temperature of conventional fusion welding. Rotary friction welding, also referred to as friction stir welding (FSW), has shown great promise as a method for welding traditionally difficult to weld materials such as aluminum alloys. This relatively new technology has more recently been applied to higher melting temperature alloys such as steels, nickel-based and titanium alloys. Friction stir processing (FSP) is a method of changing the properties of a metal through intense, localized plastic deformation. FSW is the precursor of the FSP technique. When ideally implemented, this process mixes the material without changing the phase and creates a microstructure with fine, equiaxed grains. This homogeneous grain structure, separated by high-angle boundaries, allows some alloys to take on superplastic properties. In this study, FSW is used as a substitutive welding process between FMS tube and ODS parts. The dimension of tube is 7.0 OD, 0.5 T. During the FSW, dynamic-recrystallized grains are developed; the uniform oxides Dispersion is preserved in the metal matrix. The microstructure and microtexture of the material near the stir zone is found to be influenced by the rotational behavior of the tool. The additive effect from FSP on sample surface is considered. Since the mechanical alloying (MA) and FSP commonly apply extreme shear deformation on materials, the Dispersion of oxide particle in ODS steels is very active during both processes. Friction stir welding appears to be a very promising technique for the welding of FMS and ODS steels in the form of sheet and tube. FSW could successfully produce defect-free welds on FMS tubes and ODS ring assembly. FSW produces a fine grain structure consisting of ferrite and

Joint properties of dissimilar Al6061-T6 aluminum alloy/Ti–6%Al–4%V titanium alloy by gas tungsten arc welding assisted hybrid friction stir welding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bang, HanSur; Bang, HeeSeon; Song, HyunJong; Joo, SungMin

2013-01-01

Highlights: • Hybrid friction stir welding for Al alloy and Ti alloy joint has been carried out. • Mechanical strength of dissimilar joint by HFSW and FSW has been compared. • Microstructure of dissimilar joint by HFSW and FSW has been compared. - Abstract: Hybrid friction stir butt welding of Al6061-T6 aluminum alloy plate to Ti–6%Al–4%V titanium alloy plate with satisfactory acceptable joint strength was successfully achieved using preceding gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) preheating heat source of the Ti alloy plate surface. Hybrid friction stir welding (HFSW) joints were welded completely without any unwelded zone resulting from smooth material flow by equally distributed temperature both in Al alloy side and Ti alloy side using GTAW assistance for preheating the Ti alloy plate unlike friction stir welding (FSW) joints. The ultimate tensile strength was approximately 91% in HFSW welds by that of the Al alloy base metal, which was 24% higher than that of FSW welds without GTAW under same welding condition. Notably, it was found that elongation in HFSW welds increased significantly compared with that of FSW welds, which resulted in improved joint strength. The ductile fracture was the main fracture mode in tensile test of HFSW welds

Micro friction stir welding of copper electrical contacts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Klobčar

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The paper presents an analysis of micro friction stir welding (μFSW of electrolytic tough pitch copper (CuETP in a lap and butt joint. Experimental plan was done in order to investigate the influence of tool design and welding parameters on the formation of defect free joints. The experiments were done using universal milling machine where the tool rotation speed varied between 600 and 1 900 rpm, welding speed between 14 and 93 mm/min and tilt angle between 3° and 5°. From the welds samples for analysis of microstructure and samples for tensile tests were prepared. The grain size in the nugget zone was greatly reduced compared to the base metal and the joint tensile strength exceeded the strength of the base metal.

The Role of Friction Stir Welding in Nuclear Fuel Plate Fabrication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burkes, D.; Medvedev, P.; Chapple, M.; Amritkar, A.; Wells, P.; Charit, I

2009-01-01

The friction bonding process combines desirable attributes of both friction stir welding and friction stir processing. The development of the process is spurred on by the need to fabricate thin, high density, reduced enrichment fuel plates for nuclear research reactors. The work seeks to convert research and test reactors currently operating on highly enriched uranium fuel to operate on low enriched uranium fuel without significant loss in reactor performance, safety characteristics, or significant increase in cost. In doing so, the threat of global nuclear material proliferation will be reduced. Feasibility studies performed on the process show that this is a viable option for mass production of plate-type nuclear fuel. Adapting the friction stir weld process for nuclear fuel fabrication has resulted in the development of several unique ideas and observations. Preliminary results of this adaptation and process model development are discussed

Friction Stir Weld Application and Tooling Design for the Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle Stage Adapter

Science.gov (United States)

Alcorn, John

2013-01-01

The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), commonly known as the Orion capsule, is planned to be the United States' next manned spacecraft for missions beyond low earth orbit. Following the cancellation of the Constellation program and creation of SLS (Space Launch System), the need arose for the MPCV to utilize the Delta IV Heavy rocket for a test launch scheduled for 2014 instead of the previously planned Ares I rocket. As a result, an adapter (MSA) must be used in conjunction with the MPCV to account for the variation in diameter of the launch vehicles; 5.5 meters down to 5.0 meters. Prior to ight article fabrication, a path nder (test article) will be fabricated to ne tune the associated manufacturing processes. The adapter will be comprised of an aluminum frustum (partial cone) that employs isogrid technology and circumferential rings on each end. The frustum will be fabricated by friction stir welding (FSW) three individual panels together on a Vertical Weld Tool (VWT) at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Subsequently, each circumferential ring will be friction stir welded to the frustum using a Robotic Weld Tool (RWT). The irregular geometry and large mass of the MSA require that extensive tooling preparation be put into support structures for the friction stir weld. The tooling on the VWT will be comprised of a set of conveyors mounted on pre-existing stanchions so that the MSA will have the ability to be rotated after each of the three friction stir welds. The tooling requirements to friction stir weld the rings with the RWT are somewhat more demanding. To support the mass of the MSA and resist the load of the weld tool, a system of mandrels will be mounted to stanchions and assembled in a circle. The goal of the paper will be to explain the design, fabrication, and assembly of the tooling, to explain the use of friction stir welding on the MSA path nder, and also to discuss the lessons learned and modi cations made in preparation for ight article fabrication

Effect of process parameters on optimum welding condition of DP590 steel by friction stir welding

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Young Gon; Kim, Ji Sun; Kim, In Ju [Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Gwangju (Korea, Republic of)

2014-12-15

In the automotive industry, vehicle weight reduction techniques have been actively studied to improve the rate of fuel consumption and to cope with the regulation restricting exhaust gas. For this reason, advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) is preferred in the automobile industry as its tensile strength is 590 MPa and over. In this study, to obtain the optimum welding condition, the friction stir welding (FSW) process applied to AHSS was considered. The FSW experiment was performed on a stir plate using a Si{sub 3}N{sub 4} tool and a 1.4-mm thick DP590 steel sheet manufactured by cold rolling. In addition, to investigate the temperature distribution of the advancing and retreating sides in the welding state, the tool rotation speed of 800 rpm, and the welding speed of 180 mm/min, a K-type thermocouple was inserted in the backing plate, and the peak temperature was evaluated at each point. Especially, the correlation between the heat input per unit length and the formation of the FSW zone was minutely analyzed.

Effect of process parameters on optimum welding condition of DP590 steel by friction stir welding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Young Gon; Kim, Ji Sun; Kim, In Ju

2014-01-01

In the automotive industry, vehicle weight reduction techniques have been actively studied to improve the rate of fuel consumption and to cope with the regulation restricting exhaust gas. For this reason, advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) is preferred in the automobile industry as its tensile strength is 590 MPa and over. In this study, to obtain the optimum welding condition, the friction stir welding (FSW) process applied to AHSS was considered. The FSW experiment was performed on a stir plate using a Si 3 N 4 tool and a 1.4-mm thick DP590 steel sheet manufactured by cold rolling. In addition, to investigate the temperature distribution of the advancing and retreating sides in the welding state, the tool rotation speed of 800 rpm, and the welding speed of 180 mm/min, a K-type thermocouple was inserted in the backing plate, and the peak temperature was evaluated at each point. Especially, the correlation between the heat input per unit length and the formation of the FSW zone was minutely analyzed.

Initial Development in Joining of ODS Alloys Using Friction Stir Welding

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ren, Weiju [ORNL; Feng, Zhili [ORNL

2007-08-01

Solid-state welding of oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) alloy MA956 sheets using friction stir welding (FSW) was investigated. Butt weld was successfully produced. The weld and base metals were characterized using optical microscopy, scanning electronic microscopy, transmission electronic microscopy, and energy dispersion x-ray spectrum. Microhardness mapping was also conducted over the weld region. Analyses indicate that the distribution of the strengthening oxides was preserved in the weld. Decrease in microhardness of the weld was observed but was insignificant. The preliminary results seem to confirm the envisioned feasibility of FSW application to ODS alloy joining. For application to Gen IV nuclear reactor heat exchanger, further investigation is suggested.

Multiaxial fatigue of aluminium friction stir welded joints: preliminary results

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. G. Hattingh

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present research is to check the accuracy of the Modified Wöhler Curve Method (MWCM in estimating the fatigue strength of friction stir (FS welded tubular joints of Al 6082-T6 subjected to in-phase and out-of-phase multiaxial fatigue loading. The welded samples being investigated were manufactured by equipping an MTS I-STIR process development system with a retracting tool that was specifically designed and optimised for this purpose. These specimens were tested under proportional and non-proportional tension and torsion, the effect of non-zero mean stresses being also investigated. The validation exercise carried out by using the generated experimental results allowed us to prove that the MWCM (applied in terms of nominal stresses is highly accurate in predicting the fatigue strength of the tested FS welded joints, its usage resulting in estimates falling with the uniaxial and torsional calibration scatter bands.

Welding parameter optimization of alloy material by friction stir welding using Taguchi approach and design of experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Karwande, Amit H.; Rao, Seeram Srinivasa

2018-04-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) a welding process in which metals are joint by melting them at their solid state. In different engineering areas such as civil, mechanical, naval and aeronautical engineering beams are widely used of the magnesium alloys for different applications and that are joined by conventional inert gas welding process. Magnesium metal has less density and low melting point for that reason large heat generation in the common welding process so its necessity to adapt new welding process. FSW process increases the weld quality which observed under various mechanical testing by using different tool size.

The study on defects in aluminum 2219-T6 thick butt friction stir welds with the application of multiple non-destructive testing methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Bo; Shen, Yifu; Hu, Weiye

2011-01-01

Research highlights: → Friction stir weld-defect forming mechanisms of thick butt-joints. → Relationship between weld-defects and friction stir welding process parameters. → Multiple non-destructive testing methods applied to friction stir welds. → Empirical criterion basing on mass-conservation for inner material-loss defects. → Nonlinear correlation between weld strengths and root-flaw lengths. -- Abstract: The present study focused on the relationship between primary friction stir welding process parameters and varied types of weld-defect discovered in aluminum 2219-T6 friction stir butt-welds of thick plates, meanwhile, the weld-defect forming mechanisms were investigated. Besides a series of optical metallographic examinations for friction stir butt welds, multiple non-destructive testing methods including X-ray detection, ultrasonic C-scan testing, ultrasonic phased array inspection and fluorescent penetrating fluid inspection were successfully used aiming to examine the shapes and existence locations of different weld-defects. In addition, precipitated Al 2 Cu phase coarsening particles were found around a 'kissing-bond' defect within the weld stirred nugget zone by means of scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. On the basis of volume conservation law in material plastic deformation, a simple empirical criterion for estimating the existence of inner material-loss defects was proposed. Defect-free butt joints were obtained after process optimization of friction stir welding for aluminum 2219-T6 plates in 17-20 mm thickness. Process experiments proved that besides of tool rotation speed and travel speed, more other appropriate process parameter variables played important roles at the formation of high-quality friction stir welds, such as tool-shoulder target depth, spindle tilt angle, and fixture clamping conditions on the work-pieces. Furthermore, the nonlinear correlation between weld tensile strengths and weld crack

Corrosion Performance of Friction Stir Linear Lap Welded AM60B Joints

Science.gov (United States)

Kish, J. R.; Birbilis, N.; McNally, E. M.; Glover, C. F.; Zhang, X.; McDermid, J. R.; Williams, G.

2017-11-01

A corrosion investigation of friction stir linear lap welded AM60B joints used to fabricate an Mg alloy-intensive automotive front end sub-assembly was performed. The stir zone exhibited a slightly refined grain size and significant break-up and re-distribution of the divorced Mg17Al12 (β-phase) relative to the base material. Exposures in NaCl (aq) environments revealed that the stir zone was more susceptible to localized corrosion than the base material. Scanning vibrating electrode technique measurements revealed differential galvanic activity across the joint. Anodic activity was confined to the stir zone surface and involved initiation and lateral propagation of localized filaments. Cathodic activity was initially confined to the base material surface, but was rapidly modified to include the cathodically-activated corrosion products in the filament wake. Site-specific surface analyses revealed that the corrosion observed across the welded joint was likely linked to variations in Al distribution across the surface film/metal interface.

STIR: Microwave Response of Carbon Nanotubes in Polymer Nanocomposite Welds

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-28

STIR: RDRL-ROE-M: Microwave Response of Carbon Nanotubes in Polymer Nanocomposite Welds Thrust 1 of the STIR project examines the heat response of...polymer composites loaded with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to microwave irradiation. This involves (1) a study of how CNT loading affects dielectric...properties of polymer composites and (2) a study of how CNT loading affects the heating response to microwave radiation. Our hypothesis is that the

Effects of mechanical force on grain structures of friction stir welded oxide dispersion strengthened ferritic steel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Wentuo; Kimura, Akihiko; Tsuda, Naoto; Serizawa, Hisashi; Chen, Dongsheng; Je, Hwanil; Fujii, Hidetoshi; Ha, Yoosung; Morisada, Yoshiaki; Noto, Hiroyuki

2014-01-01

The weldability of oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) ferritic steels is a critical obstructive in the development and use of these steels. Friction stir welding has been considered to be a promising way to solve this problem. The main purpose of this work was to reveal the effects of mechanical force on grain structures of friction stir welded ODS ferritic steel. The grain appearances and the misorientation angles of grain boundaries in different welded zones were investigated by the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Results showed that the mechanical force imposed by the stir tool can activate and promote the recrystallization characterized by the transformation of boundaries from LABs to HABs, and contribute to the grain refinement. The type of recrystallization in the stir zone can be classified as the continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX)

Effects of mechanical force on grain structures of friction stir welded oxide dispersion strengthened ferritic steel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Han, Wentuo, E-mail: hanwentuo@hotmail.com [Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011 (Japan); Kimura, Akihiko [Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011 (Japan); Tsuda, Naoto [Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011 (Japan); Serizawa, Hisashi [Joining and Welding Research Institute, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047 (Japan); Chen, Dongsheng [Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011 (Japan); Je, Hwanil [Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011 (Japan); Fujii, Hidetoshi [Joining and Welding Research Institute, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047 (Japan); Ha, Yoosung [Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011 (Japan); Morisada, Yoshiaki [Joining and Welding Research Institute, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047 (Japan); Noto, Hiroyuki [Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011 (Japan)

2014-12-15

The weldability of oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) ferritic steels is a critical obstructive in the development and use of these steels. Friction stir welding has been considered to be a promising way to solve this problem. The main purpose of this work was to reveal the effects of mechanical force on grain structures of friction stir welded ODS ferritic steel. The grain appearances and the misorientation angles of grain boundaries in different welded zones were investigated by the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Results showed that the mechanical force imposed by the stir tool can activate and promote the recrystallization characterized by the transformation of boundaries from LABs to HABs, and contribute to the grain refinement. The type of recrystallization in the stir zone can be classified as the continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX)

Prolegomena to the Study of Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Nunes, Arthur C., Jr.

2010-01-01

The literature contains many approaches toward modeling of the friction stir welding (FSW) process with varying treatments of the weld metal properties. It is worthwhile to consider certain fundamental features of the process before attempting to interpret FSW phenomena: Because of the unique character of metal deformation (as opposed to, say, viscous deformation) a velocity "discontinuity" or shear surface occurs in FSW and determines much of the character of the welding mechanism. A shear surface may not always produce a sound bond. Balancing mechanical power input against conduction and convection heat losses yields a relation, a "temperature index", between spindle speed and travel speed to maintain constant weld temperature. But many process features are only weakly dependent upon temperature. Thus, unlike modeling of metal forming processes, it may be that modeling the FSW process independently of the material conditions has some merit.

Assessment of the Contour Method for 2-D Cross Sectional Residual Stress Measurements of Friction Stir Welded Parts of AA2024-T3—Numerical and Experimental Comparison

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sonne, Mads Rostgaard; Carlone, Pierpaolo; Hattel, Jesper Henri

2017-01-01

The contour method is one of the newest techniques for obtaining residual stress fields from friction stir welded (FSW) parts, experimentally. This method has many advantages; however, edge effects coming from the process itself might introduce artifacts in the obtained results, and this was slig......The contour method is one of the newest techniques for obtaining residual stress fields from friction stir welded (FSW) parts, experimentally. This method has many advantages; however, edge effects coming from the process itself might introduce artifacts in the obtained results......) cross sectional map obtained by the method, peak stresses in tension are observed in the mid-section of the FSW butt-welded plates at the distance of the tool radius from the centerline. The corresponding numerical simulation indicates the same behavior because of the particular clamping conditions...

Structure formation of 5083 alloy during friction stir welding

Science.gov (United States)

Zaikina, A. A.; Kolubaev, A. V.; Sizova, O. V.; Ivanov, K. V.; Filippov, A. V.; Kolubaev, E. A.

2017-12-01

This paper provides a comparative study of structures obtained by friction stir welding and sliding friction of 5083 Al alloy. Optical and electron microscopy reveals identical fine-grained structures with a grain size of ˜5 µm both in the weld nugget zone and subsurface layer in friction independently of the initial grain size of the alloy. It has been suggested that the grain boundary sliding is responsible for the specific material flow pattern in both techniques considered.

Counterrotating-Shoulder Mechanism for Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Nunes, Arthur C., Jr.

2007-01-01

A counterrotating-shoulder mechanism has been proposed as an alternative to the mechanism and fixtures used in conventional friction stir welding. The mechanism would internally react most or all of the forces and torques exerted on the workpiece, making it unnecessary to react the forces and torques through massive external fixtures. In conventional friction stir welding, a rotating pin tool is inserted into, and moved along, a weld seam. As the pin tool moves, it stirs together material from the opposite sides of the seam to form the weld. A large axial plunge force must be exerted upon the workpiece through and by the pin tool and a shoulder attached above the pin tool in order to maintain the pressure necessary for the process. The workpiece is secured on top of an anvil, which supports the workpiece against the axial plunge force and against the torque exerted by the pin tool and shoulder. The anvil and associated fixtures must be made heavy (and, therefore, are expensive) to keep the workpiece stationary. In addition, workpiece geometries must be limited to those that can be accommodated by the fixtures. The predecessor of the proposed counterrotating-shoulder mechanism is a second-generation, self-reacting tool, resembling a bobbin, that makes it possible to dispense with the heavy anvil. This tool consists essentially of a rotating pin tool with opposing shoulders. Although the opposing shoulders maintain the necessary pressure without need to externally apply or react a large plunge force, the torque exerted on the workpiece remains unreacted in the absence of a substantial external fixture. Depending on the RPM and the thickness of the workpiece, the torque can be large. The proposed mechanism (see figure) would include a spindle attached to a pin tool with a lower shoulder. The spindle would be coupled via splines to the upper one of three bevel gears in a differential drive. The middle bevel gear would be the power-input gear and would be coupled to the

Mechanical properties and fracture behaviour of ODS steel friction stir welds at variable temperatures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dawson, H., E-mail: huwdawson@gmail.com [School of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom); Serrano, M.; Hernandez, R. [Structural Materials Division, Technology Department, CIEMAT, Avda de la Complutense 40, 28040 Madrid (Spain); Cater, S. [Friction and Forge Processes Department, Joining Technologies Group, TWI Technology Centre (Yorkshire), Advanced Manufacturing Park, Wallis Way, Catcliffe, Rotherham S60 5TZ (United Kingdom); Jimenez-Melero, E. [School of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom)

2017-05-02

We have assessed the microstructure and the temperature-dependent mechanical behaviour of five bead-on-plate friction stir welds of Oxide Dispersion Strengthened (ODS) steel, produced using systematic changes to the tool rotation and traverse speed. Friction stir welding can potentially retain the fine dispersion of nanoparticles, and therefore also the high-temperature strength and radiation damage resistance of these materials. Tensile testing was carried out on the MA956 base material at a range of temperatures, from room temperature up to 750 °C. The mechanical properties of the welds were investigated via tensile testing at room temperature and at 500 °C, together with micro-hardness testing. The welds exhibited similar strength and ductility to the base material at both testing temperatures as welding caused a partial loss of particle strengthening, alongside an increase in grain boundary strengthening due to a greatly refined grain size in the stir zones. The micro-hardness data revealed a trend of increasing hardness with increasing tool traverse speed or decreasing rotation speed. This was attributed to the smaller grain size and lower nanoparticle number density in the welds created with these parameters. At 500 °C, the yield stress and ultimate tensile stress of the base material and the welds decreased, due to a progressive reduction in both the Orowan-type particle strengthening and the grain boundary strengthening.

Microstructural and mechanical properties of pure aluminum, 5083 and 7075 alloys joined by friction stir welding

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yilmaz, Selim Sarper [Celal Bayar Univ., Manisa, Muradiye (Turkey)

2012-07-01

In this study, microstructural and mechanical properties of pure aluminum, 5083 and 7075 alloys joined by friction stir welding were investigated. Hardness, tensile, bending and impact tests were applied to the welded samples. In addition, optical and SEM tests were carried out. The effects of welding speed on microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated in these materials. Then, the optimal conditions for friction stir welding were determined for pure aluminum, 5083 and 7075 alloys. The maximum hardness was observed for 7075 while the minimum hardness was observed for pure aluminum. (orig.)

Investigation of Friction Stir Welding of Al Metal Matrix Composite Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Diwan, Ravinder M.

2003-01-01

The innovative process of Friction Stir Welding (FSW) has generated tremendous interest since its inception about a decade or so ago since the first patent in 1991 by TWI of Cambridge, England. This interest has been seen in many recent international conferences and publications on the subject and relevant published literature. Still the process needs both intensive basic study of deformation mechanisms during this FSW process and analysis and feasibility study to evaluate production methods that will yield high quality strong welds from the stirring action of the appropriate pin tool into the weld plate materials. Development of production processes is a complex task that involves effects of material thickness, materials weldability, pin tool design, pin height, and pin shoulder diameter and related control conditions. The frictional heating with rotational speeds of the pin tool as it plunges into the material and the ensuing plastic flow arising during the traverse of the welding faying surfaces provide the known special advantages of the FSW process in the area of this new advanced joining technology.

Effect of weld line shape on material flow during friction stir welding of aluminum and steel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yasui, Toshiaki; Ando, Naoyuki; Morinaka, Shinpei; Mizushima, Hiroki; Fukumoto, Masahiro

2014-01-01

The effect of weld line shape on material flow during the friction stir welding of aluminum and steel was investigated. The material flow velocity was evaluated with simulated experiments using plasticine as the simulant material. The validity of the simulated experiments was verified by the marker material experiments on aluminum. The circumferential velocity of material around the probe increased with the depth from the weld surface. The effect is significant in cases where the advancing side is located on the outside of curve and those with higher curvature. Thus, there is an influence of weld line shape on material flow

Nondestructive online testing method for friction stir welding using acoustic emission

Science.gov (United States)

Levikhina, Anastasiya

2017-12-01

The paper reviews the possibility of applying the method of acoustic emission for online monitoring of the friction stir welding process. It is shown that acoustic emission allows the detection of weld defects and their location in real time. The energy of an acoustic signal and the median frequency are suggested to be used as informative parameters. The method of calculating the median frequency with the use of a short time Fourier transform is applied for the identification of correlations between the defective weld structure and properties of the acoustic emission signals received during welding.

Thermal Management in Friction-Stir Welding of Precipitation-Hardening Aluminum Alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Upadhyay, Piyush; Reynolds, Anthony

2015-05-25

Process design and implementation in FSW is mostly dependent on empirical information gathered through experience. Basic science of friction stir welding and processing can only be complete when fundamental interrelationships between process control parameters and response variables and resulting weld microstructure and properties are established to a reasonable extent. It is known that primary process control parameters like tool rotation and translation rate and forge axis force have complicated and interactive relationships to the process response variables such as peak temperature, time at temperature etc. Of primary influence to the other process response parameters are temperature and its gradient at the deformation and heat affected zones. Through review of pertinent works in the literature and some experimental results from boundary condition work performed in precipitation hardening aluminum alloys this paper will partially elucidate the nature and effects of temperature transients caused by variation of thermal boundaries in Friction Stir Welding.

Spatially resolved positron annihilation spectroscopy on friction stir weld induced defects.

Science.gov (United States)

Hain, Karin; Hugenschmidt, Christoph; Pikart, Philip; Böni, Peter

2010-04-01

A friction stir welded (FSW) Al alloy sample was investigated by Doppler broadening spectroscopy (DBS) of the positron annihilation line. The spatially resolved defect distribution showed that the material in the joint zone becomes completely annealed during the welding process at the shoulder of the FSW tool, whereas at the tip, annealing is prevailed by the deterioration of the material due to the tool movement. This might be responsible for the increased probability of cracking in the heat affected zone of friction stir welds. Examination of a material pairing of steel S235 and the Al alloy Silafont36 by coincident Doppler broadening spectroscopy (CDBS) indicates the formation of annealed steel clusters in the Al alloy component of the sample. The clear visibility of Fe in the CDB spectra is explained by the very efficient trapping at the interface between steel cluster and bulk.

Friction Stir Welding and Processing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hovanski, Yuri; Carsley, John; Clarke, Kester D.; Krajewski, Paul E.

2015-05-01

With nearly twenty years of international research and collaboration in friction stir welding (FSW) and processing industrial applications have spread into nearly every feasible market. Currently applications exist in aerospace, railway, automotive, personal computers, technology, marine, cutlery, construction, as well as several other markets. Implementation of FSW has demonstrated diverse opportunities ranging from enabling new materials to reducing the production costs of current welding technologies by enabling condensed packaging solutions for traditional fabrication and assembly. TMS has sponsored focused instruction and communication in this technology area for more than fifteen years, with leadership from the Shaping and Forming Committee, which organizes a biannual symposium each odd year at the annual meeting. A focused publication produced from each of these symposia now comprises eight volumes detailing the primary research and development activities in this area over the last two decades. The articles assembled herein focus on both recent developments and technology reviews of several key markets from international experts in this area.

Characteristics of Laser Beam and Friction Stir Welded AISI 409M Ferritic Stainless Steel Joints

Science.gov (United States)

Lakshminarayanan, A. K.; Balasubramanian, V.

2012-04-01

This article presents the comparative evaluation of microstructural features and mechanical properties of friction stir welded (solid-state) and laser beam welded (high energy density fusion welding) AISI 409M grade ferritic stainless steel joints. Optical microscopy, microhardness testing, transverse tensile, and impact tests were performed. The coarse ferrite grains in the base material were changed to fine grains consisting duplex structure of ferrite and martensite due to the rapid cooling rate and high strain induced by severe plastic deformation caused by frictional stirring. On the other hand, columnar dendritic grain structure was observed in fusion zone of laser beam welded joints. Tensile testing indicates overmatching of the weld metal relative to the base metal irrespective of the welding processes used. The LBW joint exhibited superior impact toughness compared to the FSW joint.

Microstructural characterization in dissimilar friction stir welding between 304 stainless steel and st37 steel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jafarzadegan, M.; Feng, A.H.; Abdollah-zadeh, A.; Saeid, T.; Shen, J.; Assadi, H.

2012-01-01

In the present study, 3 mm-thick plates of 304 stainless steel and st37 steel were welded together by friction stir welding at a welding speed of 50 mm/min and tool rotational speed of 400 and 800 rpm. X-ray diffraction test was carried out to study the phases which might be formed in the welds. Metallographic examinations, and tensile and microhardness tests were used to analyze the microstructure and mechanical properties of the joint. Four different zones were found in the weld area except the base metals. In the stir zone of the 304 stainless steel, a refined grain structure with some features of dynamic recrystallization was evidenced. A thermomechanically-affected zone was characterized on the 304 steel side with features of dynamic recovery. In the other side of the stir zone, the hot deformation of the st37 steel in the austenite region produced small austenite grains and these grains transformed to fine ferrite and pearlite and some products of displacive transformations such as Widmanstatten ferrite and martensite by cooling the material after friction stir welding. The heat-affected zone in the st37 steel side showed partially and fully refined microstructures like fusion welding processes. The recrystallization in the 304 steel and the transformations in the st37 steel enhanced the hardness of the weld area and therefore, improved the tensile properties of the joint. - Highlights: ► FSW produced sound welds between st37 low carbon steel and 304 stainless steel. ► The SZ of the st37 steel contained some products of allotropic transformation. ► The material in the SZ of the 304 steel showed features of dynamic recrystallization. ► The finer microstructure in the SZ increased the hardness and tensile strength.

Effect of Friction Stir Welding Parameters on the Mechanical and Microstructure Properties of the Al-Cu Butt Joint

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sare Celik

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Friction Stir Welding (FSW is a solid-state welding process used for welding similar and dissimilar materials. FSW is especially suitable to join sheet Al alloys, and this technique allows different material couples to be welded continuously. In this study, 1050 Al alloys and commercially pure Cu were produced at three different tool rotation speeds (630, 1330, 2440 rpm and three different tool traverse speeds (20, 30, 50 mm/min with four different tool position (0, 1, 1.5, 2 mm by friction stir welding. The influence of the welding parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the joints was investigated. Tensile and bending tests and microhardness measurements were used to determine the mechanical properties. The microstructures of the weld zone were investigated by optical microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM and were analyzed in an energy dispersed spectrometer (EDS. Intermetallic phases were detected based on the X-ray diffraction (XRD analysis results that evaluated the formation of phases in the weld zone. When the welding performance of the friction stir welded butt joints was evaluated, the maximum value obtained was 89.55% with a 1330 rpm tool rotational speed, 20 mm/min traverse speed and a 1 mm tool position configuration. The higher tensile strength is attributed to the dispersion strengthening of the fine Cu particles distributed over the Al material in the stir zone region.

Influence of titanium–boron additions on grain refinement of AA6082 gas tungsten arc welds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kishore Babu, N.; Talari, Mahesh Kumar; Dayou, Pan; Zheng, Sun; Jun, Wei; SivaPrasad, K.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Ti in the weld metal resulted in grain refinement due to growth restriction effect. ► Weld metal strength improved due to grain refinement caused by Tibor™ addition. ► Weld metal responded to post-weld ageing treatment due to dilution from base metal. ► Weld metal with AA5356 filler are stronger then AA4043 for all Tibor™ additions. -- Abstract: Grain refinement of weld metal plays a vital role in improving mechanical properties (ductility and toughness) as well as weldability. The present study has investigated the influence of Tibor™ additions on the structure and mechanical properties of AA6082 gas tungsten arc (GTA) weldments. Controlled amounts of Tibor™ grain refiner (containing Ti and B in a ratio of 5:1) were introduced into the molten pool of AA6082 by pre-deposited cast inserts (AA4043 and AA5356) under different welding conditions by GTA welding. Full penetration GTA welds were prepared using alternating current (AC). It was observed that grain size was decreased with increasing amounts of Tibor™. The grain refinement is mainly caused grain nucleation associated with constitutional undercooling during solidification. It has been shown that welds prepared with 5356 cast insert exhibited high strength and ductility when compared with other welds. The observed grain refinement was shown to result in an appreciable increase in fusion zone hardness, strength and ductility.

Microstructural characterizations and mechanical properties in underwater friction stir welding of aluminum and magnesium dissimilar alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, Yong; Lu, Zhengping; Yan, Keng; Huang, Linzhao

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Aluminum and magnesium alloys were joined by underwater friction stir welding. • Underwater FSW was conducted to improve properties of joint with lower heat input. • Microstructures and mechanical properties of dissimilar joint were investigated. • Intermetallic compounds developed in the fracture interface were analyzed. • Fracture features of the tensile samples were analyzed. - Abstract: Formation of intermetallic compounds in the stir zone of dissimilar welds affects the mechanical properties of the joints significantly. In order to reduce heat input and control the amount and morphological characteristics of brittle intermetallic compounds underwater friction stir welding of 6013 Al alloy and AZ31 Mg alloy was carried out. Microstructures, mechanical properties, elements distribution, and the fracture surface of the joints were analyzed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, etc. The result shows that sound dissimilar joint with good mechanical properties can be obtained by underwater friction stir welding. Al and Mg alloys were stirred together and undergone the process of recrystallization, forming complex intercalated flow patterns in the stir zone. Tensile strength of the dissimilar joint was up to 152.3 MPa. Maximum hardness (142HV) appeared in the middle of the centerline of the specimen. Intermetallic compounds layer consisting of Al 3 Mg 2 and Mg 17 Al 12 formed in the Al/Mg interface and resulted in the fracture of the joint

Process optimization of friction stir welding based on thermal models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Anders Astrup

2010-01-01

This thesis investigates how to apply optimization methods to numerical models of a friction stir welding process. The work is intended as a proof-of-concept using different methods that are applicable to models of high complexity, possibly with high computational cost, and without the possibility...... information of the high-fidelity model. The optimization schemes are applied to stationary thermal models of differing complexity of the friction stir welding process. The optimization problems considered are based on optimizing the temperature field in the workpiece by finding optimal translational speed....... Also an optimization problem based on a microstructure model is solved, allowing the hardness distribution in the plate to be optimized. The use of purely thermal models represents a simplification of the real process; nonetheless, it shows the applicability of the optimization methods considered...

Improvement of Weldment Properties by Hot Forming Quenching of Friction Stir Welded TWB Sheet

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dae-Hoon Ko

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to improve the mechanical properties and formability of friction stir welded tailor-welded blanks (TWBs of Al6061 alloy with a new forming method called hot forming quenching (HFQ in which solid-solution heat-treated aluminum sheets are formed at elevated temperature. Forming and quenching during HFQ are simultaneously performed with the forming die for the solid-solution heat-treated sheet. In this study, specimens of aluminum TWBs were prepared by friction stir welding (FSW with a butt joint. The effectiveness of FSW joining was evaluated by observation of the macrostructure for different sheet thicknesses. In order to evaluate the formability of TWBs by HFQ, a hemisphere dome stretching test of the limit dome height achieved without specimen failure was performed with various tool temperatures. A Vickers test was also performed to measure weldment hardness as a function of position. The formability and mechanical properties of products formed by HFQ are compared with those formed by conventional forming methods, demonstrating the suitability of HFQ for sheet metal forming of friction stir welded TWBs.

Microstructural Evolution and Fracture Behavior of Friction-Stir-Welded Al-Cu Laminated Composites

Science.gov (United States)

Beygi, R.; Kazeminezhad, Mohsen; Kokabi, A. H.

2014-01-01

In this study, we attempt to characterize the microstructural evolution during friction stir butt welding of Al-Cu-laminated composites and its effect on the fracture behavior of the joint. Emphasis is on the material flow and particle distribution in the stir zone. For this purpose, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, energy-dispersive spectroscopy EDS and XRD analyses, hardness measurements, and tensile tests are carried out on the joints. It is shown that intermetallic compounds exist in lamellas of banding structure formed in the advancing side of the welds. In samples welded from the Cu side, the banding structure in the advancing side and the hook formation in the retreating side determine the fracture behavior of the joint. In samples welded from the Al side, a defect is formed in the advancing side of the weld, which is attributed to insufficient material flow. It is concluded that the contact surface of the laminate (Al or Cu) with the shoulder of the FSW tool influences the material flow and microstructure of welds.

Hybrid multi-response optimization of friction stir spot welds: failure ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

O O OJO

2018-06-08

Jun 8, 2018 ... Friction stir spot welding; effective bonded size; failure load; expelled flash volume; hybrid multi- response ... eliminated with the application of FSSW process. Conse- ... design of experiment is generally applied in either single.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Welds of Al - Mg - Si Alloys After Different Modes of Impulse Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Kondrat'ev, S. Yu.; Morozova, Yu. N.; Golubev, Yu. A.; Hantelmann, C.; Naumov, A. A.; Mikhailov, V. G.

2018-03-01

Welded joints of aluminum alloy 6082-T6 formed by the method of impulse friction stir welding are studied. The effect of the power and frequency of the pulses on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the welded joints is determined. Application of an additional pulse during the welding affects the surface quality and the shape of the weld, the distribution of the oxide layer and of particles of the hardening phase, and the grain size in the zone of dynamic recrystallization.

Investigation on dissimilar underwater friction stir lap welding of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy to pure copper

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Jingqing; Shen, Yifu; Yao, Xin; Xu, Haisheng; Li, Bo

2014-01-01

Highlights: • 6061-T6 Al and pure Cu were successfully underwater friction stir lap welded. • The underwater weld was analyzed via comparing with the classical weld. • The oxidation of Cu was prevented via the external water. • The amount of Al–Cu intermetallic was decreased by the external water. • The thickness of Al–Cu diffusion interlayer was decreased by the external water. - Abstract: Friction stir welding (classical FSW) is considered to offer advantages over the traditional fusion welding techniques in terms of dissimilar welding. However, some challenges still exist in the dissimilar friction stir lap welding of the aluminum/copper (Al/Cu) metallic couple, among which the formation of the Al–Cu intermetallic compounds is the major problem. In the present research, due to the fact that the formation and growth of the intermetallic are significantly controlled by the thermal history, the underwater friction stir welding (underwater FSW) was employed for fabricating the weld, and the weld obtained by underwater FSW (underwater weld) was analyzed via comparing with the weld obtained under same parameters by classical FSW (classical weld). In order to investigate the effect of the external water on the thermal history, the K-type thermocouple was utilized to measure the weld temperature, and it is found that the water could decrease the peak temperature and shorten the thermal cycle time. The XRD results illustrate that the interface of the welds mainly consist of the Al–Cu intermetallic compounds such as CuAl 2 and Cu 9 Al 4 together with some amounts of Al and Cu, and it is also found that the amount of the intermetallic in the underwater weld is obvious less than in the classical weld. The SEM images and the EDS line scan results also illustrate that the Al–Cu diffusion interlayer at the Al–Cu interface of the underwater weld was obviously thinner than that of the classical weld

Boride Formation Induced by pcBN Tool Wear in Friction-Stir-Welded Stainless Steels

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Seung Hwan C.; Sato, Yutaka S.; Kokawa, Hiroyuki; Okamoto, Kazutaka; Hirano, Satoshi; Inagaki, Masahisa

2009-03-01

The wear of polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (pcBN) tool and its effect on second phase formation were investigated in stainless steel friction-stir (FS) welds. The nitrogen content and the flow stress were analyzed in these welds to examine pcBN tool wear. The nitrogen content in stir zone (SZ) was found to be higher in the austenitic stainless steel FS welds than in the ferritic and duplex stainless steel welds. The flow stress of austenitic stainless steels was almost 1.5 times larger than that of ferritic and duplex stainless steels. These results suggest that the higher flow stress causes the severe tool wear in austenitic stainless steels, which results in greater nitrogen pickup in austenitic stainless steel FS welds. From the microstructural observation, a possibility was suggested that Cr-rich borides with a crystallographic structure of Cr2B and Cr5B3 formed through the reaction between the increased boron and nitrogen and the matrix during FS welding (FSW).

Gas tungsten arc welding assisted hybrid friction stir welding of dissimilar materials Al6061-T6 aluminum alloy and STS304 stainless steel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bang, HanSur; Bang, HeeSeon; Jeon, GeunHong; Oh, IkHyun; Ro, ChanSeung

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► GTAW assisted hybrid friction stir welding (HFSW) has been carried out for dissimilar butt joint. ► Mechanical strength of dissimilar butt joint by HFSW and FSW has been investigated and compared. ► Microstructure of dissimilar butt joint by HFSW and FSW has been investigated and compared. -- Abstract: The aim of this research is to evaluate the potential for using the gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) assisted hybrid friction stir welding (HFSW) process to join a stainless steel alloy (STS304) to an aluminum alloy (Al6061) in order to improve the weld strength. The difference in mechanical and microstructural characteristics of dissimilar joint by friction stir welding (FSW) and HFSW has been investigated and compared. Transverse tensile strength of approximately 93% of the aluminum alloy (Al6061) base metal tensile strength is obtained with HFSW, which is higher than the tensile strength of FSW welds. This may be due to the enhanced material plastic flow and partial annealing effect in dissimilar materials due to preheating of stainless steel surface by GTAW, resulting in significantly increased elongation of welds. The results indicate that HFSW that integrates GTAW preheating to FSW is advantageous in joining dissimilar combinations compared to conventional FSW.

Effect of Water Cooling on the Performances of Friction Stir Welding Heat-Affected Zone

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, H. J.; Liu, H. J.; Yu, L.

2012-07-01

The heat-affected zone (HAZ) is generally the intrinsic weakest location of the normal friction stir welded precipitate hardened aluminum alloys. In order to improve the mechanical properties of the HAZ by controlling the temperature level, underwater friction stir welding (FSW) of an Al-Cu aluminum alloy was conducted in the present study. The results indicate that the hardness of the HAZ can be improved through underwater FSW. Microstructural analysis reveals that the hardness improvement is attributed to the lowering of precipitate coarsening level and the narrowing of precipitate free zone, which are essentially induced by the variations of welding thermal cycles under the cooling effect of water.

Microstructure-based modeling of tensile deformation of a friction stir welded AZ31 Mg alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

He, Weijun, E-mail: weijun.he@cqu.edu.cn [College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044 (China); Zheng, Li [College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenyang University of Technology, Shenyang 110870 (China); Xin, Renlong, E-mail: rlxin@cqu.edu.cn [College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044 (China); Liu, Qing [College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044 (China)

2017-02-27

The deformation and fracture behaviors of friction stir welded (FSWed) Mg alloys are topics under investigation. The microstructure and texture of a FSWed Mg alloy were characterized by electron back scattered diffraction. Four characteristic sub-zones with different orientations in the FSWed Mg alloy joint were identified. The texture distribution across the stir zones and transition zone were obviously inhomogeneous. For comparison, four sub-regions in the base material were also characterized. Based on the experimental microstructure and texture, a crystal plasticity finite element model was developed to represent the friction stir welded Mg alloy. Simulations were carried out to study the effect of texture variation on the deformation behaviors during transverse tension. Compared with the base material case, strong macroscopic strain localization was observed for the FSWed joint case after transverse tension. Strain localization may have contributed to the decayed elongation of the FSWed joint in the transverse tension. Texture variation in the thermal-mechanical affected zone did not change the deformation mechanism in the stir zones, while it did decrease the strain localization, thus assuming to improve the elongation of the friction stir welded Mg alloy.

Microstructure-based modeling of tensile deformation of a friction stir welded AZ31 Mg alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He, Weijun; Zheng, Li; Xin, Renlong; Liu, Qing

2017-01-01

The deformation and fracture behaviors of friction stir welded (FSWed) Mg alloys are topics under investigation. The microstructure and texture of a FSWed Mg alloy were characterized by electron back scattered diffraction. Four characteristic sub-zones with different orientations in the FSWed Mg alloy joint were identified. The texture distribution across the stir zones and transition zone were obviously inhomogeneous. For comparison, four sub-regions in the base material were also characterized. Based on the experimental microstructure and texture, a crystal plasticity finite element model was developed to represent the friction stir welded Mg alloy. Simulations were carried out to study the effect of texture variation on the deformation behaviors during transverse tension. Compared with the base material case, strong macroscopic strain localization was observed for the FSWed joint case after transverse tension. Strain localization may have contributed to the decayed elongation of the FSWed joint in the transverse tension. Texture variation in the thermal-mechanical affected zone did not change the deformation mechanism in the stir zones, while it did decrease the strain localization, thus assuming to improve the elongation of the friction stir welded Mg alloy.

Friction Stir Welding of Tapered Thickness Welds Using an Adjustable Pin Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Glynn; Venable, Richard; Lawless, Kirby

2003-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) can be used for joining weld lands that vary in thickness along the length of the weld. An adjustable pin tool mechanism can be used to accomplish this in a single-pass, full-penetration weld by providing for precise changes in the pin length relative to the shoulder face during the weld process. The difficulty with this approach is in accurately adjusting the pin length to provide a consistent penetration ligament throughout the weld. The weld technique, control system, and instrumentation must account for mechanical and thermal compliances of the tooling system to conduct tapered welds successfully. In this study, a combination of static and in-situ measurements, as well as active control, is used to locate the pin accurately and maintain the desired penetration ligament. Frictional forces at the pin/shoulder interface were a source of error that affected accurate pin position. A traditional FSW pin tool design that requires a lead angle was used to join butt weld configurations that included both constant thickness and tapered sections. The pitch axis of the tooling was fixed throughout the weld; therefore, the effective lead angle in the tapered sections was restricted to within the tolerances allowed by the pin tool design. The sensitivity of the FSW process to factors such as thickness offset, joint gap, centerline offset, and taper transition offset were also studied. The joint gap and the thickness offset demonstrated the most adverse affects on the weld quality. Two separate tooling configurations were used to conduct tapered thickness welds successfully. The weld configurations included sections in which the thickness decreased along the weld, as well as sections in which the thickness increased along the weld. The data presented here include weld metallography, strength data, and process load data.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded Al/Mg2Si metal matrix cast composite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nami, H.; Adgi, H.; Sharifitabar, M.; Shamabadi, H.

2011-01-01

In this research, friction stir weldability of 15 wt.% Mg 2 Si particulate aluminum matrix cast composite and effects of tool rotation speed and number of welding passes on microstructure and mechanical properties of the joints were investigated. Microstructural observations were carried out by employing optical and scanning electron microscopy of the cross sections perpendicular to the tool traverse direction. Mechanical properties including microhardness and tensile strength were evaluated in detail. The results showed fragmentation of Mg 2 Si particles and Mg 2 Si needles existing in eutectic structure in stir zone. Also, homogeneous distribution of Mg 2 Si particles was observed in the stir zone as a result of stirring with high plastic strains. Tension test results indicated that tensile strength of the joint had an optimum at 1120 rpm tool rotation speed and decreased with increasing of the number of welding passes. Hardness of the joint increased due to modification of solidification microstructure of the base composite. This research indicates that friction stir welding is a good candidate for joining of 15 wt.% Mg 2 Si aluminum matrix composite castings.

Fine tuning of dwelling time in friction stir welding for preventing material overheating, weld tensile strength increase and weld nugget size decrease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mijajlović Miroslav M.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available After successful welding, destructive testing into test samples from Al 2024-T351 friction stir butt welds showed that tensile strength of the weld improve along the joint line, while dimensions of the weld nugget decrease. For those welds, both the base material and the welding tool constantly cool down during the welding phase. Obviously, the base material became overheated during the long dwelling phase what made conditions for creation of joints with the reduced mechanical properties. Preserving all process parameters but varying the dwelling time from 5-27 seconds a new set of welding is done to reach maximal achievable tensile strength. An analytical-numerical-experimental model is used for optimising the duration of the dwelling time while searching for the maximal tensile strength of the welds

Influence of tool geometry and process parameters on macrostructure and static strength in friction stir spot welded polyethylene sheets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bilici, Mustafa Kemal; Yuekler, Ahmet Irfan

2012-01-01

Highlights: → All velding parameters and different tool geometries have demonstrated a different effects on weld strength. → Friction stir spot welding of polyethylene mechanical scission is very important. → Metric screw the tool has a great influence on the weld strength of FSSW. -- Abstract: The effect of important welding parameters and tool properties that are effective on static strength in friction stir spot welds of polyethylene sheets were studied. Six different tool pin profiles (straight cylindrical, tapered cylindrical, threaded cylindrical, triangular, square and hexagonal) with different shoulder geometries, different pin length, pin angle and concavity angle were used to fabricate the joints. The tool rotational speed, tool plunge depth and dwell time were determined welding parameters. All the welding operations were done at the room temperature. Welding force and welding zone material temperature measurements were also done. Lap-shear tests were carried out to find the weld static strength. Weld cross section appearance observations were also done. From the experiments, the effect of pin profile, pin length, pin angle, dwell time and tool rotational speed on friction stir spot welding formation and weld strength was determined.

The effect of welding parameters on surface quality of AA6351 aluminium alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yacob, S; Ariffin, N; Ali, R; Arshad, A; Wahab, M I A; Ismail, S A; Roji, NS M; Din, W B W; Zakaria, M H; Abdullah, A; Yusof, M I; Kamarulzaman, K Z; Mahyuddin, A; Hamzah, M N; Roslan, R; MAli, M A; Ahsan, Q

2015-01-01

In the present work, the effects of gas metal arc welding-cold metal transfer (GMAW-CMT) parameters on surface roughness are experimentally assessed. The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of the effects of welding speed, material thickness and contact tip to work distance on the surface roughness. Experiments are conducted using single pass gas metal arc welding-cold metal transfer (GMAW-CMT) welding technique to join the material. The material used in this experiment was AA6351 aluminum alloy with the thickness of 5mm and 6mm. A Mahr Marsuft XR 20 machine was used to measure the average roughness (Ra) of AA6351 joints. The main and interaction effect analysis was carried out to identify process parameters that affect the surface roughness. The results show that all the input process parameters affect the surface roughness of AA6351 joints. Additionally, the average roughness (Ra) results also show a decreasing trend with increased of welding speed. It is proven that gas metal arc welding-cold metal transfer (GMAW-CMT)welding process has been successful in term of providing weld joint of good surface quality for AA6351 based on the low value surface roughness condition obtained in this setup. The outcome of this experimental shall be valuable for future fabrication process in order to obtained high good quality weld. (paper)

Fabrication of AA6061-T6 Plate Type Fuel Assembly Using Electron Beam Welding Process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Soosung; Seo, Kyoungseok; Lee, Donbae; Park, Jongman; Lee, Yoonsang; Lee, Chongtak

2014-01-01

AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy is easily welded by conventional GTAW (Gas Tungsten Arc Welding), LBW (Laser Beam Welding) and EBW. However, certain characteristics, such as solidification cracking, porosity, HAZ (Heat-affected Zone) degradation must be considered during welding. Because of high energy density and low heat input, especially LBW and EBW processes possess the advantage of minimizing the fusing zone and HAZ and producing deeper penetration than arc welding processes. In present study, to apply for the nuclear fuel plate fabrication and assembly, a fundamental EBW experiment using AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy specimens was conducted. Furthermore, to establish the welding process, and satisfy the requirements of the weld quality, EBW apparatus using an electron welding gun and vacuum chamber was developed, and preliminary investigations for optimizing the welding parameters of the specimens using AA6061-T6 aluminum plates were also performed. The EB weld quality of AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy for the fuel plate assembly has been also studied by the shrinkage measurement and weld inspection using computed tomography. This study was carried out to determine the suitable welding parameters and to evaluate tensile strength of AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy. In the present experiment, satisfactory electron beam welding process of the full-sized sample was being developed. Based on this fundamental study, fabrication of the plate-type fuel assembly will be provided for the future Ki-Jang research reactor project

Microstructure and mechanical properties of hard zone in friction stir welded X80 pipeline steel relative to different heat input

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aydin, Hakan, E-mail: hakanay@uludag.edu.tr [Engineering and Architecture Faculty, Mechanical Engineering Department, Uludag University, 16059 Gorukle-Bursa (Turkey); Nelson, Tracy W. [Mechanical Engineering Department, Brigham Young University, 435 CTB, Provo, UT 84602 (United States)

2013-12-01

The study was conducted to investigate the microstructure and mechanical properties of the hard zone in friction stir welded X80 pipeline steel at different heat inputs. Microstructural analysis of the welds was carried out using optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and microhardness. Heat input during friction stir welding process had a significant influence on the microstructure and mechanical properties in the hard zone along the advancing side of the weld nugget. Based on the results, the linear relationships between heat input and post-weld microstructures and mechanical properties in the hard zone of friction stir welded X80 steels were established. It can be concluded that with decrease in heat input the bainitic structure in the hard zone becomes finer and so hard zone strength increases.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of hard zone in friction stir welded X80 pipeline steel relative to different heat input

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aydin, Hakan; Nelson, Tracy W.

2013-01-01

The study was conducted to investigate the microstructure and mechanical properties of the hard zone in friction stir welded X80 pipeline steel at different heat inputs. Microstructural analysis of the welds was carried out using optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and microhardness. Heat input during friction stir welding process had a significant influence on the microstructure and mechanical properties in the hard zone along the advancing side of the weld nugget. Based on the results, the linear relationships between heat input and post-weld microstructures and mechanical properties in the hard zone of friction stir welded X80 steels were established. It can be concluded that with decrease in heat input the bainitic structure in the hard zone becomes finer and so hard zone strength increases

Effect of gaussian beam on microstructural and mechanical properties of dissimilarlaser welding ofAA5083 and AA6061 alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Srinivas, B.; Cheepu, Muralimohan; Sivaprasad, K.; Muthupandi, V.

2018-03-01

The present study focuses on a sheet thickness of 4 mm using different laser power and welding rate by the laser beam welding (LBW) at a beam size180 μm. The observations on the weldments are showing that thermal conductivity of the materials plays a major role on microstructural changes. The as-welded mechanical properties were studied by correlation with its microstructures. Due to the steeper temperature gradient during the laser beam welding AA6061 was showing the greater variation compares with AA5083 side in the micro hardness studies.Also, the tensile strength of 241 MPa has been reported as highest with the welds made of laser powerat 3.5 kW and welding rate at 3.5 mmin-1.

Caracterização microestrutural e comportamento mecânico das ligas de alumínio AA2139 T3 e T8 soldadas por fricção rotativa com mistura Microstructural characterization and mechanical behavior of an AA2139 T3 and T8 aluminum alloy joined by friction stir welding (FSW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vinícius Toledo Saccon

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Este trabalho visou analisar a caracterização microestrutural e o comportamento mecânico das ligas de alumínio AA2139 T3 e T8 quando são soldadas pelo processo Soldagem por Fricção Rotativa com Mistura, o qual é realizado na fase sólida. A análise microestrutural foi realizada utilizando microscopia óptica e eletrônica de varredura, e o comportamento mecânico foi avaliado através de medidas de microdureza e ensaio de tração convencional complementado pelo sistema ARAMIS. As ligas foram soldadas nos mesmos parâmetros de soldagem e com a mesma ferramenta, a fim de avaliar a qualidade da junta soldada para as duas condições de tratamento térmico, T3 e T8. Os resultados obtidos mostraram soldas resistentes para ambos os tratamentos térmicos, porém com melhores propriedades mecânicas para a liga AA2139 T3.This work aimed to study the microstructural characterization and mechanical behavior of AA2139 T3 and T8 aluminum alloys joined by FSW - Friction Stir Welding. The microstructural analysis has been done using optical microscope and scanning electron microscopy, and the mechanical analysis were evaluate through microhardness testing and conventional tensile test using the ARAMIS system . Each alloy were welded using the same welding parameters and the same tool in order to evaluate the joint quality for both heat treatment used for this work, T3 and T8. The result showed sounds joints for both heat treatments, although with better mechanical properties for the alloy AA2139 T3.

Friction stir welding: multi-response optimisation using Taguchi-based GRA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jitender Kundu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In present experimental work, friction stir welding of aluminium alloy 5083- H321 is performed for optimisation of process parameters for maximum tensile strength. Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array has been used for three parameters – tool rotational speed (TRS, traverse speed (TS, and tool tilt angle (TTA with three levels. Multi-response optimisation has been carried out through Taguchi-based grey relational analysis. The grey relational grade has been calculated for all three responses – ultimate tensile strength, percentage elongation, and micro-hardness. Analysis of variance is the tool used for obtaining grey relational grade to find out the significant process parameters. TRS and TS are the two most significant parameters which influence most of the quality characteristics of friction stir welded joint. Validation of predicted values done through confirmation experiments at optimum setting shows a good agreement with experimental values.

Computer Tomography 3-D Imaging of the Metal Deformation Flow Path in Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Judy; Beshears, Ronald; Nunes, Arthur C., Jr.

2004-01-01

In friction stir welding, a rotating threaded pin tool is inserted into a weld seam and literally stirs the edges of the seam together. This solid-state technique has been successfully used in the joining of materials that are difficult to fusion weld such as aluminum alloys. To determine optimal processing parameters for producing a defect free weld, a better understanding of the resulting metal deformation flow path is required. Marker studies are the principal method of studying the metal deformation flow path around the FSW pin tool. In our study, we have used computed tomography (CT) scans to reveal the flow pattern of a lead wire embedded in a FSW weld seam. At the welding temperature of aluminum, the lead becomes molten and thus tracks the aluminum deformation flow paths in a unique 3-dimensional manner. CT scanning is a convenient and comprehensive way of collecting and displaying tracer data. It marks an advance over previous more tedious and ambiguous radiographic/metallographic data collection methods.

Computed Tomography 3-D Imaging of the Metal Deformation Flow Path in Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Judy; Beshears, Ronald; Nunes, Arthur C., Jr.

2005-01-01

In friction stir welding (FSW), a rotating threaded pin tool is inserted into a weld seam and literally stirs the edges of the seam together. To determine optimal processing parameters for producing a defect free weld, a better understanding of the resulting metal deformation flow path is required. Marker studies are the principal method of studying the metal deformation flow path around the FSW pin tool. In our study, we have used computed tomography (CT) scans to reveal the flow pattern of a lead wire embedded in a FSW weld seam. At the welding temperature of aluminum, the lead becomes molten and is carried with the macro-flow of the weld metal. By using CT images, a 3-dimensional (3D) image of the lead flow pattern can be reconstructed. CT imaging was found to be a convenient and comprehensive way of collecting and displaying tracer data. It marks an advance over previous more tedious and ambiguous radiographic/metallographic data collection methods.

Designing aluminium friction stir welded joints against multiaxial fatigue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Susmel

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The present paper investigates the accuracy of the Modified Wöhler Curve Method (MWCM in estimating multiaxial fatigue strength of aluminium friction stir (FS welded joints. Having developed a bespoke joining technology, circumferentially FS welded tubular specimens of Al 6082-T6 were tested under proportional and non-proportional tension and torsion, the effect of non-zero mean stresses being also investigated. The validation exercise carried out using the experimental results have demonstrated that the MWCM applied in terms of nominal stresses, notch stresses, and also the Point Method is accurate in predicting the fatigue lifetime of the tested FS welded joints, with its use resulting in life estimates that fall within the uniaxial and torsional calibration scatter bands.

Evaluation of Electron Beam Welding Performance of AA6061-T6 Plate-type Fuel Assembly

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Soo-Sung; Seo, Kyoung-Seok; Lee, Don-Bae; Park, Jong-Man; Lee, Yoon-Sang; Lee, Chong-Tak

2014-01-01

As one of the most commonly used heat-treatable aluminum alloys, AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy is available in a wide range of structural materials. Typically, it is used in structural members, auto-body sheet and many other applications. Generally, this alloy is easily welded by conventional GTAW (Gas Tungsten Arc Welding), LBW (Laser Beam Welding) and EBW(Electron Beam Welding). However, certain characteristics, such as solidification cracking, porosity, HAZ (Heat-affected Zone) degradation must be considered during welding. Because of high energy density and low heat input, especially LBW and EBW processes possess the advantage of minimizing the fusing zone and HAZ and producing deeper penetration than arc welding processes. In present study, to apply for the plate-type nuclear fuel fabrication and assembly, a fundamental electron beam welding experiment using AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy specimens was conducted. Furthermore, to establish the suitable welding process, and satisfy the requirements of the weld quality, EBW apparatus using an electron welding gun and vacuum chamber was developed, and preliminary investigations for optimizing the welding parameters of the specimens using AA6061-T6 aluminum plates were also performed. The EB weld quality of AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy for the plate-type fuel assembly has been also studied by the weld penetrations of side plate to end fitting and fixing bar and weld inspections using computed tomography

Influence of Processing Parameters on the Flow Path in Friction Stir Welding

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, J. A.; Nunes, A. C., Jr.

2006-01-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid phase welding process that unites thermal and mechanical aspects to produce a high quality joint. The process variables are rpm, translational weld speed, and downward plunge force. The strain-temperature history of a metal element at each point on the cross-section of the weld is determined by the individual flow path taken by the particular filament of metal flowing around the tool as influenced by the process variables. The resulting properties of the weld are determined by the strain-temperature history. Thus to control FSW properties, improved understanding of the processing parameters on the metal flow path is necessary.

Microstructural evolution during friction stir welding of AlSi1MgMn alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Janjić

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper provides the research of the infl uence of geometric and kinematic parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joint of aluminum alloy AlSi1MgMn (6082-T6 obtained through the Friction Stir Welding (FSW process. The experiment parameters were welding speed, rotation speed, angle of pin slope, pin diameter and shoulder diameter. On the obtained welded workpieces the dynamic testing on the impact toughness, and determination of microstructural zones were carried out.

Texture analysis of a friction stir welded ultrafine grained Al–Al2O3 composite produced by accumulative roll-bonding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shamanian, Morteza; Mohammadnezhad, Mahyar; Szpunar, Jerzy

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Aluminum matrix composite was successfully bonded using friction stir welding. • After welding process the fraction of low angle boundary area rapidly decreases. • The grain growth in the NZ is related the increase of temperature during the FSW. • The aluminum matrix composite has a strong Rotated Cube texture. • The weld nugget has a Rotated Cube and shear texture. - Abstract: In recent years, several studies have been focused on friction stir welding of aluminum alloys, and some researchers have also been reported on welding of aluminum-based composites. In the present research, ultrafine grained sheets of aluminum matrix composite (Al–Al 2 O 3 ) were produced by accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) technique. The aluminum composite sheets were then joined by friction stir welding. The present work describes the effect of the FSW process on the microstructure and crystallographic textures in the base metal and weld nugget. Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) results demonstrated the existence of different grain orientations within the weld nugget as compared to the base metal. Al composite plates have a Rotated Cube texture component. Moreover, in the nugget, grain structure with Rotated Cube and shear texture developed. Friction stir welding coarsened the grain size in the weld zone from the original grain size of 3–17 μm

Improving the particle distribution and mechanical properties of friction-stir-welded composites by using a smooth pin tool

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Huijie; Hu, Yanying; Zhao, Yunqiang; Fujii, Hidetoshi

2017-09-01

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a very promising technique for joining particle-reinforced aluminum-matrix composites (PRAMCs), but with increase in the volume fraction of reinforcing particles, their distribution in welds becomes inhomogeneous. This leads to an inconsistent deformation of welds and their destruction at low stresses. In order to improve the weld microstructure, a smooth pin tool was used for the friction stir welding of AC4A + 30 vol.% SiC particle-reinforced aluminum-matrix composites. The present work describes the effect of welding parameters on the characteristics of particle distribution and the mechanical properties of welds. The ultimate strength of weld reached, 309 MPa, was almost 190% of that of the basic material. The mechanism of SiC particle conglomeration is clearly illustrated by means of schematic illustrations.

Multi-objective Optimization of Process Parameters in Friction Stir Welding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tutum, Cem Celal; Hattel, Jesper Henri

The objective of this paper is to investigate optimum process parameters in Friction Stir Welding (FSW) to minimize residual stresses in the work piece and maximize production efficiency meanwhile satisfying process specific constraints as well. More specifically, the choices of tool rotational...... speed and traverse welding speed have been sought in order to achieve the goals mentioned above using an evolutionary multi-objective optimization (MOO) algorithm, i.e. non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II), integrated with a transient, 2- dimensional sequentially coupled thermo...

Microstructure, mechanical properties and microtexture of friction stir welded S690QL high yield steel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Paillard, Pascal [Institut des Matériaux Jean Rouxel, UMR 6205, Polytech Nantes, Site de la Chantrerie, BP 50609, 44306 Nantes cedex 3 (France); Bertrand, Emmanuel, E-mail: emmanuel.bertrand@univ-nantes.fr [Institut des Matériaux Jean Rouxel, UMR 6205, Polytech Nantes, Site de la Chantrerie, BP 50609, 44306 Nantes cedex 3 (France); Allart, Marion; Benoit, Alexandre [Institut de Recherche Technologique Jules Verne, Chemin du Chaffault, 44340 Bouguenais (France); Ruckert, Guillaume [DCNS Research, Technocampus Ocean, 5 rue de l' Halbrane, 44340 Bouguenais (France)

2016-12-15

Two try-out campaigns of friction stir welding (FSW) were performed with different friction parameters to join S690QL high yield strength steel. The welds were investigated at macroscopic and microscopic scales using optical and electronic microscopy and microhardness mapping. Welds of the second campaign exhibit microstructures and mechanical properties in accordance with requirements for service use. Microtexture measurements were carried out in different zones of welds by electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). It is shown that that texture of the bottom of the weld is similar to that of the base metal, suggesting a diffusion bonding mechanism. Finally, the mechanical properties (tensile strength, resilience, bending) were established on the most promising welds. It is shown that it is possible to weld this high yield strength steel using FSW process with satisfactory geometric, microstructural and mechanical properties. - Highlights: •1000 mm ∗ 400 mm ∗ 8 mm S690QL steel plates are joined by friction stir welding (FSW). •Maximum hardness is reduced by optimization of process parameters. •Various microstructures are formed but no martensite after process optimization. •Texture is modified in mechanically affected zones of the weld. •Texture in the bottom of the weld is preserved, suggesting diffusion bonding.

Study on microstructure and tensile properties of fly ash AMCs welded by FSW

Science.gov (United States)

Sachinkumar, Narendranath, S.; Chakradhar, D.

2018-04-01

Aluminum matrix composite (AMCs) constitute a new class of light weight and high strength materials which have widespread applications in almost all engineering sectors. But the cost of AMCs is the only barrier to increase their applications still. Hence there is a huge demand for the composites containing low cost reinforcement with less weight, keeping this in mind, in the present work, Friction stir welding (FSW) of AA6061/SiC/fly ash was carried out successfully. Microstructural study on the welded specimens was performed using optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results indicate that fly ash particles were uniformly distributed in the weld nugget area because of the stirring action of the FSW tool also promoted the grain refinement of the matrix material with complete elimination of clusters present in matrix material which resulting in sound welds without any defects for AA6061/SiC/fly ash composites. 82% of joint efficiency is obtained for selected AMCs. Transverse tensile test results showed that all welds fractured in HAZ.

Numerical Simulation of Tension Properties for Al-Cu Alloy Friction Stir-Welded Joints with GTN Damage Model

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Guo-Qin; Sun, Feng-Yang; Cao, Fang-Li; Chen, Shu-Jun; Barkey, Mark E.