List of Abstracts

This paper describes recent developments in the joining of titanium alloys using Friction Stir Welding (FSW). Titanium alloys represent an extremely challenging application for FSW, due to their high strength, high melting point, and very low thermal conductivity. Recent work at TWI has resulted in the invention of a new variant of FSW, named Stationary Shoulder Friction Stir Welding (SSFSW), which has been specifically designed for the joining of high temperature, low conductivity, materials. This paper describes the new SSFSW approach, and shows examples of the significantly improved results which are now being achieved in the joining of titanium alloys. Samples of butt and lap welds in Ti-6Al-4V are shown, produced using both 1D and 2D welding paths. Examples are also included which demonstrate the potential for additive manufacture of Ti parts by multiple SSFSW. The ongoing development of SSFSW offers the potential for a new joining and/or additive manufacturing process for Ti alloys, which may result in significant technical and economic advantages.

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is one of the most used solid-state welding processes in the aeronautical, aerospace, ground transportation and naval fields. Stationary Shoulder Friction Stir Welding (SSFSW) is a recently introduced variant of the process allowing lower heat input into the joints, with beneficial effects in terms of joint mechanical properties, microstructure and top surface finish. In the paper, lap joints produced by SSFSW and made out of AA6082-T6 aluminum alloy sheets have been analyzed with the aim to investigate the effect of the stationary shoulder on the lap joints surface, metallurgical, and mechanical properties. The lap joints produced by SSFSW have been compared to the ones produced by “conventional” FSW in order to highlight the differences between the two processes. The top surface of the joints obtained with the two processes has been quantitatively evaluated. Finally, a dedicated numerical model has been utilized to highlight the causes of the observed differences through the distributions of the main field variables, namely temperature, strain and strain rate. It was found that SSFSW results in narrower weld nugget and smaller areas involved by micro hardness reduction caused by smaller peak temperature and high temperature zone. Additionally, better surface quality was found for the joint welded by SSFSW with lower heights and flash, allowing to avoid subsequent finishing operations needed for most industrial applications.

Friction stir welding is a novel solid state joining process for making low cost, energy efficient butt welds in aluminum alloy extrusions. The plate edges are clamped against a backing plate and the material is plastically deformed and stirred by a rotating tool moving along the joint line. The resulting weld bead is flush with the surface and exhibits little distortion. The material in the weld and heat affected zone (HAZ) has a fine-grained microstructure and a high tensile strength compared with welds produced by conventional arc welding methods. The present investigation was undertaken to determine the fatigue properties of friction stir welds in 5 mm thick plates in an AA6082 alloy. Extruded plates in the T4 condition were used in the test program. S-N tests in pulsating tension at R = 0.5 were performed on specimens with the weld transverse to the stress direction. Reference tests were made on the base material. Crack growth data were obtained for material in the weld metal, in the HAZ and base material. S-N tests were also made on conventional MIG butt welds from the same batch material to enable a comparison of the two welding methods. The results indicate that the fatigue strength of transverse friction stir welds is approximately 50 percent higher than the fatigue strength of MIG butt welds. The crack growth rates obtained for the weld material were lower than in the base material, probably due to a more fine grained microstructure in the weld region. INTRODUCTION The friction stir welding process has recently been developed as a cost effective alternative to conventional metal inert gas (MIG) and tungsten inert gas (TIG) Transactions on Engineering Sciences vol 8, © 1995 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3533 226 Surface Treatment Effects II welding in aluminum alloys [1]. A major advantage of friction stir welding is that it is a solid state process involving a much lower heat input than that required in conventional arc welding methods. The weld itself and its adjacent narrow heat affected zone both have a very fine-grained microstructure with high mechanical strength. The high tensile strength of the weld material and the favorable geometry would also indicate that friction stir welds could have high levels of fatigue strength. A testing program was implemented to determine the fatigue properties of transverse butt welds of two alloys in the AA6000 series. The data presented in this paper are results from introductory tests on specimens fabricated from extruded plates in AA6082 material in the T4 temper condition. THE FRICTION STIR WELDING PROCESS In friction stir welding the plates to be joined are clamped on a backing plate to prevent movement A cylindrical shouldered tool with a specially profiled pin is rotated at a high speed, see Fig. la. The pin is slowly brought into contact with the joint line, and the material is heated by friction and plasticised in an annular volume around the pin. As the pin is lowered into the plates, soft material is extruded at the surface. Upon further lowering of the pin and movement along the joint line the shoulder face contacts the plate surface and the plasticised material is compressed against the face of the shoulder. The soft material is mashed by the leading face of the pin profile and transported to the trailing face of the pin where it consolidates and cools to form a solid-phase weld. The generation of a friction stir weld has many similarities with extrusion seam welds that form when material is joined in the weld chamber of an extrusion die [2]. The material flow, however, is somewhat different due to the more extensive mechanical mixing of the material from the two plates in the friction stir process. The properties of the weld are closely related to the tool technology. The tool bit shape and material determines the heating, plastic flow and forging pattern. Development of the friction stir welding process has up to now been concentrated mainly on butt and lap joints, however, introductory tests have shown that friction stir welding is suitable for a wide range of joint configurations [4], as shown in Fig. 2. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM The specimens were fabricated from AA6082 alloy plate material, in the T4 (as-extruded) condition. The plate thickness was 5 mm. The mechanical properties are listed in Table 1. Transactions on Engineering Sciences vol 8, © 1995 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3533 Surface Treatment Effects II 227 Table 1. Mechanical properties of the AA6082 alloy in T4 temper.

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, offers many advantages and, particularly in the medical field, it has stood out for its potential for the manufacture of patient-specific implantable devices. Thus, the unique properties of 3D-printed biocompatible polymers such as Polylactic Acid (PLA) and Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) have made these materials the focus of recent research where new post-processing and joining techniques need to be investigated. This study investigates the weldability of PLA and PEEK 3D-printed plates through stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SS-FSW) with assisted heating. An SS-FSW apparatus was developed to address the challenges of rotating shoulder FSW of thermoplastics, with assisted heating either through the shoulder or through the backing plate, thus minimizing material removal defects in the welds. Successful welds revealed that SS-FSW improves surface quality in both PLA and PEEK welds compared to rotating shoulder tools. Process parameters for PLA welds are investigated using the Taguchi method, emphasizing the importance of lower travel speeds to achieve higher joint efficiencies. In PEEK welds, the heated backing plate proved effective in increasing process heat input and reducing cooldown rates which were associated with higher crystallinity PEEK. Despite these findings, further research is needed to improve the weld strength of SS-FSW with these materials considering aspects like tool design, process stability, and 3D printing parameters. This investigation emphasizes the potential of SS-FSW in the assembly of thermoplastic materials, offering insights into the weldability of additively manufactured biocompatible polymers like PLA and PEEK.

Commercial purity aluminium AA1050 and aluminium alloy AA6016 were accumulative roll bonded and subsequently friction stir welded. The microstructure of the conventional and ultrafine-grained materials produced by accumulative roll bonding is strongly affected by friction stir welding. The elongated ultrafine-grained microstructure of roll bonded sheets becomes coarser and equiaxed in the nugget region. Hydraulic bulge tests showed that higher burst pressure can be achieved for samples without friction stir welding than for the ones with friction stir welding. Localised deformation, crack initiation and propagation, as well as the final fracture occurred within the nugget. Friction stir welded AA1050 sheet showed similar achievable burst pressures and von Mises equivalent strains compared to the as-received conventionally grained sheets. On the other hand, significantly higher burst pressures and at the same time higher von Mises equivalent strains were observed for the friction stir welded ultrafine-grained material than for the friction stir welded conventionally grained material.

Recently, several metallic materials with ultrafine-grained structures and characterized by high strength and toughness have been developed. When these ultrafine-grained materials are practically used, welding and joining processes are required. However, conventional fusion welding processes result in deterioration of the good mechanical properties of these ultrafine-grained materials due to the drastic grain growth of the ultrafine grains. On the other hand, friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining process having lower heat-input than fusion welding processes, enabling formation of a fine grain structure in the stir zone. Thus, this process would effectively alleviate deterioration of mechanical properties of the ultrafine-grained materials. The authors applied FSW to ultrafine-grained Al alloys and then examined the microstructural features associated with hardness in the friction stir welds. The present paper reviews microstructural evolution of ultrafine-grained Al alloys, produced by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) and accumulative roll-bonding (ARB), during FSW.

Various methods have been proposed to modify the friction stir welding. Friction stir vibration welding and underwater friction stir welding are two variants of this technique. In friction stir vibration welding, the adjoining workpieces are vibrated normal to the joint line while friction stir welding is carried out, while in underwater friction stir welding the friction stir welding process is performed underwater. The effects of these modified versions of friction stir welding on the microstructure and mechanical characteristics of AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy welded joints are analyzed and compared with the joints fabricated by conventional friction stir welding. The results indicate that grain size decreases from about 57 μm for friction stir welding to around 34 μm for friction stir vibration welding and about 23 μm for underwater friction stir welding. The results also confirm the evolution of Mg 2 Si precipitates during all processes. Friction stir vibration welding and underwater friction stir welding processes can effectively decrease the size and interparticle distance of precipitates. The strength and ductility of underwater friction stir welding and friction stir vibration welding processed samples are higher than those of the friction stir welding processed sample, and the highest strength and ductility are obtained for underwater friction stir welding processed samples. The underwater friction stir welding and friction stir vibration welding processed samples exhibit about 25% and 10% higher tensile strength compared to the friction stir welding processed sample, respectively. The results also indicate that higher compressive residual stresses are developed as underwater friction stir welding and friction stir vibration welding are applied.

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid–state joining process that is increasingly being used in various industrial applications due to its numerous advantages over conventional welding techniques. FSW uses a non-consumable rotating tool to generate frictional heat and plasticize the material in the joint, resulting in a defect-free, high-quality bond between two pieces of metal without the need for any filler material or shielding gas. The process is particularly well-suited for welding lightweight and high-strength materials, such as aluminium, magnesium and titanium and is known for its ability to produce joints with superior mechanical properties, including high fatigue strength and improved corrosion resistance. This paper addresses the need for future development in Friction Stir Welding.

The Friction Spot Welding - FSpW is a solid-state process that allows joining two or more metal sheets in lap configuration with no residual keyhole as occurs in the Friction Stir Welding - FSW process. The present work reports part of the efforts made at GKSS Research Centre to better understand the complex phenomena that take place during FSpW of aluminum alloys and establish the mechanical response of the resulting joints. Over the recent years the research on modeling friction based welding processes has increased considerably. Most of the works related to this subject deal with the process mechanics. On the other hand, some investigations have shown how the process variables affect the mechanical properties of the joints, but it is very difficult to find quantitative results that can be readily used for mechanical design purposes. The aim of this work is to develop an analysis procedure based on the process characteristics that allows evaluating how the resulting geometry and microstructure affect the joint mechanical behavior. For this, the results of the mechanical tests obtained on AA2024-T3 aluminum alloy were used to calibrate and validate a numerical model that was used to predict the joint failure mode. The model reproduced the specimen geometry and load conditions adopted in the lap-shear and cross-tensile tests. The joint was considered as formed by three main regions (SZ - stir zone, TMAZ - thermo mechanically affected zone and HAZ - heat affected zone) whose properties and dimensions were based in microhardness evaluation and macrographic analysis of welded specimens. It was observed a good agreement between the simulation results and experimental data. The numerical modeling of the joints allows the prediction of the joint mechanical properties, as well as to understand how a change in geometry and property of each region affects the final mechanical behavior. Based in the obtained results, the analysis procedure can be easily extended to the related friction based spot processes as Friction Stir Spot Welding - FSSW.

In this study, Al/Al2O3 composites with two different particle sizes of 1 µm and 0.3 µm were produced via accumulative roll bonding (ARB). The microstructure evolution, mechanical properties and fracture behavior of the composites were investigated. Results show that higher ARB cycles are required to achieve a uniform distribution of particles in the composite with 0.3 µm particle size. During ARB, dense cluster of the particles broke up and a uniform distribution of particles was achieved after eight ARB cycles. The tensile strength of the composite with 1 µm and 0.3 µm particle size enhanced by increasing the number of ARB cycles, reached to about 170 MPa and 175 MPa, respectively, in comparison to that of the annealed Al (about 47 MPa). The finer particles caused a higher tensile strength due to the decrease in the distance between the particles at a given volume fraction. The fracture surface of both composites revealed ductile type fracture characterized by dimples. The dimples in the composite with particle size of 1 μm were larger and deeper.

Texture evolution during ARB (Accumulative Roll Bonding) processing of Ti–10Zr–5Nb–5Ta alloy

Ultrahigh-purity aluminium sheets with excellent electrical and thermal conductivity at ultra-low temperature have uses in heat dissipation components in, for example, superconducting equipment. Recently, here has been a requirement for the development of methods of welding these sheets without degrading their excellent conductivity. This study focused on friction stir welding (FSW), which was conducted for 99.999 wt.% (5 N) Al thin sheets with thickness of 0.8 mm. The FSW tool rotation speed was set to 3000 rpm, and both the welding speed and tool insertion depth were varied. Decreasing welding speed suppressed the occurrence of a kissing bond on an FSW back side and increased the area of the stir zone that had ultrafine grains, although residual strain in all the joints was greater than in tungsten inert gas (TIG)-welded joints which consisted of coarse grains similar to the base metal. Fracture occurred in the base metal in tensile tests of the FSW joints except for those made at the maximum welding speed, in contrast to rupture near the fusion line of the TIG-welded joint due to blowholes. On the other hand, the residual resistivity ratio (RRR) of FSW and TIG-welded joints decreased to almost half of that of the base metal. The heat treatment at 500°C for 3 h increased the RRR of the FSW joints to almost the same value as that of the base metal. This is attributed to a significant reduction of residual strain as well as grain coarsening. In TIG-welded joint, there is an evident decrease in the RRR associated with a decrease in purity. Therefore, FSW in conjunction with post-weld heat treatment would be a better choice to achieve high conductivity at ultra-low temperatures in 5 N-Al thin sheet joints, while maintaining a high joining strength.

Analysis of contact conditions and its influence on strain rate and temperature in friction stir welding

Effect of initial grain size on the joint properties of friction stir welded aluminum

AA1050/AA7050 multilayered composite sheets with a proportion of 1:1 were produced by Accumulative Roll Bonding (ARB) and Asymmetric Accumulative Roll-Bonding (AARB), using up to 8 cycles and intermediate annealing treatments at 500°C. The main purpose was to produce one composite sheet with high strength and moderate ductility, taking advantage of the mechanical properties of these aluminum alloys. Microstructural features were investigated in order to evaluate the potential to achieve a refined microstructure and the development of structural patterns. The strain distributions as a function of friction and asymmetry were simulated by finite element analysis. Texture was evaluated by X-ray diffraction and electron backscatter diffraction. A continuous layer pattern was obtained by ARB, up to 6 cycles but after 8 cycles shear bands fragmented the harder layers. In the early AARB cycles, the bending and necking of the AA7050 layers yielded a wavy-pattern. The shear strain in the AARB process has a strong influence on achieving a wavy-pattern, more than the flow stress differences of the alloys in the composite. Shear texture increased with the degree of the layers’ discontinuity. Different sources of shear contributed to the formation of microstructural patterns: the shear due to asymmetry, the frictional shear at roll-sheet interface and at the central layer interface and the shear at the layers’ interface. In addition, the ARB process achieved a better interfacial adhesion at the middle interface and higher strength and elongation than the AARB process.