Modelling thermal cycles and intermetallic growth during friction melt bonding of ULC steel to aluminium alloy 2024-T3

Abstract

Dissimilar materials, aluminium 2024-T3 and ultralow carbon steel, have been welded by a novel process called friction melt bonding. A finite element thermal model is developed to predict temperature cycles and to estimate the fusion pool geometry and the intermetallic bonding layer thickness. The total mechanical power input in pseudo-steady state is inferred from in situ measurements at the tool torque and rotational speed. Temperature dependent properties, including the latent heat of fusion, and proper contact conditions between the welded plates and the backing plate are included. Predicted temperatures are in agreement with the measurements at various distances from the weld centreline. Molten pool geometries and intermetallic thicknesses, whose control is crucial to insure good weld mechanical performances, are also in accordance with the experimental observations.     

Development of circumferential TIG welding process model: a simulation model for welding of pipe and plate

Abstract

It is useful to develop a numerical model for various welding positions in order to understand welding phenomena. Welding simulation models for a particular application could help in offline robot programming and online robot control. The objective of this study was to develop a tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding simulation model for various workpieces of different shapes. The present model may be easily applied to several workpiece configurations. This article deals with a model for circumferential welding of a pipe to a plate of mild steel, and aluminium alloys. The calculated results clarify that a homogeneous weld is hardly obtained at a fixed pipe welding position due to gravity, and that weld bead shape varies sensitively with wall thickness in pipe to plate welding. It is concluded that the model proposed in this article is useful to simply simulate TIG welding and provides a powerful means to estimate the optimum process parameters in welding practice.     

TA2薄壁钛管双TIG焊温度场和残余应力分布对接头组织性能的影响

针对纯钛TA2薄壁管的钨极氩弧焊(TIG)高速焊接时出现的咬边、驼峰等成形缺陷,以及焊接效率低等问题,提出采用双TIG焊接工艺,可有效提高焊接速度,改善焊缝成形的解决措施。同时采用ABAQUS对两种焊接方法建立焊接热弹塑性有限元模型,对比分析焊接温度场和焊后残余应力分布,并进一步对焊接TA2薄壁钛管进行显微组织分析及力学性能测试。试验结果表明:模拟所得的两种接头的焊缝轮廓尺寸与实际接头相近,双TIG焊接时焊缝中心温度低于TIG焊接,且双TIG焊缝附近Von Mises应力大于200 MPa的宽度小于TIG焊缝,焊后稳态时焊缝中心的Von Mises应力相近。双TIG焊缝中心及热影响区显微组织比TIG焊细小,两种接头的各项力学性能和耐海水腐蚀性能均满足相关标准要求。φ19 mm×0.7 mm的TA2钛管在获得良好焊缝成形的条件下,采用双TIG焊接工艺的焊接速度可达5 m/min。与TIG焊接工艺相比,生产效率大为提高,基本实现焊缝零缺陷。     

Alternative current flux zoned tungsten inert gas welding process for aluminium alloys

Abstract

A new variant of activating flux tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding process called flux zoned TIG (FZ-TIG) welding is proposed to weld aluminium alloys based on the mechanism of activating flux constricting welding arc. This process can not only increase weld penetration but also obtain perfect weld surface appearance simultaneously. An alternative current FZ-TIG welding is made using SiO₂ as the side region material and flux FZ108 developed by the authors with uniform design method as the central region coat material. The weld penetration can reach above three times that of the conventional alternative current TIG welding. All the weld shape, weld microstructure and weld mechanical properties are fine. Except for argon shielding gas flowrate, other welding parameters, including welding current, welding speed, central coat width, central coat content and solvent, have great effect on the weld penetration of alternative current FZ-TIG welding for aluminium alloys.     

Pass-by-pass stress evolution in multipass welds

In multipass welding, each successive thermal cycle will introduce local melting, solid state phase transformations, grain growth, grain refinement, recrystallisation and recovery, all of which lead to a complicated stress state. Most stress measurements performed on multipass welded components represent the final residual stress state. Information concerning stress evolution on a pass-by-pass basis is difficult to find. In this investigation, six pass welds were made on high strength quenched and tempered steel sections, and depth resolved strain measurements in two orthogonal directions were carried out after each weld pass using energy dispersive synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The residual stresses were calculated using biaxial Hooke’s law. A thermal–metallurgical–mechanical welding model was constructed and validated with temperature and pass-by-pass stress measurements, which improves the reliability of the model. Cross-sectional stress distributions are presented after each pass, revealing the weld stress development in multipass welds.     

Effect of active flux addition on laser welding of austenitic stainless steel

Abstract

The use of active flux in tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding is known to increase its weld depth. The present paper involves study of active flux laser beam welding (ALBW) of austenitic stainless steel sheets with respect to its effect on plasma plume, microstructure and mechanical properties of the resultant weldments. ALBW performed with SiO₂ as the flux significantly modified shape of the fusion zone (FZ) to produce narrower and deeper welds. Plasma plume associated with the process was considerably smaller and of lower intensity than that produced during bead on plate laser beam welding (LBW). Flux addition during LBW produced thin and rough weld bead associated with humping. The development of such a weld bead is cause by reversal in the direction of Marangoni flow by oxygen induced inversion of surface tension gradient, widely fluctuating plasma plume and presence of oxides on the weld pool surface preventing free flow of the melt. Active flux laser weldments exhibited lower ductility than that of bead on plate laser weldments.     

Influence of pre- and post-weld heating on weldability of modified 9Cr–1Mo(V–Nb) steel pipe under shielded metal arc and tungsten inert gas welding processes

Abstract

Welding of modified 9Cr–1Mo(V–Nb) steel pipes has been carried out via shielded metal arc (SMA) and tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding processes. The weld joints have been produced using different preheating temperatures, followed by post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) at various temperatures. The microstructures of the weld and of the heat affected zone (HAZ) of the weld joints have been studied under the optical microscope and correlated with the preheating and PWHT. The average hardness of the weld and different regions of the HAZ, and tensile properties of the weld joints have also been studied and correlated with the preheating and PWHT. The tensile properties of the SMA and TIG weld joints produced using preheating and PWHT at various temperatures are compared and correlated with their microstructures. It is noted that a comparatively high preheating temperature of the order of 573 K is beneficial, and PWHT is necessary to reduce the susceptibility to cold cracking of weld joints of the present steel. The PWHT at 1123 K enhances ductility to fracture, but decreases the tensile strength of the base material, causing fracture of both the SMA and TIG weld joints from this region close to the HAZ. The tensile properties of SMA welds are found to be superior to those of the TIG welds, especially for PWHT at temperatures up to 1023 K.     

ZnCl2和TiO2活性剂对镁合金TIG焊的影响

进行了单侧涂敷活性剂和两侧涂敷活性剂焊接镁合金的研究,分析了不同活性剂对焊缝及电弧的影响.结果表明,在单侧涂覆活性剂和两侧涂敷活性剂试验中,ZnCl2活性剂增加熔深的效果均优于TiO2活性剂.涂敷同样的活性剂,熔深增加的效果随着涂敷活性剂偏移量或间隙量的增大而减小.在单侧涂敷活性剂试验中,ZnCl2活性剂对熔池的偏移作用更明显.热稳定性差的ZnCl2活性剂改变电弧导电通道,使电弧形态发生明显改变.而热稳定性好的TiO2活性剂没有改变电弧导电通道,其电弧形态未发生明显改变.     

Evaluation of TIG flux welding on the characteristics of stainless steel

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of specific oxide fluxes on the surface appearance, weld morphology, retained δ ferrite content, hot cracking susceptibility, angular distortion and mechanical properties obtained with the tungsten inert gas (TIG) process applied to the welding of 5 mm thick austenitic stainless steel plates. An autogenous gas tungsten arc welding process was applied to stainless steels through a thin layer of activating flux to produce a bead on plate welded joint. The MnO₂ and ZnO fluxes used were packed in powdered form. The experimental results indicated that the 80% MnO₂–20% ZnO mixture can give full penetration and also a satisfactory surface appearance for type 304 stainless steel TIG flux welds. TIG welding with MnO₂ and/or ZnO can increase the measured ferrite number in welds, and tends to reduce hot cracking susceptibility in as welded structures. It was also found that TIG flux welding can significantly reduce the angular distortion of stainless steel weldments.     

Numerical analysis of heat transfer process for double sided tungsten inert gas – metal inert gas weld pool

Abstract

Double sided arc welding is a new type of technology developed in recent years. Many experiments show that this technology has great advantages over single arc welding for the joining of intermediate thickness stainless steel and aluminium alloy base metals. In the present work, a three-dimensional transient numerical model is created to reveal the heat transfer process for a double sided tungsten inert gas (TIG) - metal inert gas (MIG) weld pool from the viewpoint of heat transfer literature and hydrodynamics. Considering of the features of the model, effective calculation software using finite element technology is adopted. The temperature fields in the weld pool for double sided TIG - MIG welding are successfully calculated; in addition, the configuration of the weld pool is also calculated.Comparisons show that thecalculatedresults agree approximately with the experimentally measured results. STWJ/310     

Numerical simulation of welding-induced distortion in thin-walled structures

Abstract

A sequentially coupled thermal stress analysis approach is presented for modelling temperature and distortion profiles resulting from welding thin-walled structures. The material is modelled as thermo-elastic–plastic with isotropic strain hardening. The heat source is modelled as a three-dimensional (3-D) double ellipsoid, and 3-D finite element (FE) models are employed for predicting ensuing distortions. Comparisons between the simulation results and experiments performed for eight weld configurations are presented. The weld configurations include bead-on-plate, butt weld and tee joint welds with varying plate thicknesses. Temperature measurements using thermocouples and an infrared (IR) imaging radiometer are directly compared to the thermal simulations. Likewise, distortions measured directly on the experimental set-ups are compared to the FE distortion predictions. Very good correlation is obtained for temperature as well as distortion predictions between experimental and proposed numerical approaches. Lastly, details of a weld simulation for the rear section of a motorcycle frame are presented.     

焊接残余应力对2024铝合金薄板疲劳寿命的影响

对搅拌磨擦焊、TIG焊和激光焊进行数值模拟,得到焊接残余应力场.将残余应力场施加到线弹性断裂力学模型之中,运用J积分方法计算残余应力强度因子,并计算裂纹扩展速率,通过与试验结果和虚拟裂纹闭合法计算结果进行对比,验证了文中所使用方法的正确性.研究发现,残余应力强度因子的分布与残余应力分布形式相似.残余应力的引入,对应力比有较大影响,但随着应力比的增大,残余应力对应力比的影响逐渐减弱.焊接残余应力的引入缩短了焊接构件的使用寿命,当裂纹长度较小时,TIG焊接构件使用寿命比搅拌摩擦焊接构件和激光焊接构件使用寿命短.     

Sensitivity analysis of history dependent material mechanical models for numerical simulation of welding process

Abstract

Yield stress of 6013-T6 aluminium alloy was tested on Gleeble 1500D thermal–mechanical system at predesigned temperatures during different typical thermal cycles, in order to accurately reflect the influence of weld thermal history on material properties. The typical thermal cycles were referred to the temperature field simulation results of real welding process. The changes of yield stress were obtained directly from the stress–strain curves generated by the tensile tests. The tests were more accurate than previous publications, where only the yield stresses at room temperature after thermal history were tested or calculated from microstructure evolution model. Experimental results showed that the changes of yield stress during the cooling stage of typical thermal cycles followed one set of curves. These yield stress–temperature curves were different from those during the heating stage. Temperature and temperature history dependent material model M2 and M3 were established based on the experimental results. M2 model was perfectly plastic model while work hardening effect was considered in M3 model. Compared with conventional temperature dependent material model M1, the distributions of longitudinal residual stress and strain obtained with temperature and temperature history dependent models fit better with published results. Yield stress of the material at the weld zone decreased a lot after having experienced weld thermal history and longitudinal compressive plastic strain at the weld zone recovered to some extent during the cooling stage in M2 and M3 models. These were the main causes for lower peak longitudinal residual tensile stress in M2 and M3 models.     

End cracking during one-sided submerged-arc welding

Abstract

The mechanical behaviour of end cracking during one-sided SAW was computer-simulated by thermal elastic analysis with the introduction of a dummy element. Experiments on small sized specimens and on-site large specimens have been carried out. The rotational deformation, the mechanism of formation of the end cracking and factors affecting it were investigated. It was concluded that for preventing the formation of end cracks, the end opening displacement and the rate of end opening should be reduced as far as possible. Theoretical analysis and on-site large specimen experiments showed that end cracking can be effectively prevented only if the arrangement of tack welds over the weld end is appropriate, and the stiffness and restraint of slit tab plate are moderate. By the aid of the above mentioned study, end cracking was successfully avoided in over 130 specimens of 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20mm thickness with weld length more than 1000m.     

Three-dimensional turbulent weld pool convection in gas metal arc welding process

Abstract

A three-dimensional model has been developed to study turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer in a gas metal arc weld pool. The phase change process during melting and solidification is modelled using the enthalpy–porosity technique. Mass and energy transports by droplet transfer are considered through a thermal analysis of the electrode. The droplet heat addition into the molten pool is considered to be in the form of a volumetric heat source distributed in an imaginary cylindrical cavity within the weld pool ('cavity' model). A two-equation k-ε model capable of addressing turbulent weld pool convection, taking into account the morphology of the phase change, is presented. The weld pool dynamics and geometry (shape and size) in a moving gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process are studied and the effects of enhanced diffusivities on the turbulent weld pool are discussed. The predicted weld pool geometry using laminar and turbulent models is also compared with corresponding experimental post-weld sections.     

航空发动机薄壁机匣疲劳裂纹修复焊接变形控制

分别采用恒定直流TIG焊、脉冲直流TIG焊、微束等离子弧焊等方法对航空发动机材料K4169试板进行了焊接试验,经测试脉冲直流TIG焊接头力学性能最优,采用该方法对机匣支板头通气孔附近的裂纹进行了修复试验,测试了裂纹所在支板头对应的内外环安装边的径向距离和距基面的距离,分析了热处理对焊接变形的影响.结果表明,机匣支板头通气孔附近的疲劳裂纹修复,导致机匣发生了径向伸缩和周向扭曲变形.热处理对于薄壁机匣疲劳裂纹修复后焊接应力的消减起到重要作用,可有效地减小焊接变形,保证装配精度.     

Temperature,macrostructure and hardness in high strength low alloy steel welds

Abstract

A series of welds have been fabricated in high strength low alloy steel (HSLA100) plate by gas metal arc welding at heat inputs of 1.0, 1.6 and 2.2 kJ mm^-1. Slices from the welds were then polished and the macrostructure was observed. Hardness maps were then determined over the entire weld zone, including the heat affected zone and the base plate. Correlations were then made between the hardness maps and the macrostructure. A bead on plate weld was made using the same heat inputs and was used to determine the temperature regimes in the weld as well as thermal profiles of the weld region. Relationships showing good correlations were observed between the various microstructures, the macrostructure, the calculated thermal profiles, and the hardness values.     

New general double ellipsoid heat source model

Abstract

Based on the tridimensional Gauss distribution of power density, a general double ellipsoid welding heat source model has been developed. This model not only consists of all the characteristics of a double ellipsoid model, but also can deal with the situation where, under an external disturbance, the arc's backbone is not perpendicular to the work surface. This general double ellipsoid model is validated by measured results of the temperature field during twin wire welding. Using the non-linear finite element software Marc, the temperature field during twin wire welding was calculated using both the double ellipsoid heat source and the general double ellipsoid heat source. The thermal cycling curves and the weld pool cross-section obtained by the general double ellipsoid heat source tally well with the experimental results.     

Effect of cathodic protection on ductility of X65 linepipe steel weldments

Abstract

The combined effects of strain rate, monotonic loading, and cathodic protection and overprotection on the mechanical properties of X65 linepipe steel parent plate and gas metal arc weld metal have been investigated in NaCl solution. The results obtained on longitudinal all parent plate and all weld metal specimens indicate that the latter material, having a higher hardness and strength level, is more susceptible to environmental cracking due to cathodically evolved hydrogen entering the steel. However, with transverse specimens, taken perpendicular to the weld, the gauge length contains parent plate, heat affected zone material, and weld metal. In this case, irrespective of the greater inherent susceptibility of the weld metal, environmental cracking and failure always occur in the parent plate. This result is attributed to the ultimate tensile strength of the lower strength parent plate being exceeded at stress levels significantly lower than the yield strength of the higher strength weld metal. The practical implications of these results are discussed. In addition, the results are presented of a fractographic analysis which relates the morphology of the environmentally induced fracture surfaces to microstructural features in the weld metal and the parent plate.     

Rolling to control residual stress and distortion in friction stir welds

Abstract

Considerable residual stress and distortion can be produced by friction stir welding, impeding industrial implementation. Finite element analysis has been used to develop three innovative rolling methods that reduce residual stress and distortion in friction stir welds. Of the three methods, post-weld direct rolling where a single roller is applied to roll the top surface of the weld after the weld metal has cooled to room temperature proved the most effective. The residual stress predictions from the model compared favourably with residual stress measurements reported in an accompanying paper. Finally, the effectiveness of using post-weld direct rolling is illustrated with an industrial example of a large integrally stiffened panel, where the distortion was virtually eliminated.