“Size effect” in the fatigue behavior of Friction Stir Welded plates

Comparative fatigue tests were carried out on Friction Stir Welded specimens of a 2195-T8 aluminum–lithium alloy that differed significantly in width. The width of the larger specimens was over thirteen times greater than that of the small specimens. Fatigue results showed a clear “size effect”, i.e. fatigue life of large specimens was about 40% of the corresponding value of small specimens. The Equivalent Initial Flaw Size methodology was adopted to correlate the two sets of results. Fatigue crack initiation life was disregarded with respect to crack propagation life, and fatigue life was evaluated only as propagation of a small pre-existing defect. Following this methodology, test results of small specimens were used to evaluate the initial equivalent flaw contained in each specimen. It was assumed that this data followed a normal distribution. The equivalent initial flaw in larger specimens was evaluated by simple geometrical considerations. A very good assessment of mean fatigue life and scatter in the fatigue results of large specimens was obtained by simulating the propagation of these defects. Calculations were carried out by taking also welding residual stresses into account, but the results demonstrated that this effect was not significant.     

Fatigue performance of Friction Stir Welded titanium structural joints

The Friction Stir Welding process for producing corner and T-joints out of 6 mm Ti–6Al–4V was developed in this effort using previous work on butt weld joints as a starting point. A limited number of corner joints were also subjected to a bending fatigue test to preliminarily assess the applicability of the process in producing fatigue critical structures. These results were also compared to predictions made by applying stress concentration factors to previously generated uniaxial butt joint test data. While additional testing is still required to obtain a higher degree of confidence in the conclusions of this study, it was found that the performance of these corner joints in fatigue could be compared to butt joint data when a geometrically based stress concentration factor is applied. Furthermore, these welded joints possessed equivalent fatigue performance relative to identical test specimens machined from wrought product forms, both bar and extrusion. Thus, from the perspective of fatigue design, this study has shown that Friction Stir Welding is able to produce structures with the same performance as currently made from wrought materials.     

Nonlinear robust dual-loop control for electro-hydraulic load simulator

This paper investigates on the high performance torque control of electro-hydraulic load simulator (EHLS). In order to suppress actuator׳s motion disturbance, a nonlinear robust dual-loop control scheme is developed, which consists of a open-loop nonlinear velocity feed-forward compensator and a closed-loop nonlinear deterministic robust torque controller. The main function of the open-loop compensator is to decouple actuator׳s active motion disturbance, whereas the torque loop controller aims at guaranteeing the dynamics performance of tracking torque reference. Besides actuator׳s motion disturbance, both the nonlinearity characteristics and friction problem of the EHLS system are taken into consideration in this paper. The effectiveness of the developed method are verified through comparative co-simulations and experiments.     

Linear friction welding of Ti6Al4V: experiments and modelling

Linear friction welding of the Ti6Al4V alloy is studied. A new definition of the energy input rate is proposed, based on an integration over time of the in-plane force and velocity; a strong correlation with the upset rate is then found. The effective friction coefficient is estimated to be 0·5±0·1 for varying frequencies and amplitudes, with only a weak dependence on the processing conditions displayed. A model is proposed that accounts for both the conditioning and equilibrium stages of the process, which is shown to be in good agreement with the experimental data. The model is used to study the mechanism by which the flash is formed. A criterion is proposed by which the rippled nature of its morphology can be predicted.     

Condition based maintenance of the two-beam laser welding in high volume manufacturing of piezoelectric pressure sensor

Two-beam laser welding (TBLW) is an advanced process for precise, low distortion joining of cylindrical miniature parts. The process is composed of a laser source, optics and various actuators, which form a sophisticated system for control and maintenance in high volume manufacturing. A well-established method for identifying welding defects and ensuring welding quality is the monitoring of plasma light emission in TBLW. Although such monitoring systems can detect a change in process status, they are not able to diagnose the nature of the fault. The main challenge in this research was to extend the use of quality-based monitoring systems to measure additional deterioration-related parameters and to estimate system deterioration from them by using expert knowledge.This paper shows a novel condition-based maintenance (CBM) for the TBLW system, which performs condition identification using online monitoring of plasma light emission in combination with offline inspection of the seam macrographs. A combination of quality parameters derived from seam macrographs of defective parts is used to identify process deterioration, such as contamination of the optics, misalignment of the optomechanical system, or reduced laser power. The information obtained is used to make predefined process adjustments based on expert domain knowledge. The implementation of the developed CBM in high volume manufacturing of piezoelectric pressure sensors resulted in more predictable TBLW by reducing system failures as well as shorter diagnosis times.     

高频微振辅助工艺对激光焊接接头组织性能的影响

基于自主搭建的高频微振平台，进行316L不锈钢振动辅助激光焊接试验，探究高频微振激光焊接工艺对接头组织性能的影响. 结果表明，施加振动后，焊缝表面无飞溅，成形良好. 截面未出现塌陷、堆高，背部熔宽均匀. 振动的施加，能够明显细化焊缝区的晶粒，在共振频率1 467.5 Hz的高频微振激光焊条件下，晶粒尺寸最小. 点状颗粒物分布在奥氏体晶粒间，趋于弥散，新相及大颗粒物减少. 随着振动频率增加，焊缝区显微硬度值跟着增加，在较高共振频率显微硬度值增加显著，在共振频率1 467.5 Hz、加速度160 m/s2条件下，焊缝区平均硬度206 HV，与无振动相比，硬度值增加5.6%.     

H13钢等离子堆焊Ni60A/Cr3C2覆层的磨损及热疲劳性能

采用等离子堆焊技术在H13钢基体表面上制备了Ni60A/Cr₃C₂堆焊覆层,研究了覆层的磨损行为和热疲劳性能。在600 ℃下销盘试验的结果表明,镍基碳化铬复合覆层的耐磨性是Ni60A堆焊覆层的2.8倍和基材H13钢的11.6倍。镍基覆层可以显著降低H13钢的摩擦因数,加入碳化铬则会削弱覆层的摩擦性能。随着磨损的进行,主要磨损机理从氧化磨损演变为磨粒磨损和粘着磨损。在800 ℃到室温下的热疲劳测试结果表明,镍基碳化铬复合覆层在48个热循环后疲劳裂纹达到200 μm,早于镍基覆层的62次。这说明高温氧化促进热疲劳裂纹的产生。碳化铬增强相从镍基上剥离,导致镍基复合覆层热疲劳性能下降。     

A review on ultrasonic spot welding of copper alloys

As a solid state joining process, ultrasonic spot welding has been proven to be a promising technique for joining copper alloys. However, challenges still remain in employing ultrasonic spot welding to join copper alloys. This article comprehensively reviews the current state of ultrasonic spot welding of copper alloys with a number of critical issues including materials flow, plastic deformation, temperature distribution, vibration, relative motion, vertical displacement, interface friction coefficient, online monitoring technique, coupled with the macrostructure and microstructure, the mechanical properties and electrical conductivity. In addition, the future trends in this field are provided.     

Water leakage due to the welding defect and improvement to reach 1-MW beam operation in the mercury target of J-PARC

ABSTRACT

Neutron flux per pulse reached world record at neutron source in Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). In the J-PARC, mercury target system is used as a spallation neutron source. A target vessel has a multi-walled protection system that comprises a mercury vessel enclosed with a double-walled water shroud. This is to prevent the leakage of the mercury outside the target vessel. The multi-walled structure needed to be complicated with a lot of welding lines. However, during the operation, we faced an unscheduled shutdown due to water leakage to the intermediate layer between the mercury vessel and water shroud. An investigation on the cause of the leakage was carried out. It is deduced that the leakage path was formed due to the crack propagation from welding defects that are caused by the complicated multi-walled structure. The crack propagation is attributed to the repeated stress by pressure waves generated in the mercury target. Based on the investigation results, the design was improved to remove the welding line on the complicated structure and to realize the stable operation with 1 MW proton beam, which is the final design value of the neutron source in J-PARC.     

Al-Cu合金片对钢/铝异种金属激光-MIG复合焊接头组织和性能的影响

采用PLC系统控制的激光-MIG复合焊接工艺对Q890钢/6063铝合金进行异种金属焊接,研究了钢侧坡口表面添加Al-Cu合金片对接头显微组织、硬度和拉伸性能的影响。结果表明:激光-MIG复合焊接接头具有典型的熔钎焊特征;未添加Al-Cu合金片的接头界面层由舌状相Fe2Al5和粗大针状相Fe4Al13组成,厚度约18μm,添加Al-Cu合金片后由舌状相(Fe,Cu)2Al5和细小絮状相(Fe,Cu)4Al13组成,厚度约为9μm,焊缝区与热影响区的组织与未添加Al-Cu合金片时的相似;添加Al-Cu合金片的接头界面层硬度比未添加Al-Cu合金片的低约59HV;添加Al-Cu合金片的焊接接头的抗拉强度比未添加Al-Cu合金片的提高了109.8%,未添加和添加Al-Cu合金片的焊接接头均在界面层断裂。