Effects of welding speed on microstructures and mechanical properties of AA2219-T6 welded by the reverse dual-rotation friction stir welding

Reverse dual-rotation friction stir welding (RDR-FSW) is a novel FSW technology in which the tool pin and the assisted shoulder rotates reversely, thus it has the capability to obtain appropriate welding conditions through adjusting the rotating tool pin and surrounding assisted shoulder independently. In the present study, a RDR-FSW tool system was designed and successfully applied to weld high strength aluminum alloy 2219-T6, and the effects of welding speed on microstructures and mechanical properties were investigated in detail. At a constant rotation speed of 800 rpm for both the rotating tool pin and the reversely rotating assisted shoulder, defect-free joints were obtained at welding speeds ranging from 50 to 150 mm/min, while a cavity defect appeared at the three-phase confluction on the advancing side when the welding speed increased to 200 mm/min. With increasing of the welding speed, the width of the softened region decreased, but the minimum microhardness value increased gradually. When compared with the joints welded by the conventional FSW, there is only a minor variation of the Vickers hardness across the stirring zone in the joint welded by the RDR-FSW. The maximum tensile strength 328 MPa (73.7 % of the base material) was obtained at the welding speed of 150 mm/min, while the elongation reached its maximum 7.0 % (60.9 % of the base material) at the welding speed of 100 mm/min. All defect-free joints were fractured at the weakest region with the minimum Vickers hardness, while for the joint with cavity defects the fracture occurred at the defect location. The tensile fracture was in the ductile fracture mode.     

Design of tool system for the external nonrotational shoulder assisted friction stir welding and its experimental validations on 2219-T6 aluminum alloy

The nonrotational shoulder assisted friction stir welding (NRSA-FSW) is still in the feasibility study stage. To reveal details in the tool system designing and highlight advantages of this novel technology, the tool system for the NRSA-FSW was designed and utilized to weld high-strength aluminum alloy 2219-T6 for validations. Compared with the joints welded by the friction stir welding (FSW) without assistance of the nonrotational shoulder (NRS), the effect of the NRS on the weld formation and mechanical properties was illustrated. At a constant welding speed 100 mm/min, defect-free joints can only be obtained at the tool rotation speed 800 rpm by the FSW without assistance of the NRS, but the NRSA-FSW can produce defect-free joints in a wider range of tool rotation speeds 600–900 rpm. The NRS prevented all plasticized materials from escaping from the stirring zone, thus the weld nugget zone transformed from the basin-type formation to the spherical formation with increasing of the stirring effect when the tool rotation speed increased gradually. For joints welded by these two FSW processes, both the tensile strength and the elongation showed nearly the same trend with the tool rotation speed, but the NRSA-FSW can produce joints with the maximum tensile strength in a wider range. Compared with the maximum joint efficiency 71.2 % of the FSW without assistance of the NRS, the maximum tensile strength obtained by the NRSA-FSW also reached 69.0 % of the base material. All tensile specimens machined from defect-free joints fractured at the weakest region with minimum Vicker’s hardness; while for those joints with cavity defects, the fracture occurred at the defect location.     

Friction stir butt welding thin aluminum alloy sheets

0.8-mm-thick alclad 2024-T4 aluminum alloy sheets were friction stir butt welded. A 15-mm diameter shoulder tool was used to guarantee sufficient heat input during welding. A 0.08-mm shoulder plunge depth was adopted to reduce sheet thickness reduction. Sound joints were obtained at rotating speeds from 400 to 1000 rpm and welding speeds from 50 to 150 mm/min. A thickness reduction of 6% was achieved at 1000 rpm and 50 mm/min. Secondary phases firstly precipitated at the black lines in the stir zone (SZ). The hardness of the SZ showed a decrease about 6% compared with the base metal. A maximum tensile strength of 399.5 MPa and an elongation of 5.6% were achieved at 1000 rpm and 150 mm/min. The fracture morphologies showed typical ductile fracture mode.     

Friction stir welding characteristics of 2219-T6 aluminum alloy assisted by external non-rotational shoulder

Friction stir welding (FSW) of 2219-T6 aluminum alloy assisted by external non-rotational shoulder was carried out, and effects of the welding speed on microstructures and mechanical properties were investigated in detail. Defect-free joints were obtained in a wide range of welding speeds from 50 to 300 mm/min. The microstructural deformation and weld formation were dominated by the rotating tool pin and subsize concave shoulder but the non-rotational shoulder exerted very little effects for all joints. Compared with the weld obtained by conventional FSW, less intense stirring effects in FSW assisted by external non-rotational shoulder can only generate a narrower thermomechanically affected zone, whose width decreased with increasing of the welding speed. Microstructures and Vickers hardness distributions showed that this new welding process is beneficial to improving the asymmetry and inhomogeneity, especially in the weld nugget zone. The maximum tensile strength was up to 69 % of the base material.     

Predictions of the optimized friction stir welding process parameters for joining AA7075-T6 aluminum alloy using preheating system

The scope of this investigation is to evaluate the effect of welding parameters on the mechanical properties and microstructural features of 3-mm-thick AA7075-T6 aluminum alloy subjected to gas heating system as a preheating source during friction stir welding. Toward this end, a gas heating system was designed to heat up the weld seam just ahead of rotating tool to soften the material before being stirred. Three welding parameters, five levels, and a central composite design (CCD) have been used to minimize the number of experimental conditions. The joining parameters such as tool rotational speed, welding speed, and shoulder diameter have a significant influence on determining the mechanical properties of the welded joints. It was found that using preheating system mostly can result in higher total heat input into the weld joint and effectively reduces the formation of defects when unsuitable process parameters were used. Also, an attempt has been made to establish the mathematical model to predict the tensile strength and microhardness of the joints. The optimal welding conditions to maximize the final responses were investigated and reported. The results show that the joint fabricated at a rotational speed of 1,050 rpm, welding speed of 100 mm/min, and shoulder diameter of 14 mm exhibited higher mechanical properties compared to other joints.     

Effective predictions of ultimate tensile strength,peak temperature and grain size of friction stir welded AA2024 alloy joints

A series of welds were made by friction stir welding (FSW) under different welding and rotation speeds. A 2D ultimate tensile strength (UTS) map was developed based on various experimental data to predict the UTS of friction stir welded AA2024 alloy joints. The accuracy of the UTS map was evaluated by comparing the estimated UTS with the corresponding experimental results from the FSW of the same material available in the open literature. Analytical models were developed to estimate the peak temperature and grain size in the nugget zone. The predicted optimal peak temperature and welding and rotation speeds for AA2024 were within the windows of 400–465 °C, 175–350 mm/min and 800–1,200 rpm, respectively, under which the joint tensile strength could be higher than 458 MPa (about 94.6 % of the base metal) and the estimated average grain sizes in the nugget zone were about 2–3.9 μm.     

AZ31B镁合金搅拌摩擦焊焊接工艺研究

采用搅拌摩擦焊对AZ31B镁合金板材进行了焊接试验,研究了搅拌头旋转速度、焊接速度和搅拌头轴肩下压量对焊接接头成形质量的影响。结果表明,搅拌头转速过快或焊接速度过慢时,焊缝会出现局部过热甚至熔化现象;反之,当搅拌头转速不够或焊接速度过快时,材料不能充分流动,会形成隧道型缺陷或表面沟槽。当搅拌头轴肩下压量过小时,焊缝内部组织疏松或出现孔洞、隧道型缺陷,焊缝表面出现沟槽,甚至使焊缝金属液外溢;搅拌头轴肩下压量过大,会造成摩擦力及搅拌头前移阻力增大、焊缝凹陷及出现飞边。当搅拌头转速为1200～1500r／min、焊速为30～60mm／min,搅拌头轴肩下压量为1．5～2．0mm时,可得表面成形良好、内部无孔洞和隧道的焊缝。     

2A14厚板铝合金SSFSW角焊缝接头组织及性能

采用自主研制搅拌针长度为8.5mm的静止轴肩搅拌工具和2A14-T4厚板铝合金进行150°角焊缝接头静止轴肩搅拌摩擦焊工艺试验,探讨焊接工艺参数对接头组织和力学性能的影响规律。结果表明:在500~700r/min主轴转速与40~100mm/min焊接速度范围内均可获得表面光滑无内部缺陷的角焊缝接头,其外观尺寸可精确控制基本无残余焊接角变形。焊缝区主要由焊核(Stir zone,SZ)组成,SZ形状类似搅拌针圆锥台状或椭圆状、其宽度沿厚度方向分布比较均匀;热力影响区(Thermal mechanical affected zone,TMAZ)及热影响区(Heat affected zone,HAZ)宽度明显较小。焊缝区硬度分布具有明显不均匀特征,最薄弱区位于TMAZ与HAZ的交界处。主轴转速变化对焊缝区平均硬度影响较小,但随着焊接速度增加其平均硬度明显增大。角焊缝前进侧等效拉伸强度大于后退侧,等效拉伸强度随转速增加而减小,焊速的增大而增大。在500r/min-100mm/min焊接工艺下所得到的接头等效拉伸强度最高,可达到母材的79.24%。在拉-剪复合承载模式下,角焊缝拉伸试样宏观塑性变形很小呈现脆性断裂特征。     

Low-cycle fatigue of a friction stir welded 2219-T62 aluminum alloy at different welding parameters and cooling conditions

Strain-controlled low-cycle fatigue tests and microstructural evaluation were performed on a friction stir welded 2219-T62 aluminum alloy with varying welding parameters and cooling conditions. Cyclic hardening of friction stir welded joints was appreciably stronger than that of the base material. The cyclic stress amplitude increased, and plastic strain amplitude and fatigue lifetime slightly decreased with increasing welding speed from 60 to 200 mm/min but were only weakly dependent of the rotational rate between 300 and 1,000 rpm with air cooling. Friction stir welded joints with water cooling had higher stress amplitude and fatigue life than that with air cooling. Fatigue failure of the joint occurred in the HAZ where the soft zone was present, with crack initiation from the specimen surface or near-surface defect and crack propagation characterized by typical fatigue striations.     

搅拌摩擦焊工艺参数对2198铝锂合金焊缝成形及接头力学性能的影响

对2198铝锂合金薄板进行了搅拌摩擦焊试验,分析了搅拌头旋转速度和焊接速度对焊缝成形及接头力学性能的影响。结果表明:旋转速度(n)与焊接速度(v)的比值大于15.7时,能形成表面成形良好,且内部致密无缺陷的焊缝;接头焊核区形成了细小的等轴晶,前进侧热力影响区大部分为等轴状晶粒,后退侧热力影响区的板条状组织发生了变形,其周围出现了细晶粒;焊接速度为30mm·min-1时,接头的抗拉强度随旋转速度的增大而变小,其最大值为432.17MPa,焊缝的硬度低于母材的,热力影响区的硬度最低,焊核区的硬度略高于热力影响区的。随着n/v的增大,热影响区的软化区间变宽。     

包铝层对7B04-O铝合金薄板搅拌摩擦搭接性能影响

对2 mm厚的带有包铝层的退火态(O态)7B04铝合金薄板进行搅拌摩擦搭接焊接(Friction stir lap welding, FSLW)。分析包铝层、焊接参数、热处理对FSLW接头质量、微观组织及力学性能的影响。结果表明,焊核中的原始包铝层无法被完全打碎分散,其中前进侧的分散比较明显,而后退侧的包铝层则基本保持了原来状态。通过增加转速或轴肩尺寸,可以有效消除焊核中心的孔隙缺陷,但仍无法使界面处的包铝层充分破碎分散。随着转速增加或焊接工具轴肩尺寸增大,FSLW接头强度提高。包铝层对焊态FSLW接头强度影响不明显,接头强度约为母材强度的94%;淬火后,包铝层对接头强度的影响显著,接头强度仅为淬火态母材的64%。     

Analyzing dissimilar friction stir welding of AA5754/AA7075

AA5754/AA7075 was butt-welded by friction stir welding, and the joint of each weld case was identified by ultimate tensile strength, percentage of elongation, and hardness. Moreover, the significance of each parameter was investigated, and a mathematical relation was constructed by regression analysis. A defect-free joint was achieved in the case of a weld produced with 1000 rpm of tool rotational speed, 80 mm/min of welding speed, and an 22-mm tool shoulder diameter. Most of the failures are located at the bottom of the pin and side of AA7075. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) decreases with increasing welding speed (WS) or increasing tool rotational speed (TRS). Hardness distribution in the weld zones varied dependent on the nugget zone formation affected by TRS and WS. The present study also investigated the significance and contribution of each parameter on the UTS by analysis of variance (ANOVA). From the results of ANOVA, the conclusion reached is that the all the parameters have a great influence on UTS. The contributions are 41.41 % for WS, 17.58 % for diameter, and 13.28 % for TRS. Moreover, a full quadratic model was constructed between the parameters and the UTS value. The results show that the variation from the predicted values was between 0.41 % and 10.36 %. The strength of the model was analyzed by R-Sq. The achieved R-Sq is 0.892, which means that there is a strong relation between predicted and actual values.     

固溶处理对7B04-O铝合金搅拌摩擦焊接接头微观组织与力学性能的影响

对航空用3 mm厚的带有包铝层的7B04-O铝合金板材进行搅拌摩擦焊接(Friction stir welding,FSW),研究固溶处理对搅拌摩擦焊接接头的微观组织和力学性能的影响。结果表明,当转速为800 r/min、焊接速度为200 mm/min、焊接工具轴肩直径为12 mm时,可得到表面美观、致密无缺陷的搅拌摩擦焊接接头。焊核区发生动态再结晶,形成细小的等轴晶。经固溶处理后,焊核的上部及底部晶粒都发生了异常长大,而中部区域晶粒仍然为细小的等轴晶组织。焊态接头的拉伸试样断裂在母材位置,抗拉强度达到199 MPa,与退火态母材抗拉强度相当,断后伸长率达到12%。在新淬火状态下,接头的抗拉强度为310 MPa,为相同热处理母材的91.4%,断后伸长率为11.2%,试样断裂在焊核区,呈不完全的韧性断裂。     

The effect of austenitic interlayer on microstructure and mechanical behaviors in keyhole plasma transfer arc welding of ferritic stainless steel couple

In this study, AISI 430 ferritic stainless steel couple of 10 mm thickness was welded by keyhole plasma transferred arc welding (KPTAW) process with or without filler wire addition using AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel interlayer of 2 mm thickness. Welded joints were manufactured with constant traverse speeds (0.01 m/min) under two different welding currents (110 and 130 A) at two different plasma gas flow rates (1.1 and 1.2 l/min), nozzle diameter (2.4 mm), and a shielding gas flow rate (25 l/min). In order to determine the microstructural changes that occurred, the interface regions of the welded samples were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), optic microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and energy dispersive spectrometry after KPTAW. Microhardness and V-notch impact tests were conducted to determine the mechanical properties of the welded samples. In addition, fracture surface was examined by SEM after impact test.     

Study of laser butt welding of SUS301L stainless steel and welding joint analysis

This paper describes a study on laser butt welding of 4 and 2 mm SUS301L stainless steel and a detailed analysis of welding joints. The gap tolerance of butt joint was also studied with optimized process parameters. The electrolytic etching in 10 % oxalate solution was used to test the intergranular corrosion of the 4 mm SUS301L welded joint. Fatigue property of the 2 mm SUS301L welded joint was tested under the conditional cycle times of 1?×?10⁷. Using optical microscopy, the changes of metallurgical microstructure in the weld zone of 4 mm SUS301L were also studied. It has been found that laser butt welding of 4 mm SUS301L is able to achieve sound metallurgical morphology and high strength weld joint when the butt gap is within certain tolerance. The weld joint also has good resistance to intergranular corrosion and has a fatigue limit of 310 MPa.     

电极形状对铝-钢点焊接头组织及力学性能的影响*

研究6061-T6铝合金-SUS301L不锈钢异种金属电阻点焊接头的微观组织特点及电极形状的影响规律。结果表明,铝-钢点焊接头具有熔-钎焊特征,铝合金熔核由α-Al胞状晶、胞状树枝晶和树枝晶组成,铝/钢界面层具有双层结构,靠近铝熔核侧主要为细针状Fe₄Al₁₃,靠近不锈钢侧主要为Fe₂Al₅金属间化合物,接头主要为界面断裂模式,铝/钢界面是点焊接头最薄弱的区域。电极形状对铝合金-不锈钢点焊接头具有明显的影响。获得的优化电极形状为：不锈钢侧为圆形平面电极,电极端面直径为10 mm;铝合金侧为球面电极,球面半径为35 mm。在优化电极条件下,铝合金-不锈钢点焊接头的熔核直径、拉剪力及压痕率分别为7.5 mm、4.7 kN和13.5%。与采用F型电极相比,其熔核直径和拉剪力分别提高53.1%和56.7%,压痕率降低47.3%。因此,采用优化电极更有利于改善铝合金-不锈钢电阻点焊接头的力学性能及表面质量。     

Study on microstructure and mechanical properties of dissimilar steel joint developed using friction stir welding

In the present study, microstructure and mechanical properties of dissimilar weld of structural steel and ferritic stainless steel (FSS) plates of thickness 3 mm were investigated. The plates were butt welded by friction stir welding and defect-free welds were produced at a traverse speed of 20 mm/min and rotational speed of 508 rpm using a tungsten carbide tool. The weld joint consisted of alternate bands of both steels resembling an onion ring pattern. In the weld joint, six distinct regions were found including both the base metals. The stir zone of structural steel revealed refined grain structure of ferrite, pearlite, and martensite whereas in ferritic stainless side, highly refined ferritic grains with grain boundary martensite was observed and also confirmed by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The hardness of the weld joint varies from 186 to 572 HV. This scatter of hardness in stir zone is due to the presence of metal from both sides. The ultimate tensile and yield strengths of the transverse weld specimens was higher than the structural steel base metal whereas lower than the ferritic stainless steel, having fracture from structural steel side.     

2219铝合金双轴肩搅拌摩擦焊工艺及接头组织性能研究

通过对8mm厚2219铝合金进行双轴肩搅拌摩擦焊试验,研究了不同焊接速度对接头成形、组织演变及其对力学性能的影响规律。工艺试验结果表明:在固定转速(200r/min)下,不同焊接速度下的接头均成形良好,未出现微裂纹、隧道以及疏松等焊缝表面缺陷。随着焊接速度的增加,接头区域晶粒尺寸减小;接头显微硬度受到晶粒尺寸与沉淀相分布的制约,硬度分布曲线呈“W”形,热影响区硬度最低。并且随着焊接速度的增加,接头最低硬度和抗拉强度逐渐提高,断裂位置发生在热影响区与热影响区交界处。在焊接速度为350mm/min时,接头抗拉强度达到最大值335MPa,约为母材的72.8%。     

锻造ZK60镁合金的搅拌摩擦焊工艺

采用搅拌摩擦焊焊接工艺对4 mm厚的锻造ZK60镁合金板进行了焊接试验,研究了搅拌头轴肩尺寸、旋转速度及焊接速度等对焊缝质量及接头抗拉强度的影响,并得到了较佳焊接工艺参数。结果表明:在其他条件一定时,焊接接头的抗拉强度随搅拌速度的增加而增大,随焊接速度的增加而先增大后减小;当搅拌头轴肩直径为15 mm、旋转速度为1 170 r.min-1,焊接速度为36 mm.min-1时,所得焊缝表面光滑,无裂纹、孔洞、疏松及未焊透等缺陷,接头的抗拉强度最大,为271.2 MPa,约为母材的85%。     

45~#钢激光焊接研究

本文采用5 kW快速横流CO2激光器对45#钢薄板进行了激光焊接,分析了在激光焊接工艺对其焊接接头组织及硬度的影响。结果表明,45#钢薄板激光焊接接头组织主要由下贝氏体和少量侧板条铁素体或少量马氏体组成。随着激光功率的提高,侧板条铁素体逐渐增多,马氏体逐渐减少;随着焊接速度的提高,焊接接头组织中侧板条铁素体减少,马氏体增多。激光功率和扫描速度均提高时,热影响区最高硬度提高,接头硬度均高于母材,无明显软化区。