Fatigue behaviour of dissimilar friction stir spot welds between A6061‐T6 and low carbon steel sheets welded by a scroll grooved tool without probe

A6061 and low carbon steel sheets, whose thicknesses were 2 mm, were welded by a friction stir spot welding (FSSW) technique using a scroll grooved tool without probe (scroll tool). Tensile‐shear fatigue tests were performed using lap‐shear specimens at a stress ratio R = 0.1, and the fatigue behaviour of dissimilar welds was discussed. Tensile‐shear force of the dissimilar welds was higher than that of the A6061 similar ones. Furthermore, the dissimilar welds exhibited nearly the same fatigue strengths as the A6061 similar ones, indicating FSSW by a scroll tool was effective technique for joining aluminium to steel sheet. Fatigue fracture modes of the dissimilar welds were dependent on load levels, where shear fracture through the interface between A6061 and steel occurred at high load levels, while crack grew through A6061 sheet at low load level.     

Fatigue life prediction of friction stir spot welds based on cyclic strain range with hardness distribution and finite element analysis

The main aim of the present study is to investigate the fatigue behavior of single friction stir spot welds (FSSW) using strain-based modified Morrow’s damage equation. The correlation between microhardness, cyclic material constants, and mechanical strength of different zones around the FSSW are assumed to be proportional to the base material hardness. Experimental fatigue tests of friction stir spot welded specimens have been carried out using a constant amplitude load control servo-hydraulic fatigue testing machine. ANSYS finite element code has been used to simulate a single tensile shear friction stir spot welded joint, and non-linear elastic-plastic finite element analysis has been employed to obtain the values of local equivalent stress and strain near the notch roots of the joints. The results based on the numerical predictions have been compared with the experimental fatigue test data. It has been shown that the strain-based approach does a very good job for estimating the fatigue life of friction stir spot welded joints.     

The optimisation of process parameters for friction stir spot-welded AA3003-H12 aluminium alloy using a Taguchi orthogonal array

The aim of the present work is to optimise the welding parameters for friction stir spot welded non-heat-treatable AA3003-H12 aluminium alloy sheets using a Taguchi orthogonal array. The welding parameters, such as the tool rotational speed, tool plunge depth and dwell time, were determined according to the Taguchi orthogonal table L9 using a randomised approach. The optimum welding parameters for the peak tensile shear load of the joints were predicted, and the individual importance of each parameter on the tensile shear load of the friction stir spot weld was evaluated by examining the signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance (ANOVA) results. The optimum levels of the plunge depth, dwell time and tool rotational speed were found to be 4.8 mm, 2 s and 1500 rpm, respectively. The ANOVA results indicated that the tool plunge depth has the higher statistical effect with 69.26% on the tensile shear load, followed by the dwell time and rotational speed. The tensile shear load of the friction stir spot welding (FSSW) joints increased with increasing plunge depth. Additionally, examination of the weld cross-sections, microhardness tests and fracture characterisation of the selected friction spot welded joints were conducted to understand the better performance of the joints. All the fractures of the joints during tensile testing occurred at stir zone (SZ), where the bonded section was minimum. The tensile shear load and tensile deformation of the FSSW joints increased linearly with increasing the bonded size. The finer grain size in the SZ led to the higher hardness, which resulted in higher fracture strength. When the tensile shear load of the joints increased approximately 3-fold, the failure energy absorption of the joints increased approximately 15-fold.     

Effect of weld orientation on static strength and failure mode of friction stir stitch welds in lap‐shear specimens of aluminium 6022‐T4 sheets

Stitch friction stir spot welding (FSSW) is performed on 6022‐T4 Al alloy using a concave shoulder tool with cylindrical pin. Stitch FSSW is an extension of the conventional spot FSW process where an elongated (oval) spot is produced instead of a circular spot. The main advantage of this process is that it gives appreciably higher strength than conventional spot FSW due to an increase in the joint area. In this research, an experimental and numerical approach is taken to understand the failure mechanism of stitch welds made in lap‐shear configuration. There are four ways (orientations) in which specimens can be welded to produce a lap‐shear specimen – two in transverse direction and two in longitudinal direction. The static strength of welds made with these orientations was found to be different. For stitch welds made in the longitudinal orientation, the failure always occurred near the keyhole at the tool retract position. For welds made in the transverse orientation, failure always occurred in the region of the highest stress. This difference in the weld strength can be attributed to the hook geometry and interface bond strength. The results are explained using a kinked cracked model approach and calculation of stress intensity factor at the hook geometry.     

Improving mechanical properties of pinless friction stir spot welded joints by eliminating hook defect

Hook defect (HD) seriously decreases the mechanical properties of friction stir spot welded (FSSW) joints. In this study, two methods were therefore used to eliminate the HD in pinless FSSW joints. The one is changing welding parameters such as rotating speed and dwell time. The other one is FSSW plus subsequent friction stir welding (FSSW-FSW), which is an innovative method proposed in this study. Experimental results showed that the HD in pinless FSSWed AA2024 joints was successfully eliminated by using FSSW-FSW, not by changing process parameters. The joints without HD exhibited a tensile–shear load of as much as 12 kN, which was higher than that of 6.9 kN in the joints with HD. Furthermore, it was proved that the tensile–shear load is not greatly improved only by increasing the nugget zone when HD still existed in the FSSW joints. In addition, the fracture morphology analysis demonstrated that the shear fracture of the FSSW-FSW joints took place along the boundary between the upper and lower sheets through the weld nugget, and the faying surface between the two sheets was completely sheared off.     

Identification of the pin offset effect on the friction stir welding (FSW) via Taguchi – Grey relational analysis: A Case study for AA 7075 – AA 6013 alloys

The aim of this work is to present a case study relating to the dissimilar friction stir welding (FSW) ability of AA 7075‐T651 and AA 6013‐T6 by applying pin offset technique. An orthogonal array L18 was conducted to perform the overlapped weld seams using three different values of pin offset, welding speed and tool rotational speed along with two different pin profiles determine the impact of welding parameters on the tensile properties of friction stir welded joints. The nugget zone for each of overlapped weld seams exhibited a complex structure and also, the pin offset and profile also were found to have a great impact on the microstructural evolution of the nugget zone. The ultimate tensile strength, elongation at the rapture and bending strength of welded joints were measured in the ranges of 194–215 MPa, 1.79–3.34 % and 203–352 MPa. From the Taguchi based Grey relational analysis, the optimum welding condition was determined for the welded joint performed using a single fluted pin profile with the zero pin offset, tool rotational speed of 630 min^?1 and welding speed of 63 mm/min. Microstructural and macro‐structural observations revealed that welded joints exhibiting lower tensile strength are consistent of various types of defects (e. g. cracks, tunnels and cavities). The fracture location of welded joints was found to be on the heat affected zone and between the heat affected zone and AA 6013‐base metal. The tool and pin wear was not observed during the welding applications     

异种铝合金回填式搅拌摩擦点焊工艺的研究

目的 研究搅拌头转速和轴套下压量对异质铝合金回填式搅拌摩擦点焊接头的组织及力学性能的影响。方法 采用回填式搅拌摩擦点焊技术对7050铝合金和2524铝合金进行搭接焊试验,焊接完成后利用光镜、体式显微镜、扫描电镜对组织进行观察,另外,测试拉伸剪切载荷和显微硬度分布,最后对断裂行为进行了研究。结果 接头区域可以分为焊核区、热力影响区、热影响区、母材4个区域,焊核区晶粒呈细小等轴状,热力影响区晶粒呈粗大长条状。随搅拌头转速的增大,拉剪载荷降低,当转速为1500 r/min时拉剪载荷值最高,其值为7.499 44 kN。热影响区的显微硬度比母材低,最小值为HV106。接头的断裂方式可以分为剪切型断裂、塞型断裂、剪切-半环型断裂。结论 在一定工艺参数范围内,通过适当降低搅拌头转速能显著提高接头的拉剪载荷,轴套下压量对接头的断裂方式影响显著。     

Modeling and prediction of weld shear strength in friction stir spot welding using design of experiments and neural network

Friction Stir Spot Welding (FSSW) is a kind of the friction stir welding (FSW) process, creates a spot, lap‐weld without bulk melting work materials. The tensile shear strength of the FSSW welded joints mainly depends on the pin height, tool rotation and welding time. In the present study, two of the techniques, namely factorial design and neural network (NN) were used for modeling and predicting the tensile shear strength of EN AW 5005 aluminum alloy. Tensile shear strength was taken as a response variable measured after welding pin height, tool rotation and welding speed were taken as input parameters. Relationships between tensile shear strength and welding parameters have been investigated. The level of importance of the FSSW parameters on the tensile shear strength was determined by using the analysis of variance method (ANOVA). The mathematical relation between the tensile shear strength and FSSW welding parameters were established by regression analysis method. This mathematical model may be used in estimating the tensile shear strength of FSSW joints without performing any experiments. Finally, predicted values of tensile shear strength by techniques, NN and regression analysis, were compared with the experimental results and their nearness with the experimental values assessed. Results show that, NN is a good alternative to empirical modeling based on full factorial design.     

Tool penetration during friction stir spot welding of Al and Mg alloys

The mechanism of tool penetration during friction stir spot welding of Al-alloy and Mg-alloy sheet materials is investigated and is explained as a progression of wear events, from mild wear to severe wear and then to melt wear in material beneath the base of the rotating pin. Melt wear can also occur under the rotating tool shoulder provided that sufficient penetration of the upper sheet occurs during the spot welding operation. The highest temperatures attained during FSW spot welding of Al 6111 and AZ91 base materials are close to the solidus temperatures of each base material and correspond with 0.94T_s (Al 6111) and 0.99 T_s (AZ91) where T_s is the solidus temperature of the material in degrees Kelvin.     

Fatigue assessment of refill friction stir spot weld in AA 2024‐T3 similar joints

Refill friction stir spot welding is a solid‐state process technology that is suitable for welding lightweight materials in similar or dissimilar overlapped configuration. In this study, the fatigue behaviour of single overlapped spot joints of AA2024‐T3 was studied. To statistically analyse the fatigue data, a 2‐parameter Weibull distribution was deployed, considering several reliabilities (R_e = 0.99, R_e = 0.90, R_e = 0.5, R_e = 0.10). To obtain an optimized weld parameter according to the fatigue behaviour, 2 different weld conditions were studied, taking into account the effect of the hook formation. The microstructure analyses and microhardness profiles showed great similarity in both weld conditions. However, these conditions presented distinct interfacial hook profiles, in which the interfacial hook downward represented better fatigue life and infinite fatigue life at 15% of the maximum strength load. The fracture surfaces obtained from 3 different fracture modes were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy; the crack was tracked and described according to its fracture mechanisms from its initiation until the final failures. It was observed that the crack is initiated at hook profile.     

Flat friction stir spot welding of low carbon steel by double side adjustable tools

2 mm low carbon steel plates were successfully welded by the flat friction stir spot welding(FSSW) using double side adjustable tools, by which the keyhole formed in the conventional FSSW was eliminated and a flat surface on both the top and bottom sides of the welded joints was obtained. In addition, the hook shape usually generated in the conventional FSSW was eliminated by this technique, and the unbonded interface was parallel to the surface of the sheets. Owing to the enlarged bonded interface width by eliminating the keyhole and the intermixed interface by the adjustable probe, the plug fracture occurred under all the welding conditions in the present study. Due to the suppression of the thickness thinning and elimination of the hook shape, the joint performance was improved in the plug fracture mode. The shear tensile performance was considered to strongly depend on the microstructure in the tip area of the unbonded interface and the maximum shear fracture load of 23.0 kN was achieved in this study.     

Effects of nano-SiC particles on the FSSW welded AZ31 magnesium alloy joints

The microstructure of nano-SiC enhancing friction stir spot welding (FSSW) joint with dwell time of 3?s was characterised by an onion ring structure which consisted of alternate SiC-free zones and SiC-rich zones where SiC particles refined the grains. However, onion ring structure disappeared and SiC particles dispersed homogeneously when dwell time was 5?s. The microhardness of stir zone (SZ) and tensile shear load of SiC enhancing FSSW joint were higher than those of conventional FSSW joints. After heat treatment at 200°C for an hour, grains of the SZ grew substantially and coursed reduction in mechanical properties of joints, while grain size of SZ and tensile shear load of SiC enhancing joint was invariant but the microhardness of SZ increased.     

Application of Taguchi approach to optimize of FSSW parameters on joint properties of dissimilar AA2024-T3 and AA5754-H22 aluminum alloys

In this study, the effect of plate positioning on mechanical properties of dissimilar lap joints was investigated by friction stir spot welding (FSSW) process. The determination of the welding parameters plays an important role for the weld strength. For the effective use of the dissimilar aluminum joints, the FSSW must have an adequate strength. The quality of the joint was evaluated by examining the characteristics of the joining efficiency as a result of the lap-shear tensile test. Four process parameters were selected: the tool rotation speed, dwell time, tool plunge depth, and tilt angle.The process parameters were optimized by Taguchi technique based on Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array. The optimum welding process parameters were predicted, and their percentage of contribution was estimated by applying the signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance. The experimental results showed that the positioning of the plates played an important role on the strength of the joints. Finally, the results were confirmed by further experiments.     

On the double-side probeless friction stir spot welding of AA2198 Al-Li alloy

Double-side probeless friction stir spot welding(DP-FSSW) of AA2198 alloy was conducted to investigate the microstructure and mechanical properties. Compared with common single-side probeless friction stir spot welding(P-FSSW), the plastic strain during DP-FSSW is nearly symmetrical with respect to the bondline to suppress the extension of hook defect, which is detrimental to the joint mechanical strength.With DP-FSSW, a fully metallurgically bonded region has formed due to severe plastic deformation at high temperatures. Tensile/shear tests show that the joint strength could exceed 8 kN, which is comparable to P-FSSW and refill FSSW, and all fractures happen in a shear failure mode as cracks extend along the interface of two sheets. The microhardness profile exhibits a uniform distribution along the thickness direction, in which the hook defect shows the lowest value.     

Effects of heating process on the microstructures and tensile properties of friction stir spot welded AZ31 magnesium alloy plates

In this paper, the effects of heating process on the microstructures and tensile properties of a friction stir spot welding (FSSW) welded AZ31 magnesium alloy were investigated by microstructural observations and tensile tests. The results shown that compared with the FSSW welded joint, the width of the bonded zone of the heating FSSW welded AZ31 magnesium alloy joint increased remarkably, while the width of the partial metallurgical zone and the number of the voids formed in it reduced. The tensile test results indicated that the increase of the heating temperature improved the tensile shear load (TSL) of the heating FSSW welded joint greatly when the heating temperature was lower than 573 K. However, the TSL of the heating FSSW welded joint decreased when the heating temperature was more than 573 K due to the coarsening of the grains.     

Effect of pin offset on the mechanical properties of friction stir welded AA 6013 aluminum alloy plates

In this study, AA 6013 aluminum plates were butt‐welded with friction stir welding via pin offset technique. Macrostructural observations revealed that kissing bonds, originated from the broken oxide layers, were found to occur in the welded joints. The fracture location of welded joints after tensile tests was found to be outside the joint area, revealing that kissing bonds which were formed in the stir zone exhibited no detrimental effect on the mechanical properties of joints. Microstructural observations revealed that phases belonging to Mg₂Si, Al₄Cu₂Mg₈Si₇ and Al(MnFe)Si were observed in the x‐ray diffraction pattern of friction stir welded joints. The highest tensile strength with a value of 206 MPa was achieved with the process parameters of 1.5 mm pin offset towards the advancing side and 500 min^?1 tool rotational speed, leading the ratio of tensile strength of joint to ultimate tensile strength of base metal, also known as joint efficiency, to reach 74 %.     

Comparative study of fatigue and fracture in friction stir and electron beam welds of 24 mm thick titanium alloy Ti‐6Al‐4 V

In this study, friction stir welding of Ti‐6Al‐4 V was demonstrated in 24 mm thickness material. The microstructure and mechanical properties, fatigue, fracture toughness and crack growth of these thick section friction stir welds were evaluated and compared with electron beam welds produced in the same thickness material. It was found that the friction stir welds possessed a relatively coarse lamellar alpha transformed beta microstructure because of slow cooling from above the transus temperature of the material. The electron beam welds had a fine acicular alpha structure as a result of rapid solidification. The friction stir welds possessed better ductility, fatigue life, fracture toughness and crack growth resistance than the base meal or electron beam welds. Thus, even though friction stir welding is a relatively new process, the performance benefits it offers for the fabrication of heavy gage primary structure make it a more attractive option than the more well‐established electron beam welding method.     

铝合金超声辅助搅拌摩擦焊接接头组织性能研究

目的探究超声振动对铝合金搅拌摩擦焊的作用效果。方法分别采用普通搅拌摩擦焊和超声辅助搅拌摩擦焊方法,对7075铝合金进行焊接试验,并对焊接接头的微观组织、力学性能、断口形貌进行分析。结果普通搅拌摩擦焊焊缝中生成了隧道型缺陷,施加超声振动后,缺陷消失,形成了无缺陷的良好接头,且与普通搅拌摩擦焊相比,超声辅助搅拌摩擦焊焊缝热影响区晶粒长大程度较小,焊核晶粒细化。接头强度明显提高,达到铝合金母材强度的71.5%,接头断裂模式为韧窝和准解理的混合断裂形式。结论超声振动促进了塑性金属的流动,能有效抑制孔洞、隧道型缺陷等的形成,同时超声振动能在提升金属塑性的同时,降低焊缝的热输入。     

Analysis of the effect of structural defects on the fatigue strength of RFSSW joints using C‐scan scanning acoustic microscopy and SEM

Solid‐state refill friction stir spot welding (RFSSW) technology offers significant benefits in the fabrication of aluminium structures in the transport and aerospace industries. In this paper, the joining of 1.6‐mm‐thick Alclad 7075‐T6 aluminium alloy sheets is investigated. High‐cycle fatigue strength tests of single‐lap welded joints were carried out on an Instron E10000 testing machine with a limited number of cycles equal to 2 × 10⁶. The welding of overlap fatigue specimens was conducted using an RPS100 spot welder by Harms & Wende GmbH & Co KG. C‐mode scanning acoustic microscopy (C‐SAM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were utilised to evaluate the joint quality and characterise the microstructure. The paper discusses the effect of the maximum load force and defects (voids, hook, kissing bond, bonding ligament, etc) associated with the material flow in the weld on the failure mechanism. Insufficient plasticisation of sheet material and mixing of the material in the weld area are crucial defects that influence the number of destructive cycles. The weld defects in the joint structure are a source of a decrease in the fatigue life compared with the fatigue life of defect‐free welds. It was also found that RFSSW joint defects can be effectively detected by the nondestructive C‐SAM method.