Stir zone microstructure and strain rate during Al 7075-T6 friction stir spot welding

The factors determining the temperature, heating rate, microstructure, and strain rate in Al 7075-T6 friction stir spot welds are investigated. Stir zone microstructure was examined using a combination of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) microscopy, while the strain rate during spot welding was calculated by incorporating measured temperatures and the average subgrain dimensions in the Zener-Hollomon relation. The highest temperature during friction stir spot welding (527 °C) was observed in spot welds made using a tool rotational speed of 3000 rpm. The stir zone regions comprised fine-grained, equiaxed, fully recrystallized microstructures. The calculated strain rate in Al 7075-T6 spot welds decreased from 650 to about 20 s⁻¹ when the tool rotational speed increased from 1000 to 3000 rpm. It is suggested that the decrease in strain rate results when tool slippage occurs when the welding parameter settings facilitate transient local melting during the spot welding operation. Transient local melting and tool slippage are produced when the welding parameters produce sufficiently high heating rates and temperatures during spot welding. However, transient local melting and tool slippage is not produced in Al 7075-T6 spot welds made using a rotational speed of 1000 rpm since the peak temperature is always less than 475 °C.     

Improvement of weldability of TRIP steels by use of in‐situ pre‐ and post‐heat treatments

Low alloy TRIP‐aided steels are very interesting for the automotive industry as they combine both a high strength and an excellent formability. Though the actually developed TRIP steels can be considered as low alloyed when compared to the first generations of steels exhibiting TRIP effect, due to their chemical composition, they still exhibit a quite high carbon equivalent. This is particularly detrimental for the weldability of those materials. After solidification, welds are very hard and can show a brittle behaviour. The hardness of the heat affected zone of the welds can even exceed 500HV and cold cracking phenomena is prone to occur. In the automotive industry, spot welding is the main joining process. During spot welding of TRIP steels, the interface between the plates can act like a notch and promote fracture of the weld. This is particularly dangerous when brittle welds are submitted to peel stresses. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate that a careful choice of the process parameters can significantly improve the resistance of the welds. The selection of the welding cycle parameters is far from being an easy task as many different parameters are involved. Therefore, a design of experiment methodology (DOE) was chosen to optimise the welding cycle for a cold‐rolled TRIP steel with a tensile strength above 700 MPa. Mechanical properties of the welds were significantly improved by use of pre‐ and post‐heat treatments. Those improved welding cycles were realised without excessive extension of the total weld cycle on a conventional spot welding machine. This means that the optimised welds can be obtained in the existing production lines without any additional investment or significant decrease in productivity.     

The role of phase transformation in electron-beam welding of TiAl-based alloys

The weldability of two TiAl-based alloys, Ti-45Al-2Nb-2Mn and Ti-48Al-2Nb-2Mn, was investigated with the electron-beam welding process. It was found that the alloys were susceptible to solid-state cracking due to high thermally induced stresses and, more significantly, to the intrinsic brittleness of the microstructures. This work correlated the quality of the TiAl welds, made using different sets of welding parameters which gave rise to different cooling rates, to the microstructures that developed during welding. It was found that the welds were crack-free if the weld cooling rates were such that decomposition of the high-temperature α phase in the weld was not suppressed. It was shown that the Ti-48Al-based alloy was less susceptible to the solid-state cracking and, thus, was more weldable than the Ti-45Al-based alloy because the α phase in the alloy with a higher aluminum content could decompose more readily. A continuous cooling transformation (CCT) diagram is suggested to be used as an appropriate reference for the selection of welding parameters which induce suitable microstructures in the welds and result in crack-free welds.     

The effects of process variables on pulsed Nd:YAG laser spot welds: Part I. AISI 409 stainless steel

The weldabilities of AA 1100 aluminum and AISI 409 stainless steel by the pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding process have been examined experimentally and compared. The effects of Nd:YAG laser welding parameters, including laser pulse time and power intensity, and material-dependent variables, such as absorptivity and thermophysical properties, on laser spot-weld characteristics, such as weld diameter, penetration, melt area, melting ratio, porosity, and sur-face cratering, have been studied experimentally. The results of this work are reported in two parts. In Part I, the weldability of AISI 409 stainless steel by the pulse laser welding process is reported. In Part II, the weldability of A A 1100 aluminum under the same operating con-ditions is reported and compared to those of the stainless steel. When welding AISI 409 stainless steel, weld pool shapes were found to be influenced most by the power intensity of the laser beam and to a lesser extent by the pulse duration. Conduction mode welding, keyhole mode welding, and drilling were observed. Conduction mode welds were produced when power in-tensities between 0.7 and 4 GW/m² were used. The initial transient in weld pool development occurred in the first 4 ms of the laser pulse. Following this, steady-state conditions existed and conduction mode welds with aspect ratios (depth/width) of about 0.4 were produced. Keyhole mode welds were observed at power intensities greater than 4 GW/m². Penetration of these keyhole mode welds increased with increases in both power intensity and pulse time. The major weld defects observed in the stainless steel spot welds were cratering and large-occluded gas pores. Significant metal loss due to spatter was measured during the initial 2 ms of keyhole mode welds. With increasing power intensity, there was an increased propensity for occluded gas pores near the bottom of the keyhole mode welds. Formerly Graduate Student.     

铝合金-镁合金间搅拌摩擦异质焊接研究现状

综合了近几年铝-镁搅拌摩擦异质焊的研完成果,分析和讨论以下几个方面的内容:(1)铝.镁异质焊的焊接性能及其影响因素;(2)焊接过程中的热输入情况及焊缝处的温度分布;(3)焊缝的力学性能及其影响因素;(4)焊缝的宏观、微观组织及其在局部升温和塑性变形下的演化过程,着重分析了金属间化合物的生成、形貌和分布、及其对焊缝力学性...     

Investigation of Hot Cracking Behavior in Transverse Mechanically Arc Oscillated Autogenous AA2014 T6 TIG Welds

Hot cracking studies on autogenous AA2014 T6 TIG welds were carried out. Significant cracking was observed during linear and circular welding test (CWT) on 4-mm-thick plates. Weld metal grain structure and amount of liquid distribution during the terminal stages of solidification were the key cause for hot cracking in aluminum welds. Square-wave AC TIG welding with transverse mechanical arc oscillation (TMAO) was employed to study the cracking behavior during linear and CWT. TMAO welds with amplitude?=?0.9?mm and frequency?=?0.5?Hz showed significant reduction in cracking tendency. The increase in cracking resistance in the arc-oscillated weld was attributed to grain refinement and improved weld bead morphology, which improved the weld metal ductility and uniformity, respectively, of residual tensile stresses that developed during welding. The obtained results were comparable to those of reported favorable results of electromagnetic arc oscillation.     

Investigation of the conditions for weld metal hydrogen cracking of low carbon offshore steels by the IRC weldability test

Three low carbon structural steels of different plate thickness have been investigated for hydrogen assisted cold cracking by the IRC weldability test at different restraint intensities. At diffusible hydrogen levels of 10–15 N ml/100 g Fe (ISO 3690), cracking decreases at increasing heat inputs due to a drop in restraint stress and hardness as well as an increase in hydrogen diffusion times. Critical heat inputs for crack prevention range from 0.95 to 1.4 kJmm^?1. Higher restraints enforce higher cracking stresses as well as final stresses of uncracked test welds. Higher restraints and lower heat inputs also induce faster stress increase during cooling which, for the steels containing Ni and Cu, shift the location of cracking from the HAZ to the weld metal. The steel without Ni and lower maximum HAZ hardness reveals weld metal cracking only, regardless of welding conditions. It can be concluded that for weld metal cracking, the relation between stress increase- and hydrogen effusion rates but also the relation between weld metal and HAZ microstructure and mechanical properties are responsible.     

A new finite element model for welding heat sources

A mathematical model for weld heat sources based on a Gaussian distribution of power density in space is presented. In particular a double ellipsoidal geometry is proposed so that the size and shape of the heat source can be easily changed to model both the shallow penetration arc welding processes and the deeper penetration laser and electron beam processes. In addition, it has the versatility and flexibility to handle non-axisymmetric cases such as strip electrodes or dissimilar metal joining. Previous models assumed circular or spherical symmetry. The computations are performed with ASGARD, a nonlinear transient finite element (FEM) heat flow program developed for the thermal stress analysis of welds.* Computed temperature distributions for submerged arc welds in thick workpieces are compared to the measured values reported by Christensen¹ and the FEM calculated values (surface heat source model) of Krutz and Segerlind.² In addition the computed thermal history of deep penetration electron beam welds are compared to measured values reported by Chong.³ The agreement between the computed and measured values is shown to be excellent.     

Microstructure of stainless steel single-crystal electron beam welds

Previously developed techniques by the authors for the microstructural analysis of welds, that included the effects of both the growth crystallography and the weld pool shape, are applied to several cases involving the single-crystal electron beam welding of an Fe-15Ni-15Cr alloy. This evaluation of weld microstructures and associated dendritic growth patterns is based on a three-dimensional (3-D) geometrical analysis. The present study includes examination of the effects observed in overlapping, multipass autogenous welds and butt welds of two single crystals with different orientations, as well as effects due to variations in the welding speed. Weld pool shapes were found to change significantly with increasing welding speed—becoming narrower in cross section but more elongated in the welding direction. Additionally, all electron beam welds showed evidence of a plateau region in the center of the weld pool. The pool shapes, however, were found to be independent of the crystallographic orientation. Therefore, it is possible to extend the pool shape results to crystals welded in any orientation and even to polycrystals. The over-lapping multipass welds showed remarkable reproducibility from pass to pass and duplicated the structural patterns found in single-pass welds. The similarity in dendritic patterns within each pass indicated that the weld pool shapes were identical in all of the passes. The micro-structure of butt welds of two single crystals with different relative orientations showed a remarkable relationship to that associated with each individual crystallographic orientation, and the micro structure was, in effect, simply a composite of two single-pass microstructures. Additional microstructural details were also examined. The tendency toward branching of dendrites was associated with the transition from one dendrite growth orientation to another. It was also found that the nonpenetrating welds exhibited a small protrusion at the bottom of the weld. It is suggested that the modeling of weld pool shapes can be directly evaluated by comparing the predicted dendritic growth patterns based on the modeled shapes with the actual experimentally observed dendritic growth patterns. Formerly Visiting Scientist, Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.     

Joining of thick section steels using hybrid laser welding

Abstract

A recently completed project called Economical and Safe Laser Hybrid Welding of Structural Steel (HYBLAS) has developed the use of hybrid laser welding for thicker section steels up to 690 MPa yield strength. The full project involved several European organisations, was part funded by the European Research Fund for Coal and Steel (ERFCS) and was led by Corus RD&T. This paper presents an outline of those parts of the project which relate to those developments which resulted in being able to laser hybrid weld, in a single pass, up to 25 m plate thickness using 20 kW of laser power at speeds of ～1 m min^-1. Multipass and dual sided welding techniques have also been developed up to 30 mm plate thickness and fillet welds up to 20 mm steel thickness. The project examined the weldability of steels from 180-690 MPa and operational windows for defect free welding were defined. In addition various NDE methods were studied for their efficiency in regard to the defect types which can occur in laser hybrid welds. The fracture and mechanical properties of the joints were shown to be perfectly acceptable for all structural uses and an extensive fatigue testing programme demonstrated that the fatigue behaviour of the welded joints exceeded conventional welding expectations. Finally full scale industrial components were manufactured, inspected and tested to demonstrate that the anticipated fatigue benefits were obtained.     

On the Failure Behavior of Highly Cold Worked Low Carbon Steel Resistance Spot Welds

Highly cold worked (HCW) low carbon steel sheets with cellular structure in the range of 200 to 300 nm are fabricated via constrained groove pressing process. Joining of the sheets is carried out by resistance spot welding process at different welding currents and times. Thereafter, failure behavior of these welded samples during tensile-shear test is investigated. Considered concepts include; failure load, fusion zone size, failure mode, ultimate shear stress, failure absorbed energy, and fracture surface. The results show that HCW low carbon steel spot welds have higher failure peak load with respect to the as-received one at different welding currents and times. Also, current limits for failure mode transition from interfacial to pullout or from pullout to tearing are reduced for HCW samples. Fusion zone size is the main geometrical factor which affects the failure load variations. Ultimate shear stress of spot welds is increased with decreasing the heat input and for HCW samples at a specific welding current and time, it is lower than that of the as-received ones. Before pullout mode, failure absorbed energy (FAE) for HCW low carbon steel spot welds is higher than that of the as-received one, but after failure mode transition, trend would be vice versa and FAE of the as-received spot welds is extremely higher (about 3 times). In addition, spot welds fracture surface (in interfacial failure mode) for HCW sample is more dimpled which indicates higher energy absorption than that of the as-received one.     

The effects of process variables on pulsed Nd:YAG laser spot welds: Part II. AA 1100 aluminum and comparison to AISI 409 stainless steel

In this two-part article, the weldabilities of AA 1100 aluminum and AISI 409 stainless steel by the pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding process have been examined experimentally and compared. The effects of laser pulse time and power density on laser spot weld characteristics, such as weld diameter, penetration, melt area, melting ratio, porosity, and surface cratering, have been studied and explained qualitatively in relation to material-dependent variables such as absorptivity and thermophysical properties. The weldability of AISI 409 stainless steel was reported in Part I of this article. In the present article, the weldability of AA 1100 aluminum is reported and compared to that of AISI 409 stainless steel. Weld pool shapes in aluminum were found to be influenced by the mean power density of the laser beam and the laser pulse time. Both conduction-mode and keyhole-mode welding were observed in aluminum. Unlike stainless steel, however, drilling was not observed. Conduction-mode welds were produced in aluminum at power densities ranging from 3.2 to 10 GW/m². The power density required for melting aluminum was approximately 4.5 times greater than stainless steel. The initial transient in weld pool development in aluminum occurred within 2 ms, and the aspect ratios (depth/width) of the steady-state conduction-mode weld pools were approximately 0.2. These values are about half those observed in stainless steel. The transition from conduction- to keyhole-mode welding occurred in aluminum at a power density of about 10 GW/m², compared to about 4 GW/m² for stainless steel. Weld defects such as porosity and cratering were observed in both aluminum and stainless steel spot welds. In both materials, there was an increased propensity for large occluded vapor pores near the root of keyhole-mode welds with increasing power density. In aluminum, pores were observed close to the fusion boundary. These could be eliminated by surface milling and vacuum annealing the specimens, suggesting that such pores were due to hydrogen. Finally, excellent agreement was obtained between experimental data from both alloys and an existing analytical model for conduction-mode laser spot welding. Two nondimensional parameters, the Fourier number and a nondimensional incident heat flux parameter, were derived and shown to completely characterize weld pool development in conduction-mode welds made in both materials.     

Toughness of Armour grade Quenched and Tempered Steel Joints Fabricated Using Low Hydrogen Ferritic Fillers

 Quenched and tempered (Q&T) steels are prone to hydrogen induced cracking in the HAZ after welding. Austenitic stainless steel (ASS) welding consumables are traditionally used for welding of high hardness Q&T steels as they have higher solubility for hydrogen. The use of stainless steel consumables for a non stainless steel base metal is not economical. In recent years, the developments of low hydrogen ferritic steel (LHF) consumables that contain no hygroscopic compounds are utilized for welding of Q&T steels. The armour grade Q&T steel joints fabricated using LHF filler exhibited superior joint efficiency due to preferential ferrite microstructure in the welds and also they offered required resistance to HIC. However, the combat vehicles used in military operations will be required to operate under a wide range of road conditions ranging from first class to cross country. Structural components in combat vehicles are subjected to dynamic loading with high strain rates during operation. Stress loadings within the vehicle hull of these vehicles are expected to fluctuate considerably and structural cracking especially in welds during the service life of these vehicles can lead to catastrophic failures. Under these conditions fracture behaviour of high strain rate sensitive structural steels can be better understood by dynamic fracture toughness (K1d). Hence, an attempt was made in this paper to study dynamic fracture toughness (K1d) of the armour grade Q&T steel and their welds fabricated using LHF consumables. The dynamic fracture toughness (K1d) of the armour grade Q&T steel and their welds are comparable with each other.     

Effect of welding consumables and processes on dynamic fracture toughness (J 1d) of armour grade Q&T steel joints

Abstract

Austenitic stainless steel (ASS) welding consumables are being used for welding armour grade Q&T steels, as they have higher solubility for hydrogen in the austenitic phase, to avoid hydrogen induced cracking (HIC). Even with austenitic stainless steel consumables under high dilution, the risk of HIC prevailed. In recent years, the developments of low hydrogen ferritic steel (LHF) consumables that contain no hygroscopic compounds are utilised for welding Q&T steels. The use of ASS fillers for welding armour grade Q&T steels creates a duplex microstructure (austenite and δ ferrite) in the welds, which drastically reduces the joint efficiency (ratio of ultimate tensile strength of the joint and the base metal). On the other hand, the weld made using LHF fillers exhibited superior joint efficiency due to the preferential ferrite microstructure in the welds. The use of ASS and LHF consumables for armour grade Q&T steels will lead to formation of distinct microstructures in their respective welds. This microstructural heterogeneity will have a drastic influence on the dynamic fracture toughness of the armour grade Q&T steel welds. Hence, in this investigation an attempt has been made to study the influence on the welding consumables and processes on the dynamic fracture toughness properties of armour grade Q&T steel joints. Shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) and flux cored arc welding (FCAW) processes were used for fabrication of the joints using ASS and LHF welding consumables. The joints fabricated by SMAW process using ASS consumables exhibited superior dynamic fracture toughness values compared to all other joints.     

Microstructure and Residual Stress Formation in Induction‐Assisted Laser Welding of the Steel S690QL

Steels of high mechanical strength combined with high toughness, such as those in quenched and tempered condition are required to reduce weight in industrial machinery. Their mechanical performance is impaired by welding operations which often cause a reduction of toughness and increase the probability for cold cracking due to martensite formation in the weld seam. The limited weldability of high‐strength steels therefore demands appropriate joining procedures to increase their use in industrial construction and reduce reworking costs. Induction heating is capable of directly producing heat inside a work piece. This enables the integration of induction heat‐treatments into serial welding processes. In this work, the effect of induction‐assisted laser welding on the microstructure and residual stresses in S690QL butt joints was investigated. The results reveal that conventional laser welding causes strong martensite formation in the weld seam and the heat‐affected zone. This leads to prohibitive hardness values. Induction heat‐treatments result in an efficient reduction of hardness in the fusion zone. However, the efficiency decreases with increasing sheet thicknesses. The residual stress distributions after laser welding with and without induction heating are typical of fusion welding. Although an effective reduction of hardness is achieved by induction‐assisted laser welding, the residual stresses remain significantly high.     

焊缝掺杂对工业纯钼可焊性的影响

叙述了三种纯钼（粉末冶金，低碳弧铸和高碳弧铸纯相）在气体保护钨弧焊之前，用射频溅射法沉积到焊接件缝处的钛和铪掺杂剂对焊缝的若干有利影响；（１）减少粉末冶金纯钼焊接件的焊缝中形成的中心线裂纹和孔洞，（２）硬化焊接熔融区；（３）减少所有不同种类型纯钼的焊接熔融区中的晶间破坏趋势，同时简单讨论了掺杂剂改革焊接质量和断裂的机理。     

Palmqvist fracture toughness of a new wear-resistant weld alloy

The Palmqvist fracture toughness method was applied in a new fashion to measure the fracture toughness of a new wear-resistant alloy in both a powder product for plasma-transferred arc (PTA) welding and a wire product for metal inert gas (MIG) welding. Cracks were observed at high loads with a linear relationship between load and crack length indicating that only Palmqvist cracks occurred in the alloys. The fracture toughness for the no-preheat and preheat PT40 welds are 15.6±0.3 Mpa m^1/2 and 17.6±0.1 MPa m^1/2, respectively, and for the no-preheat and preheat MG40 welds are 12±1 MPa m^1/2 and 20.5±0.2 MPa m^1/2, respectively. Observations of the cracks show evidence of ligaments indicating that the toughness mechanism is due to crack bridging. The microstructural scale and morphology correlates with the fracture toughness, and as the structural scale decreases, the fracture toughness increases.     

Welded Joints for Robotic, On‐Orbit Assembly of Space Structures

A preliminary design concept for a weldable joint for on‐orbit assembly of large space structures is described. The joint was designed for ease of assembly, for structural efficiency, and to allow passage of fluid (for active cooling or other purposes) along the member through the joint. The members were assumed to consist of graphite/epoxy tubes to which were bonded 2219‐T87 aluminum alloy end fittings for welding on‐orbit to nodes of the same alloy. A modified form of gas tungsten arc welding was assumed to be the welding process. The joint was designed for the thermal and structural loading associated with a 37 m diameter tetrahedral truss intended as an aerobrake for a mission to Mars. It was concluded that the assembly process could lock large loads into the truss members and that the assembly robot could be required to exert large forces while aligning pairs of nodes during assembly. It was also concluded that the connections between the composite struts and the aluminum fittings will be subjected to very high service stresses due to the effects of differential thermal expansion.     

Post-weld Tempered Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Hybrid Laser-Arc Welded Cast Martensitic Stainless Steel CA6NM

Manufacturing of hydroelectric turbine components involves the assembly of thick-walled stainless steels using conventional multi-pass arc welding processes. By contrast, hybrid laser-arc welding may be an attractive process for assembly of such materials to realize deeper penetration depths, higher production rates, narrower fusion, and heat-affected zones, and lower distortion. In the present work, single-pass hybrid laser-arc welding of 10-mm thick CA6NM, a low carbon martensitic stainless steel, was carried out in the butt joint configuration using a continuous wave fiber laser at its maximum power of 5.2 kW over welding speeds ranging from 0.75 to 1.2 m/minute. The microstructures across the weldment were characterized after post-weld tempering at 873 K (600 °C) for 1 hour. From microscopic examinations, the fusion zone was observed to mainly consist of tempered lath martensite and some residual delta-ferrite. The mechanical properties were evaluated in the post-weld tempered condition and correlated to the microstructures and defects. The ultimate tensile strength and Charpy impact energy values of the fully penetrated welds in the tempered condition were acceptable according to ASTM, ASME, and industrial specifications, which bodes well for the introduction of hybrid laser-arc welding technology for the manufacturing of next generation hydroelectric turbine components.