Influence of tool pin profile on microstructure and corrosion behaviour of AA2219 Al-Cu alloy friction stir weld nuggets

To overcome the problems of fusion welding of aluminium alloys, the friction stir welding(FSW) is recognized as an alternative joining method to improve the mechanical and corrosion properties. Tool profile is one of the important variables which affect the performance of the FS weld. In the present work, the effect of tool profile on the weld nugget microstructure and pitting corrosion of AA2219 aluminium-copper alloy was studied. FSW of AA2219 alloy was carried out using five profiles, namely conical, square, triangle, pentagon and hexagon. The temperature measurements were made in the region adjacent to the rotating pin. It was observed that the peak temperature is more in hexagonal tool pin compared to the welds produced with other tool pin profiles. It is observed that the extensive deformation experienced at the nugget zone and the evolved microstructure strongly influences the hardness and corrosion properties of the joint during FSW. It was found that the microstructure changes like grain size, misorientation and precipitate dissolution during FSW influence the hardness and corrosion behaviour. Pitting corrosion resistance of friction stir welds of AA2219 was found to be better for hexagon profile tool compared to other profiles, which was attributed to material flow and strengthening precipitate morphology in nugget zone. Higher amount of heat generation in FS welds made with hexagonal profile tool may be the reason for greater dissolution of strengthening precipitates in nugget zone.     

Optimization of process parameters of aluminum alloy AA 2014-T6 friction stir welds by response surface methodology

The heat treatable aluminum-copper alloy AA2014 finds wide application in the aerospace and defence industry due to its high strength-toweight ratio and good ductility. Friction stir welding(FSW) process, an emerging solid state joining process, is suitable for joining this alloy compared to fusion welding processes. This work presents the formulation of a mathematical model with process parameters and tool geometry to predict the responses of friction stir welds of AA 2014-T6 aluminum alloy, viz yield strength, tensile strength and ductility. The most influential process parameters considered are spindle speed, welding speed, tilt angle and tool pin profile. A four-factor, five-level central composite design was used and a response surface methodology(RSM) was employed to develop the regression models to predict the responses.The mechanical properties, such as yield strength(YS), ultimate tensile strength(UTS) and percentage elongation(%El), are considered as responses. Method of analysis of variance was used to determine the important process parameters that affect the responses. Validation trials were carried out to validate these results. These results indicate that the friction stir welds of AA 2014-T6 aluminum alloy welded with hexagonal tool pin profile have the highest tensile strength and elongation, whereas the joints fabricated with conical tool pin profile have the lowest tensile strength and elongation.     

Microstructure,mechanical and corrosion behavior of high strength AA7075aluminium alloy friction stir welds-Effect of post weld heat treatment

High strength aluminium alloy AA7075(Al-Zn-Mg-Cu) is a precipitate hardenable alloy widely used in the aerospace,defense,marine and automobile industries.Use of the heat treatable aluminium alloys in all these sectors is ever-increasing owing to their excellent strength-toweight ratio and reasonably good corrosion resistance.The shortage in corrosion resistance,however,usually poses negative concern about their reliability and lifetime when they service in the variable marine environments.These alloys also exhibit low weldability due to poor solidification microstructure,porosity in fusion zone and lose their mechanical properties when they are welded by fusion welding techniques.Friction stir welding(FSW) is a reliable technique to retain the properties of the alloy as the joining takes place in the solid state.The welds are susceptible to corrosion due to the microstructural changes in the weld nugget during FSW.In this work,the effect of post weld treatments,viz.,peak aging(T6) and retrogression reaging(RRA),on the microstructure,mechanical properties and pitting corrosion has been studied.Friction stir welding of 8 mm-thick AA7075 alloy was carried out.The microstructural changes of base metal and nugget zone of friction stir welds were studied using optical microscopy,scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.Tensile and hardness test of base metal and welds has been carried out.Pitting corrosion resistance was determined through dynamic polarization test.It was observed that the hardness and strength of weld were observed to be comparatively high in peak aged(T6) condition but the welds showed poor corrosion resistance.The resistance to pitting corrosion was improved and the mechanical properties were maintained by RRA treatment.The resistance to pitting corrosion was improved in RRA condition with the minimum loss of weld strength.     

Enhancement of wear and ballistic resistance of armour grade AA7075 aluminium alloy using friction stir processing

Industrial applications of aluminium and its alloys are restricted because of their poor tribological properties. Thermal spraying, laser surfacing, electron beam welding are the most widely used techniques to alter the surface morphology of base metal. Preliminary studies reveal that the coating and layering of aluminium alloys with ceramic particles enhance the ballistic resistance. Furthermore, among aluminium alloys,7075 aluminium alloy exhibits high strength which can be compared to that of steels and has profound applications in the designing of lightweight fortification structures and integrated protection systems. Having limitations such as poor bond integrity, formation of detrimental phases and interfacial reaction between reinforcement and substrate using fusion route to deposit hard particles paves the way to adopt friction stir processing for fabricating surface composites using different sizes of boron carbide particles as reinforcement on armour grade 7075 aluminium alloy as matrix in the present investigation. Wear and ballistic tests were carried out to assess the performance of friction stir processed AA7075 alloy. Significant improvement in wear resistance of friction stir processed surface composites is attributed to the change in wear mechanism from abrasion to adhesion. It has also been observed that the surface metal matrix composites have shown better ballistic resistance compared to the substrate AA7075 alloy. Addition of solid lubricant Mo S2 has reduced the depth of penetration of the projectile to half that of base metal AA7075 alloy. For the first time, the friction stir processing technique was successfully used to improve the wear and ballistic resistances of armour grade high strength AA7075 alloy.     

Effect of post weld heat treatment on tensile properties and microstructure characteristics of friction stir welded armour grade AA7075-T651 aluminium alloy

This paper reports the effects of post weld heat treatments, namely artificial ageing and solution treatment followed by artificial ageing, on microstructure and mechanical properties of 12 mm thick friction stir welded joints of precipitation hardenable high strength armour grade AA7075-T651 aluminium alloy. The tensile properties, such as yield strength, tensile strength, elongation and notch tensile strength, are evaluated and correlated with the microhardness and microstructural features. The scanning electron microscope is used to characterie the fracture surfaces. The solution treatment followed by ageing heat treatment cycle is found to be marginally beneficial in improving the tensile properties of friction stir welds of AA7075-T651 aluminium alloy.     

Microstructure and pitting corrosion of armor grade AA7075 aluminum alloy friction stir weld nugget zone-Effect of post weld heat treatment and addition of boron carbide

Friction stir welding(FSW) of high strength aluminum alloys has been emerged as an alternative joining technique to avoid the problems during fusion welding.In recent times FSW is being used for armor grade AA7075 aluminum alloy in defense,aerospace and marine applications where it has to serve in non uniform loading and corrosive environments.Even though friction stir welds of AA7075 alloy possess better mechanical properties but suffer from poor corrosion resistance.The present work involves use of retrogression and reaging(RRA) post weld heat treatment to improve the corrosion resistance of welded joints of aluminum alloys.An attempt also has been made to change the chemical composition of the weld nugget by adding B4C nano particles with the aid of the FSW on a specially prepared base metal plate in butt position.The effects of peak aged condition(T6),RRA and addition of B4C nano particles on microstructure,hardness and pitting corrosion of nugget zone of the friction stir welds of AA7075 alloy have been studied.Even though RRA improved the pitting corrosion resistance,its hardness was slightly lost.Significant improvement in pitting corrosion resistance was achieved with addition of boron carbide powder and post weld heat treatment of RRA.     

Microstructure and pitting corrosion resistance of AA2219 Ale Cu alloy friction stir welds e Effect of tool profile

AA2219 Ale Cu alloy is widely used in defence and aerospace applications due to required combination of high strength-to-weight ratio and toughness.Fabrication of components used for defence always involves welding.Even though the mechanical properties of the base metal are better,but the alloy suffers from poor mechanical and corrosion properties during fusion welding.To overcome the problems of fusion welding,friction stir welding(FSW) is recognized as an alternative solid state joining method aimed to improve the mechanical and corrosion properties.Tool profile is one of the important variables which affect the performance of the friction stir weld.In the present work the effect of tool profile on the microstructure and pitting corrosion of AA2219 aluminiumecopper alloy was studied.Electron backscattered diffraction results established that the grain size and orientation of weld nugget of triangle profile is finer than that of conical profile.Differential scanning calorimetric results show the evidence of precipitate dissolution during FSW.It was found that the microstructure changes,such as grain size and its orientation precipitate dissolution during FSW influence the hardness and corrosion behaviour.Pitting corrosion resistance of friction stir welds of AA2219 was found to be better for triangle profile tool compared to conical profile which is attributed to material flow and strengthening precipitate morphology in various zones.Higher amount of heat generation during FSW made using triangle profile tool may be the reason for greater dissolution of strengthening precipitates in nugget zone and coarsening in thermo mechanically affected zone(TMAZ) and heat affected zone(HAZ).     

Dissimilar friction stir spot welding of AA2024-T3/AA7075-T6 aluminum alloys under different welding parameters and media

This paper studies the friction stir spot welding of AA2024-T3/AA7075-T6 Al alloys in the ambient and underwater environments by clarifying the nugget features,microstructure,fracture and mechanical properties of the joints.The results show that the water-cooling medium exhibits a significant heat absorption capacity in the AA2024-T3/AA7075-T6 welded joint.Nugget features such as stir zone width,circular imprints,average grain sizes,and angular inter-material hooking are reduced by the water-cooling effect in the joints.Narrower whitish(intercalated structures)bands are formed in the under-water joints while Mg2Si and Al2CuMg precipitates are formed in the ambient and the underwater welded joints respectively.An increase in tool rotational speed(600-1400 rpm)and plunge depth(0.1-0.5 mm)increases the tensile-shear force of the welded AA2024-T3/AA7075-T6 joints in both the ambient and underwater environments.The maximum tensile-shear forces of 5900 N and 6700 N were obtained in the ambient and the underwater welds respectively.     

Effect of tool rotational speed on the particle distribution in friction stir welding of AA6092/17.5 SiCp-T6 composite plates and its consequences on the mechanical property of the joint

This study investigates the effect of tool rotational speed (TRS) on particle distribution in nugget zone (NZ) through quantitative approach and its consequences on the mechanical property of friction stir welded joints of AA6092/17.5 SiC_p-T6 composite. 6 mm thick plates are welded at a constant tool tilt angle of 2° and tool traverse speed of 1 mm/s by varying the TRS at 1000 rpm, 1500 rpm and 2000 rpm with a taper pin profiled tool. Microstructure analysis shows large quantity of uniformly shaped smaller size SiC particle with lower average particle area which are homogeneously distributed in the NZ. The fragmentation of bigger size particles has been observed because of abrading action of the hard tool and resulting shearing effect and severe stress generation due to the rotation of tool. The particles occupy maximum area in the matrix compared to that of the base material (BM) due to the redistribution of broken particles as an effect of TRS. The migration of particles towards the TMAZ-NZ transition zone has been also encountered at higher TRS (2000 rpm). The microhardness analysis depicts variation in average hardness from top to bottom of the NZ, minimum for 1500 rpm and maximum for 2000 rpm. The impact strength at 1000 rpm and 1500 rpm remains close to that of BM (21.6 J) while 2000 rpm shows the accountable reduction. The maximum joint efficiency has been achieved at 1500 rpm (84%) and minimum at 1000 rpm (68%) under tensile loading. Fractographic analysis shows mixed mode of failure for BM, 1000 rpm and 1500 rpm, whereas 2000 rpm shows the brittle mode of failure.     

Effect of friction stir processing on mechanical properties and heat transfer of TIG welded joint of AA6061 and AA7075

Tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding is the most commonly used joining process for aluminum alloy for AA6061 and AA7075 which are highly demanded in the aerospace engineering and the automobile sector, but there are some defects occur during TIG welding like micro-crack, coarse grain structure, and porosity. To improve these defects, the TIG welded joint is processed using friction stir processing (FSP). This paper presents the effect of friction stir processing on TIG welding with filler ER4043 and ER 5356 for dissimilar aluminum alloy AA6061 and AA7075. The mechanical characterization, finite element formulation and mathematical equations of heat transfer of TIG + FSP welded joints are investigated using ANSYS Fluent software by adjusting process parameters of FSP. The results show that the maximum compressive residual stress 73 MPa was obtained at the fusion zone (FZ) of the TIG weldment with filler ER4043, whereas minimum compressive residual stress 37 MPa was obtained at stir zone (SZ) of the TIG+FSP with filler 5356. The maximum heat flux 5.33 × 106 W/m2 and temperature 515 ℃ have observed at tool rotation 1600 rpm with a feed rate of 63 mm/min. These results give a satisfactory measure of confidence in the fidelity of the simulation     

Effect of fusion welding processes on tensile properties of armor grade,high thickness,non-heat treatable aluminium alloy joints

AA5059 is one of the high strength armor grade aluminium alloy that finds its applications in the military vehicles due to the higher resistance against the armor piercing (AP) threats. This study aimed at finding the best suitable process among the fusion welding processes such as gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) and gas metal arc welding (GMAW) by evaluating the tensile properties of AA5059 aluminium alloy joints. The fracture path was identified by mapping the low hardness distribution profile (LHDP) across the weld cross section under tensile loading. Optical and scanning electron microscopies were used to characterize the microstructural features of the welded joints at various zones. It is evident from the results that GTAW joints showed superior tensile properties compared to GMAW joints and this is primarily owing to the presence of finer grains in the weld metal zone (WMZ) and narrow heat-affected zone (HAZ). The lower heat input associated with the GTAW process effectively reduced the size of the WMZ and HAZ compared to GMAW process. Lower heat input of GTAW process results in faster cooling rate which hinders the grain growth and reduces the evaporation of magnesium in weld metal compared to GMAW joints. The fracture surface of GTAW joint consists of more dimples than GMAW joints which is an indication that the GTAW joint possess improved ductility than GMAW joint.     

Consequence of reinforced SiC particles and post process artificial ageing on microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir processed AA7075

Friction stir processing and post process artificial ageing was successfully carried out on AA7075 with and without reinforcement of SiC particles producing defect free processed zone with uniform distribution of filler material. Effect of SiC particle reinforcement and artificial ageing times on the microstructural modifications was characterized using optical and electron microscopy, electron backscattered diffraction and X-Ray diffraction. Hardness, impact and wear tests were carried out to investigate mechanical behaviour before and after processing. Reinforcement of SiC particles during FSP and subsequent age hardening treatment brought about nearly twofold increase in hardness and impact toughness values by the combined effect of grain refinement, Zener pinning, dispersion strengthening and precipitation hardening. Significant improvement in wear resistance in terms of wear loss was also observed after processing compared to the reference material AA7075-T6. Fractured surface of post FSP age hardened AA7075 alloy exhibited features of ductile fracture during Charpy impact test.     

Friction welding of AA6061 to AISI 4340 using silver interlayer

The present work pertains to the study on joining of AA6061 and AISI 4340 through continuous drive friction welding. The welds were evaluated by metallographic examination, X-ray diffraction, electron probe microanalysis, tensile test and microhardness. The study reveals that the presence of an intermetallic compound layer at the bonded interface exhibits poor tensile strength and elongation. Mg in AA6061 near to the interface is found to be favourable for the formation and growth of Fe2Al5 intermetallics. Introduction of silver as an interlayer through electroplating on AISI 4340 resulted in accumulation of Si at weld interface, replacing Mg at AA6061 side, thereby reducing the width of intermetallic compound layer and correspondingly increasing the tensile strength. Presence of silver at the interface results in partial replacement of Fe-Al based intermetallic compounds with Ag-Al based compounds. The presence of these intermetallics was confirmed by X-ray diffraction technique. Since Ag-Al phases are ductile in nature, tensile strength is not deteriorated and the silicon segregation at weld interface on AA6061 in the joints with silver interlayer acts as diffusion barrier for Fe and further avoids formation of Fe-Al based intermetallics. A maximum tensile strength of 240 MPa along with 4.9% elongation was obtained for the silver interlayer dissimilar metal welds. The observed trends in tensile properties and hardness were explained in relation to the microstructure.     

Fabrication of AA7005/TiB2-B4C surface composite by friction stir processing: Evaluation of ballistic behaviour

The present work aims to enhance the ballistic resistance of AA7005 alloy by incorporating the TiB₂ and B₄C ceramic reinforcement particles. Surface composites with different weight fractions of TiB₂ and B₄C particles were processed by friction stir processing. Micro-hardness and depth of penetration tests were carried out to evaluate the ballistic properties of the surface composites. The surface hardness of the composite was found to be nearly 70 HV higher than base alloy. The depth of penetration of the steel projectile was 20–26 mm in the composites as compared to 37 mm in the base alloy. Ballistic mass efficiency factor of the surface composite was found to be 1.6 times higher than base alloy. This is mainly attributed to the dispersion strengthening from the reinforcement particles.     

Effect of welding processes on mechanical and microstructural characteristics of high strength low alloy naval grade steel joints

Naval grade high strength low alloy(HSLA) steels can be easily welded by all types of fusion welding processes. However, fusion welding of these steels leads to the problems such as cold cracking, residual stress, distortion and fatigue damage. These problems can be eliminated by solid state welding process such as friction stir welding(FSW). In this investigation, a comparative evaluation of mechanical(tensile, impact,hardness) properties and microstructural features of shielded metal arc(SMA), gas metal arc(GMA) and friction stir welded(FSW) naval grade HSLA steel joints was carried out. It was found that the use of FSW process eliminated the problems related to fusion welding processes and also resulted in the superior mechanical properties compared to GMA and SMA welded joints.     

Friction stir surfacing of cast A356 aluminiumesilicon alloy with boron carbide and molybdenum disulphide powders

Good castability and high strength properties of Ale Si alloys are useful in defence applications like torpedoes,manufacture of Missile bodies,and parts of automobile such as engine cylinders and pistons.Poor wear resistance of the alloys is major limitation for their use.Friction stir processing(FSP) is a recognized surfacing technique as it overcomes the problems of fusion route surface modification methods.Keeping in view of the requirement of improving wear resistance of cast aluminiumesilicon alloy,friction stir processing was attempted for surface modification with boron carbide(B4C) and molybdenum disulfide(Mo S2) powders.Metallography,micro compositional analysis,hardness and pin-on-disc wear testing were used for characterizing the surface composite coating.Microscopic study revealed breaking of coarse silicon needles and uniformly distributed carbides in the A356 alloy matrix after FSP.Improvement and uniformity in hardness was obtained in surface composite layer.Higher wear resistance was achieved in friction stir processed coating with carbide powders.Addition of solid lubricant Mo S2 powder was found to improve wear resistance of the base metal significantly.     

Numerical modeling of friction stir welding using the tools with polygonal pins

Friction stir welding using the tools with polygonal pins is often found to improve the mechanical strength of weld joint in comparison to the tools with circular pins. However, the impacts of pin profile on the peak temperature, tool torque and traverse force, and the resultant mechanical stresses experienced by the tool have been rarely reported in a systematic manner. An estimation of the rate of heat generation for the tools with polygonal pins is challenging due to their non-axisymmetric cross-section about the tool axis. A novel methodology is presented to analytically estimate the rate of heat generation for the tools with polygonal pins. A three-dimensional heat transfer analysis of friction stir welding is carried out using finite element method. The computed temperature field from the heat transfer model is used to estimate the torque, traverse force and the mechanical stresses experienced by regular triangular, square, pentagon and hexagon pins following the principles of solid mechanics. The computed results show that the peak temperature experienced by the tool pin increases with the number of pin sides. However, the resultant maximum shear stress experienced by the pin reduces from the triangular to hexagonal pins.     

Influence of Al2O3 particles on the microstructure and mechanical properties of copper surface composites fabricated by friction stir processing

The influence of three factors, such as volume percentage of reinforcement particles (i.e. Al₂O₃), tool tilt angle and concave angle of shoulder, on the mechanical properties of Cu–Al₂O₃ surface composites fabricated via friction stir processing was studied. Taguchi method was used to optimize these factors for maximizing the mechanical properties of surface composites. The fabricated surface composites were examined by optical microscope for dispersion of reinforcement particles. It was found that Al₂O₃ particles are uniformly dispersed in the stir zone. The tensile properties of the surface composites increased with the increase in the volume percentage of the Al₂O₃ reinforcement particles. This is due to the addition of the reinforcement particles which increases the temperature of recrystallization by pinning the grain boundaries of the copper matrix and blocking the movement of the dislocations. The observed mechanical properties are correlated with microstructure and fracture features.     

Comparative study on transverse shrinkage,mechanical and metallurgical properties of AA2219 aluminium weld joints prepared by gas tungsten arc and gas metal arc welding processes

Aluminium alloy AA2219 is a high strength alloy belonging to 2000 series. It has been widely used for aerospace applications, especially for construction of cryogenic fuel tank. However, arc welding of AA2219 material is very critical. The major problems that arise in arc welding of AA2219 are the adverse development of residual stresses and the re-distribution as well as dissolution of copper rich phase in the weld joint.These effects increase with increase in heat input. Thus, special attention was taken to especially thick section welding of AA2219-T87 aluminium alloy. Hence, the present work describes the 25 mm-thick AA2219-T87 aluminium alloy plate butt welded by GTAW and GMAW processes using multi-pass welding procedure in double V groove design. The transverse shrinkage, conventional mechanical and metallurgical properties of both the locations on weld joints were studied. It is observed that the fair copper rich cellular(CRC) network is on Side-A of both the weldments. Further, it is noticed that, the severity of weld thermal cycle near to the fusion line of HAZ is reduced due to low heat input in GTAW process which results in non dissolution of copper rich phase. Based on the mechanical and metallurgical properties it is inferred that GTAW process is used to improve the aforementioned characteristics of weld joints in comparison to GMAW process.     

Numerical simulation study on penetration performance of depleted Uranium (DU) alloy fragments

Due to its high strength, high density, high hardness and good penetration capabilities, Depleted ura-nium alloys have already shined in armor-piercing projectiles. There should also be a lot of room for improvement in the application of fragment killing elements. Therefore, regarding the performance of the depleted uranium alloy to penetrate the target plate, further investigation is needed to analyze its advantages and disadvantages compared to tungsten alloy. To study the difference in penetration per-formance between depleted uranium alloy and tungsten alloy fragments,firstly, a theoretical analysis of the adiabatic shear sensitivity of DU and tungsten alloys was given from the perspective of material constitutive model. Then, taking the cylindrical fragment penetration target as the research object, the penetration process and velocity characteristics of the steel target plates penetrated by DU alloy frag-ment and tungsten alloy fragment were compared and analyzed, by using finite element software ANSYS/LS-DYNA and Lagrange algorithm. Lastly, the influence of different postures when impacting target and different fragment shapes on the penetration results is carried out in the research. The results show that in the penetration process of the DU and tungsten alloy fragments, the self-sharpening properties of the DU alloy can make the fragment head sharper and the penetrating ability enhance. Under the same conditions, the penetration capability of cylindrical fragment impacting target in vertical posture is better than that in horizontal posture, and the penetration capability of the spherical fragment is slightly better than that of cylindrical fragment.