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).     

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.     

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 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     

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.     

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.     

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.     

7A52铝合金便携式搅拌摩擦焊接头的组织与性能分析

采用便携式搅拌摩擦焊设备,对3mm厚的7A52铝合金薄板进行了焊接,对焊接头的显微组织和机械性能进行了观察测试。研究结果表明:焊接头可分为动态再结晶区、热-机影响区和母材3个区域,而没有明显的热影响区。动态再结晶区组织发生再结晶,生成细小的等轴晶粒;热-机影响区有塑性变形流线,且范围较窄;母材区保持着原来的轧制组织。接头硬度的最薄弱环节在热-机影响区。接头抗拉强度达到母材的70%左右,能够满足战场应急抢修的需求。     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Effect of tool pin profile on microstructure and tensile properties of friction stir welded dissimilar AA 6061e AA 5086 aluminium alloy joints

Joints between two different grades of aluminium alloys are need of the hour in many light weight military structures.In this investigation,an attempt has been made to join the heat treatable(AA 6061) and non-heat treatable(AA 5086) aluminium alloys by friction stir welding(FSW)process using three different tool pin profiles like straight cylindrical,taper cylindrical and threaded cylindrical.The microstructures of various regions were observed and analyzed by means of optical and scanning electron microscope.The tensile properties and microhardness were evaluated for the welded joint.From this investigation it is founded that the use of threaded pin profile of tool contributes to better flow of materials between two alloys and the generation of defect free stir zone.It also resulted in higher hardness values of 83 HV in the stir zone and higher tensile strength of 169 MPa compared to other two profiles.The increase in hardness is attributed to the formation of fine grains and intermetallics in the stir zone,and in addition,the reduced size of weaker regions,such as TMAZ and HAZ regions,results in higher tensile properties.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Experimental investigation of Tie6Ale4V titanium alloy and 304L stainless steel friction welded with copper interlayer

The basic principle of friction welding is intermetallic bonding at the stage of super plasticity attained with self-generating heat due to friction and finishing at upset pressure. Now the dissimilar metal joints are especially popular in defense, aerospace, automobile, bio-medical,refinery and nuclear engineerings. In friction welding, some special alloys with dual phase are not joined successfully due to poor bonding strength. The alloy surfaces after bonding also have metallurgical changes in the line of interfacing. The reported research work in this area is scanty. Although the sound weld zone of direct bonding between Tie6Ale4 V and SS304 L was obtained though many trials, the joint was not successful. In this paper, the friction welding characteristics between Tie6Ale4 V and SS304 L into which pure oxygen free copper(OFC) was introduced as interlayer were investigated. Boxe Behnken design was used to minimize the number of experiments to be performed. The weld joint was analyzed for its mechanical strength. The highest tensile strength between Tie6Ale4 V and SS304 L between which pure copper was used as insert metal was acquired. Micro-structural analysis and elemental analysis were carried out by EDS, and the formation of intermetallic compound at the interface was identified by XRD analysis.     

高硬再制造表面强化层的加热切削研究

应用高性能硬质合金、陶瓷刀具和CBN刀具对常温条件下难以加工的高硬堆焊材料进行加热切削试验。试验结果表明：尽管加热条件下冲击效应降低,但CBN刀具仍然破损严重;陶瓷刀具虽然也无法实现理想的切削,但切削过程中刀具破损模式从崩碎式失效转变为磨损失效;3种刀具中高性能硬质合金应用效果最佳,其最佳参数条件下,一个切削里程后刀面VB值仅为0．3mm,试验过程中,刀具磨损随表面加热温度、切削速度、切削深度的提高而增大,但随进给量取值的增大而减小,其中切削速度对刀具VB值的影响最大,而进给量和削切深度对刀具VB值的影响较小。综合分析还表明：试验中刀具磨损速率仍然受刀具红硬性极限的限制。     

Pitting corrosion resistance and bond strength of stainless steel overlay by friction surfacing on high strength low alloy steel

Surface modification is essential for improving the service properties of components. Cladding is one of the most widely employed methods of surface modification. Friction surfacing is a candidate process for depositing the corrosion resistant coatings. Being a solid state process, it offers several advantages over conventional fusion based surfacing process. The aim of this work is to identify the relationship between the input variables and the process response and develop the predictive models that can be used in the design of new friction surfacing applications. In the current work, austenitic stainless steel AISI 304 was friction surfaced on high strength low alloy steel substrate. Friction surfacing parameters,such as mechtrode rotational speed, feed rate of substrate and axial force on mechtrode, play a major role in determining the pitting corrosion resistance and bond strength of friction surfaced coatings. Friction surfaced coating and base metal were tested for pitting corrosion by potentiodynamic polarization technique. Coating microstructure was characterized using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Coatings in the as deposited condition exhibited strain-induced martensite in austenitic matrix. Pitting resistance of surfaced coatings was found to be much lower than that of mechtrode material and superior to that of substrate. A central composite design with three factors(mechtrode rotational speed, substrate traverse speed, axial load on mechtrode) and five levels was chosen to minimize the number of experimental conditions. Response surface methodology was used to develop the model. In the present work, an attempt has been made to develop a mathematical model to predict the pitting corrosion resistance and bond strength by incorporating the friction surfacing process parameters.     

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.