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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Friction stir welded AM50 and AZ31 Mg alloys: Microstructural evolution and improved corrosion resistance

One of the major drawbacks of Mg alloys is poor weldability, caused by porosity formation during conventional fusion welding processes. Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is promising technique in this context since it is a solid state technique. Contradicting results were published in the literature regarding the FSWed Mg alloys joint's properties. Current research was performed in order to investigate the microstructure and corrosion properties of FSWed Mg alloys, studying representatives of two commercial families: wrought AZ31-H24 and die cast AM50. It was found that in both alloys recrystallization occurred during the FSW. In AM50 the mechanism of the recrystallization was continuous, manifested by dislocation rearrangement into sub grain boundaries. In AZ31 discontinuous recrystallization had occurred through grain boundaries migration - twins rotated with respect to the matrix, turning into low angle grain boundaries. Corrosion resistance has improved during the FSW in both alloys to different extents. In the AM50 alloy, the nugget exhibited significantly higher surface potential than the base metal mainly due to the higher Al concentration in the matrix of the nugget, resulting from the dissolution of Al-enrichment and β-Mg{sub 17}Al{sub 12} phase. In the AZ31 alloy, no change in Al concentration had occurred, and the surface potential measured in the nugget was only slightly higher than in the base metal. These results underline the appropriateness of the FSW for Mg alloys since during the conventional welding deterioration of the corrosion resistance occurs. - Highlights: • Following FSW, AZ31-H24 experienced discontinuous recrystallization. • In AZ31 grain boundaries migration occurred, thus twins rotated. • In die cast AM50 continuous recrystallization occurred during the FSW. • In AM50 - dislocations rearranged into sub grain boundaries. • Corrosion resistance has improved during the FSW in both alloys to different extent.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Complete Status Report Documenting Weld Development for Thin Wall Tubing of ODS Ferritic Alloys

Beginning in 2015, research in the FCRD program began the development of FSW for joining thin sections of 14YWT in the form of thin (0.5 mm) plate and ultimately thin wall tubing. In the previous fiscal year, a ~1 mm thick plate, or sheet, of 14YWT was produced by hot rolling with no edge cracking. The initial FSW experiment was performed on the 1 mm thick plate and involved a bead-on-plate weld in which the spinning pin tool is plunged into the plate surface, but does not penetrate the thickness of the plate, and then travels the length of the plate. The FSW run successfully produced a bead-on-plate stir zone on the 1 mm thick plate of 14YWT, but no characterization studies of the stir zone were performed by the end of FY15. Therefore, the results presented in this report cover the microstructural analysis of the bead-on-plate stir zone and the initial research task on obtaining tensile properties of the stir zone using the digital image correlation (DIC) approach during testing of miniature tensile specimens to assess the quality of the FSW parameters used in the initial experiment. The results of the microstructural characterization study using optical, scanning electron and scanning transmission electron microscopies showed the grain structure in the SZ to have isotropic and irregular shape but very similar size compared to the highly elongated grains oriented horizontally with the plane of the plate that were observed in the unaffected zone of 14YWT. Several cracks oriented horizontally were observed mostly on the retreating side of the SZ in both the SZ and TMAZ. These cracks may have formed due to insufficient pressure being exerted on the top surface of the plate by the shoulder and pin tool during the FSW run. High resolution STEM-EDS analysis showed the presence of the Y-Ti-O particles in the SZ, but that some particles exhibited coarsening. Overall, the FSW parameters used to produce the bead-on-plate SZ in the 0.1 cm thick plate of 14YWT were nearly optimized. The results of the digital image correlation (DIC) analysis of the two SS-Mini-2 tensile specimens fabricated from the 0.1 cm thick plate of 14YWT showed that the specimens exhibited high strength and good ductility. However, strain localization occurred in one of the specimens during the tensile test that was too close to the grips, which invalidated the data from the DIC analysis. This was surprising since the abrupt crack pop-in that occurred in the 0.1 cm thick plate of 14YWT during fabrication by wire EDM suggested that residual stresses were high. Residual stress measurements and the effects of post weld heat treatment on the FSW quality of joined 14YWT plates will be investigated in the next FW work package.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Enhancing Formability of AA2219 Aluminum Alloy Friction Stir Welded Blanks with Preheating Treatment

The deformation behaviors of FSW blank are complicated due to the incompatibility of the mechanical property and microstructure for the weld and base material. In order to improve the formability of friction stir welded (FSW) blanks, the weld and base material in this paper were subjected to preheating treatments of 250, 300, 350, 400, and 450 °C, plus a solution treatment of 535 °C. The deformation behavior of the AA2219 FSW blank was characterized using uniaxial tension, microhardness test, hydro-bulging test and electron backscattered diffraction to determine the relationship of the deformation property and microstructure for the FSW blanks. Full strain fields of the tensile and bulging specimens were used to analyze the deformation uniformity of the weld and base material under uniaxial tension and biaxial tension stress states. With the limiting bulging height under various preheating temperatures, the formability behavior of the weld and base material was analyzed during the whole bulging process. The optimum preheating temperature can increase the formability and refrain from abnormal grain growth of the weld on the premise of maintaining the weld strength. The limiting bulging height of FSW blank is obviously improved by the lower preheating temperature from 300 to 350 °C. Additionally, the weld position has a significant impact on the deformation of the whole FSW blanks.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

A new smoothed particle hydrodynamics non-Newtonian model for friction stir welding: Process modeling and simulation of microstructure evolution in a magnesium alloy

We present a new smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) model for friction stir welding (FSW). FSW has broad commercial application in the marine, aerospace, rail, and automotive industries. However, development of the FSW process for each new application has remained largely empirical. Few established numerical modeling techniques have been developed that can explain and predict important features of the process physics involved in FSW. This is particularly true in the areas of material flow and mixing mechanisms. In this paper, we present a novel modeling approach to simulate FSW that may have significant advantages over current finite element or finite difference based methods. Unlike traditional grid-based methods, Lagrangian particle methods such as SPH can simulate the dynamics of interfaces, large material deformations, and the material’s strain and temperature history without employing complex tracking schemes. Three-dimensional simulations of FSW on AZ31 Mg alloy are performed. The temperature history and distribution, grain size, microhardness as well as the texture evolution are presented. Numerical results are found to be in good agreement with experimental observations.

Pan, Wenxiao↗
DOE OSTI2018

Linking process and structure in the friction stir scribe joining of dissimilar materials: A computational approach with experimental support

We present that friction stir welding (FSW) is a popular technique to join dissimilar materials in numerous applications. The solid state nature of the process enables joining materials with strikingly different physical properties. For welds in lap configuration, an enhancement to this technology is made by introducing a short, hard insert, referred to as a cutting-scribe, at the bottom of the tool pin. The cutting-scribe induces deformation in the bottom plate which leads to the formation of mechanical interlocks or hook like structures at the interface of two materials. A thermo-mechanical computational model employing a coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian approach is developed to quantitatively capture the morphology of these interlocks during the FSW process. Simulations using this model are validated by experimental observations. In conclusion, the identified interface morphology coupled with the predicted temperature field from this process–structure model can be used to estimate the post-weld microstructure and joint strength.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

The microstructure of aluminum A5083 butt joint by friction stir welding

This study presents the microstructure of the aluminum A5083 butt joint surface after it has been joined by friction stir welding (FSW) process. The FSW process is a unique welding method because it will not change the chemical properties of the welded metals. In this study, MILKO 37 milling machine was modified to run FSW process on 4 mm plate of aluminum A5083 butt joint. For the experiment, variables of travel speed and tool rotational speed based on capability of machine were used to run FSW process. The concentrated heat from the tool to the aluminum plate changes the plate form from solid to plastic state. Two aluminum plates is merged to become one plate during plastic state and return to solid when concentrated heat is gradually further away. After that, the surface and cross section of the welded aluminum were investigated with a microscope by 400 x multiplication zoom. The welding defect in the FSW aluminum was identified. Then, the result was compared to the American Welding Society (AWS) FSW standard to decide whether the plate can be accepted or rejected.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Status of Joining Thin Sheet and Thin Wall Tubes of 14YWT

Beginning this fiscal year, the FCRD research project initiated an investigation on joining thin sections of the advanced ODS 14YWT ferritic alloy. Friction stir welding (FSW) was investigated as a method to join thin plate and tubing of 14YWT since it is a solid state joining method that has been shown in past studies to be a promising method for joining plates of ODS alloys, such as 14YWT. However, this study will attempt to be the first to demonstrate if FSW can successfully join thin plates and thin wall tubing of 14YWT. In the first FSW attempt, a 1.06 cm thick plate of 14YWT (SM13 heat) was successfully rolled at 1000ºC to the target thickness of 0.1 cm with no edge cracking. This achievement is a highlight since previous attempts to roll 14YWT plates have resulted in extensive cracking. For the FSW run, a pin tool being developed by the ORNL FSW Process Development effort was used. The first FSW run successfully produced a bead-on-plate weld in the 0.1 cm thick plate. The quality of the weld zone appears very good with no evidence of large defects such as cavities. The microstructural characterization study of the bead-on-plate weld zone has been initiated to compare the results of the microstructure analysis with those obtained in the reference microstructural analysis of the 14YWT (SM13 heat) that showed ultra-fine grain size of 0.43 μm and a high number density of ~2-5 nm sizes oxygen-enriched nanoclusters.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Influence of Welding Combined Plastic Forming on Microstructure Stability and Mechanical Properties of Friction Stir-Welded Al-Cu Alloy

A new tailor-welded process, which combines stages of welding, plastic forming, and heat treatment strengthening, was developed to produce a friction stir-welded (FSW) Al-alloy joint. The Al-Cu sheets were FSW under different welding parameters and then were plastic-deformed. The microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of the FSW joint were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and tensile tests. It was found that high heat input during FSW and low solution temperature suppress the abnormal grain growth (AGG) of the joint due to the differential in grain size and grain boundary energy. The microstructure heterogeneity of the FSW joint is effectively improved, as no AGG occurs. The retention of fine equiaxed grains and the increase in the density of precipitates result in excellent mechanical properties. The increase in the strength and micro-hardness of the joint mainly depends on the plastic deformation prior to aging treatment.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Effect of Preheating and Water Cooling on the Performance of Friction-Stir-Welded Aviation-Grade Aluminum Alloy Joints

This paper examined the effect of preheating and water cooling on the thermal, mechanical, metallurgical, and texture properties of friction-stir-welded AA6082. Joints are fabricated under different preheating (FSW-P) and water cooling (FSW-C) conditions. The experimental outcomes indicate that the preheating and water cooling enhance the mechanical properties of the joint. The maximum tensile strength of 295 MPa is obtained for FSW-P1. It is also observed that preheating has more impact on microhardness. Microstructural analysis using optical microscope and electron backscatter diffraction analysis indicated that FSW produced fine equiaxed grains in the nugget zone due to dynamic recrystallization. Texture analysis shows that finer grain grains are obtained under preheating and water cooling conditions. The minimum grain size of 5.3 µm is obtained under FSW-P1. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that Mg{sub 2}Si phase in nugget zone that is an indication of dissolution and formation of strengthening precipitates. Fracture analysis indicates that preheating also improves the ductility of the joint.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Friction stir welding of multi-walled carbon nanotubes reinforced Al matrix composites

Highlights: • Al/MWCNT composites were successfully welded using friction stir welding. • After FSW, the composites possessed an excellent balance of mechanical properties. • High tensile strength and elongation over BM owing to MWCNTs after FSW. • Microstructures were investigated according to MWCNT contents and FSW conditions. - Abstract: In this study, we prepared composites between Al and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) using the friction stir welding (FSW) method and investigated their microstructural evolution and mechanical properties by controlling the amount of MWCNT (1 and 3 vol%) and the plunging load (400 and 600 kg) used. After the FSW process, MWCNT showed slight coarsening of grain with random shear textures and accumulated dislocations; the differences obtained by varying the plunging load and MWCNT amount were insignificant. The friction-stir welded composite obtained using 3 vol% MWCNT and a plunging load of 600 kg possessed two-times better balance between strength and ductility than the base metal, due to the presence of both MWCNTs and the partially decomposed Al{sub 4}C{sub 3} in the composite.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Room temperature corrosion behaviour of plastically deformed AISI 304 stainless steel by friction stir welding in neutral and acidified chloride solutions

Severe plastic deformation of 304L stainless steel plate was carried out by friction stirring under an isothermal tool temperature at 825°C. The friction stirred zone showed extensive grain refinement, high fraction of low angle grain boundaries due to dislocation rearrangement, Σ3 and Σ9 special grain boundaries and discrete Fe–Cr–Mn-rich particles. Electrochemical polarisation measurements were done on the base metal (BM) and friction stir welded (FSW) specimens in the neutral and acidified 3.5% NaCl solutions. The BM showed marginally better pitting resistance in the neutral chloride solution than the FSW because of a larger fraction of special grain boundaries, and larger grain size. Whereas in acidified 3.5% NaCl solution, the FSW showed better corrosion resistance than the BM. Furthermore, the surface film of the FSW had a lower impedance and a lower defect concentration than the BM indicating higher diffusivity of point defects in the FSW.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Chloride-Induced Stress Corrosion Cracking of Friction Stir-Welded 304L Stainless Steel: Effect of Microstructure and Temperature

Dry storage canisters of used nuclear fuels are fabricated using SUS 304L stainless steel. Chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking (CISCC) is one of the major failure modes of dry storage canisters. The cracked canisters can be repaired by friction stir welding (FSW), a low-heat input ‘solid-phase’ welding process. It is important to evaluate the ClSCC resistance of the friction stir welded material. Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) studies were carried out on mill-annealed base materials and friction stir welded 304L stainless U-bend specimens in 3.5% NaCl + 5 N H2SO4 solution at room temperature and boiling MgCl2 solution at 155 °C. The engineering stress on the outer fiber of the FSW U-bend specimen was ~60% higher than that of the base metal (BM). In spite of the higher stress level of the FSW, both materials (FSW and BM) showed almost similar SCC failure times in the two different test solutions. The SCC occurred in the thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ) of the FSW specimens in the 3.5% NaCl + 5 N H2SO4 solution at room temperature, while the stirred zone (SZ) was relatively crack-free. The failure occurred at the stirred zone when tested in the boiling MgCl2 solution. Hydrogen reduction was the cathodic reaction in the boiling MgCl2 solution, which promoted hydrogen-assisted cracking of the heavily deformed stirred zone. The emergence of the slip step followed by passive film rupture and dissolution of the slip step could be the SCC events in the 3.5% NaCl + 5 N H2SO4 solution at room temperature. However, the slip step height was not sufficient to cause passivity breakdown in the fine-grained SZ. Therefore, the SCC occurred in the partially recrystallized softer TMAZ. Overall, the friction-stirred 304L showed higher tolerance to ClSCC than the 304L base metal.

304L austenitic stainless steel↗
DOE OSTI2015

HEAT INPUT AND POST WELD HEAT TREATMENT EFFECTS ON REDUCED-ACTIVATION FERRITIC/MARTENSITIC STEEL FRICTION STIR WELDS

Reduced-activation ferritic/martensitic (RAFM) steels are an important class of structural materials for fusion reactor internals developed in recent years because of their improved irradiation resistance. However, they can suffer from welding induced property degradations. In this paper, a solid phase joining technology friction stir welding (FSW) was adopted to join a RAFM steel Eurofer 97 and different FSW parameters/heat input were chosen to produce welds. FSW response parameters, joint microstructures and microhardness were investigated to reveal relationships among welding heat input, weld structure characterization and mechanical properties. In general, FSW heat input results in high hardness inside the stir zone mostly due to a martensitic transformation. It is possible to produce friction stir welds similar to but not with exactly the same base metal hardness when using low power input because of other hardening mechanisms. Further, post weld heat treatment (PWHT) is a very effective way to reduce FSW stir zone hardness values.

Tang, Wei↗
DOE OSTI2022

Friction Stir Processed Repair Welding of Dry Storage Canisters and Mitigation Strategies: Effect of Engineered Barrier Layer on Environmental Degradation

The proposed project aims to develop a friction sir based repair technique to heal cracks of stainless steel dry storage canisters (DSCs), created by the effect of stress corrosion cracking (SCC). In real service conditions, the welded parts of the canisters become prone to SCC under exposure to aggressive chemical environment. The focus of the project is on developing a mitigation strategy that can be implemented for countering SCC in DSCs following a two-pronged approach: (i) apply friction stir processing (FSP) as a crack repair technique while creating compressive residual stresses at the canister material surface, thus improving resistance against SCC; (ii) add molybdenum and/or nitrogen by friction stir based alloying process to create compositions that improve pitting resistance and thus enhance resistance against SCC. The specific project objectives are listed below: • Investigate FSW of 304L SS a potential repair welding technique of dry storage canisters; • Optimize the FSW parameters to introduce surface compressive stress profiles in the weldments; • Develop a FSP method to surface alloy the 304L with nitrogen and Mo by adding CrN and Mo powders; • Evaluate the surface compressive residual stress profile during FSW and FSP processes; • Evaluate the localized corrosion resistance of the FSW and FSP samples as a function of temperature, chloride concentration, and surface alloy composition; • Evaluate the SCC behavior of the FSW and FSP samples as a function of stress, chloride concentration, and temperature at different surface chemistries and induced residual stress profiles.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Characterization of microstructure and residual stress following the friction stir welding of dissimilar aluminum alloys

Friction-stir-welding (FSW) has gained importance as an effective way to join dissimilar materials due to its solid-state nature. However, FSW produces substantial residual stresses in aluminum welding, often deteriorating the component's structural performance and reliability. In the current study, the d-spacing (inter-atomic distance) of several locations on a battery tray and stress-free reference samples are measured with neutron diffraction to calculate the residual stresses in a lap 6061 to A365 dissimilar friction-stir-weld. Furthermore, the present study connects the measured residual stress to microstructure properties through electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and optical microscopy analyses. The EBSD results indicate that the FSW operation affects the grains’ orientation, thereby producing location-specific directionally varying elasticity across the weldment. Further, this varied elasticity creates unique d-spacing profiles even in the stress-free material. Additionally, the resulting stressed and stress-free d-spacing profiles show dependencies on the FSW tool geometry, traverse direction, and rotational direction. Lastly, this study suggests that the final component residual stress can be influenced by the sequence of multi-pass welds contributing to a rise in temperature in the presence of a completed weld relaxing its residual stress.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Nugget Structure Evolution with Rotation Speed for High-Rotation-Speed Friction-Stir-Welded 6061 Aluminum Alloy

High-rotation-speed friction stir welding (HRS-FSW) is a promising technique to reduce the welding loads during FSW and thus facilitates the application of FSW for in situ fabrication and repair. In this study, 6061 aluminum alloy was friction stir welded at high-rotation speeds ranging from 3000 to 7000 rpm at a fixed welding speed of 50 mm/min, and the effects of rotation speed on the nugget zone macro- and microstructures were investigated in detail in order to illuminate the process features. Temperature measurements during HRS-FSW indicated that the peak temperature did not increase consistently with rotation speed; instead, it dropped remarkably at 5000 rpm because of the lowering of material shear stress. The nugget size first increased with rotation speed until 5000 rpm and then decreased due to the change of the dominant tool/workpiece contact condition from sticking to sliding. At the rotation speed of 5000 rpm, where the weld material experienced weaker thermal effect and higher-strain-rate plastic deformation, the nugget exhibited relatively small grain size, large textural intensity, and high dislocation density. Consequently, the joint showed superior nugget hardness and simultaneously a slightly low tensile ductility.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Microstructure Evolution and Mechanical Properties of High-Speed Friction Stir Welded Aluminum Alloy Thin Plate Joints

Sound friction stir welded (FSW) joints of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy sheets with an 0.8 mm thickness were obtained at conventional speed (2000 rpm, 300 mm/min) and high speed (11,000 rpm, 1500 mm/min). The recrystallization mechanism, precipitate evolution, mechanical properties and fracture behavior were investigated in detail. Microstructure analyses revealed that the grain structure evolution in the nugget zone (NZ) was dominated by continuous dynamic recrystallization. In the process of FSW, high speed facilitates the formation of finer equiaxed recrystallized grains, higher density of dislocations and substructures, and a larger number of precipitates in the NZ compared to the conventional speed, which further significantly improves the hardness and tensile strength of the joints. The maximum tensile strength was obtained with 292.6 MPa, 83.2% for the 6061-T6 aluminum alloy and 122.6% for the conventional-speed FSW joints. This work provides an effective method for preparing FSW aluminum alloy thin plate joints with excellent mechanical properties.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Optimization of Tensile and Corrosion Properties of Dissimilar Friction Stir Welded AA2024-7075 Joints

In this work, we performed some joining experiments of dissimilar aluminum alloys AA2024-T351 and AA7075-T651 using friction stir welding (FSW) technique with different process parameters (rotational speed, welding speed and plunge depth). Response surface methodology based on a central composite rotatable design was used to establish the mathematical models predicting the tensile properties and corrosion rate of dissimilar FSW joints with some high confidence level. Analysis of variance method was employed to verify the developed models. Besides, the influences of FSW process parameters on tensile and corrosion properties of joints were analyzed. In order to obtain a desirable combination property of the dissimilar FSW joints, the optimum process parameters after experimental verification were proposed as: rotational speed 1495 rev/min, welding speed 187 mm/min and plunge depth 0.03 mm. This verification illustrated that the developed models are appropriate for the modeling and optimization of process.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗