Friction Stir Welding Conditions Research Articles

Assessment of the Thermomechanical Behavior and Microstructure of AA 7075-T6 Aluminum Alloy Lap Joints at Optimal Predicted FSW Process Parameters

The lap joints of AA 7075-T6 aluminum alloy were assembled using the friction stir welding (FSW) technique. Experimental studies were performed to characterize the thermomechanical properties of these welds. The main goal of this research was to comprehensively assess the thermomechanical behavior of AA 7075-T6 aluminum alloy under FSW conditions. Tests were carried out at a tool rotational speed of 1320 rpm and at two advancing speeds of 70 mm/min and 120 mm/min, selected based on a previous study aiming to optimize the heat input during the FSW process. The experimental investigations involved the characterization of temperature profiles during welding, mechanical properties such as microhardness and tensile strength, and microstructure examination at the two advancing speed conditions. This study revealed that the welding speed has an obvious influence on the material thermal behavior during the FSW process. Indeed, the peak temperature obtained with a lower welding speed (70 mm/min) was higher by almost 10% compared to that obtained with a higher speed (120 mm/min). Moreover, by increasing the welding speed, the mechanical characteristics, such as microhardness and tensile strength, were increased by almost 5% for the mean microhardness and 6% for the ultimate tensile strength. Additionally, the microstructure examination demonstrated that, by decreasing the welding speed, more interaction between the tool and the material is observed, resulting in a deeper stir zone due to increased heat dissipation downwards into the material, affecting the thermal profile and influencing the resulting mechanical properties of the welded joint.

Friction stir welded joints in aluminum highway bridge decks: a quality control framework

Friction stir welding (FSW) has shown considerable promise for highway aluminum bridge deck fabrication but lacks specific quality control guidelines for fit-up defects. This study conducts a performance-based (PB) quality control assessment of butt-lap FSW joints for highway bridge decks. Five FSW conditions were simulated, including a standard control welding condition, fit-up defects (gaps and tool offset), and a welding tool’s rotational direction inversion from the standard condition. A rigorous prequalification process established acceptable tolerance levels for fit-up defects: a 3 mm positive offset, a 1.5 mm negative offset, and a 1.5 mm gap. Subsequently, specimens from real aluminium deck extrusions, incorporating the various welding conditions were subjected to fatigue testing. Results showed that the fatigue strength and failure mode were primarily influenced by the weld root microstructure. The FSW tool’s rotational direction significantly influenced fatigue strength due to its impact on the nucleation of the hooking defect in the weld root area, while the impact of fit-up defects on fatigue strength was comparatively lesser. Furthermore, finite element analysis examined the impact of the geometrical features of the root microstructure and the direction of the initial crack propagation on the stress intensity factor range. These findings have practical implications for setting tolerance levels for fit-up defects in aluminum butt-lap FSW joints and optimizing of the quality and fatigue strength of butt-lap FSW joints.

Elucidation of tool wear phenomenon in FSW using silicon nitride tool

Friction stir welding (FSW) has been widely used in welding of metal. However, it is difficult to weld high melting point metal by FSW because of short life or high price of FSW tools. Silicon nitride tool can have both long life and low cost. Although the silicon nitride tool, which has high temperature mechanical properties, could have a long tool life for FSW of steel, it is not clear how FSW conditions affected the tool life. In this study, changes in the shape of the FSW tool was focused. A comparative verification of the tool shape changes due to the FSW conditions was carried out, and specific shape changes in silicon nitride tools were verified. The silicon nitride tool was worn only at the shoulder and not at the probe. Furthermore, the wear shape was different depending on rotation speed and welding speed of the tool. The factors that cause them were analyzed using temperature and stress simulations for silicon nitride tools. Increasing the rotation speed broadened temperature distribution, increased the peak temperature and narrowed the stress distribution. When the welding speed was increased, the temperature distribution became narrower and peak temperature was lower, and the thermal asymmetry increased, while the stress distribution expanded and the stress asymmetry increased. When the welding speed was high, the agitation in the plastic flow zone was insufficient, and there were places where the stress and temperature were low around the shoulder. It is considered that these decrements of the stress and temperature lead to the concave part remaining on the outer circumference. Therefore, it is important to control both the welding speed and the rotation speed of the silicon nitride tool in order to suppress the protrusion which is main reason of the tool breakage.

Adhesive reinforced friction stir welded thermoplastic tube-to-tubesheet hybrid joints

Thermoplastic materials are gaining popularity, because of their anti-fouling and chemically inert properties, for use in industrial applications that involve heating and cooling of highly reactive fluids. The current work studies the effect of adhesive reinforcement and radial clearance (RC) on developing friction stir welding (FSW)-based thermoplastic tube-to-tubesheet hybrid joints (TTHJs), which has applications in the thermoplastic heat exchanger and piping industries. The workpieces (sheets and tubes) made of carbon black reinforced high-density polyethylene were used. First, the effect of FSW parameters on the tube pull-out behavior was studied. The fractographic investigations (macroscopic and SEM) suggest that the FSW joints can fail in a brittle, ductile, or mixed manner, depending on the FSW conditions used. The FSW technique provides better load bearing capacity (326 N (0.0 RC), 517 N (0.5 mm RC)) compared to adhesive joints (226 N (0.0 RC), 206 N (0.5 mm RC)). For 0.0 RC, the adhesive reinforcement increased the load bearing capacity by 15.6 %. On the contrary, for 0.5 mm RC, the adhesive reinforcement negatively impacted the load bearing capacity and reduced it by 40.6 %. The FSW technique with 0.5 mm RC provides a higher leak path of 77 % remaining tubesheet thickness (> tube thickness) compared to that of 46.6 % (< tube thickness) achieved at 0.0 RC. However, the adhesive reinforcement can enhance the leak path of 0.0 RC FSW joints to around 100 % remaining tubesheet thickness (> tube thickness) by introducing the adhesive material at the tube-sheet interface.

Tailoring the Microstructure of an AA5754 Aluminum Alloy by Tuning the Combination of Heat Treatment, Friction Stir Welding, and Cold Rolling

Friction stir welding (FSW) has now reached a technological impact and diffusion that makes it a common joining practice for several classes of metallic materials. These include light alloys (aluminum, titanium, magnesium), steels, and other metallic alloys. In addition, the combination of FSW with pre- or post-welding heat treatments or plastic deformation, such as cold rolling (CR), can favor minimal necessary plate thicknesses and induce effective alloy strengthening mechanisms that make the FSW joint lines as plate reinforcing zones. Process parameters, such as pin rotation and transverse speed, can be tuned to optimize the mechanical properties of the resulting joint. This work presents a microstructural study of the mechanical response of different sequences of heat treatment, FSW, and CR in a non-age hardened Al-Mg AA5754 alloy. By using polarized optical microscopy and microhardness tests, two FSW conditions were used to fabricate a joint; and were than subjected to different sequences of heat treatment and cold rolling. The results suggest that FSW conditions have a limited effect on the microstructure, while microhardness profiles show a higher variability of the different datasets related to the low welding speed investigated.

Comparison Study on Welding Temperature and Joint Characteristics of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy by Ultrasonic and Heat Pipe Assisted FSW

As an important factor in friction stir welding (FSW) process, temperature directly affects the microstructures and mechanical properties of welded joints. The present work aims to investigate the welding temperature and joint characteristics of AZ31 magnesium alloy under three FSW conditions: conventional friction stir welding (FSW), ultrasonic assisted friction stir welding (UaFSW), and ultrasonic and heat pipe assisted friction stir welding (UHaFSW), respectively. The results show that the welding temperature distributions and the characteristic of “non-uniformity” are presented in the FSW and UaFSW joints along the welding and horizontal directions. Compared with conventional FSW, UaFSW can effectively balance and improve the non-uniform temperature distribution in the joints, resulting in the significant decreases in the peak temperatures and durations of high temperature. Hence, the grains are refined in the microstructure of the nugget zone in the UHaFSW joints, which enhances their microhardness and tensile properties. Based on these results, it can be concluded that UHaFSW could be an effective method to improve the mechanical properties of AZ31 magnesium alloy welded joints.

ВЛИЯНИЕ РЕЖИМА СВАРКИ ТРЕНИЕМ С ПЕРЕМЕШИВАНИЕМ НА ТЕРМИЧЕСКУЮ СТАБИЛЬНОСТЬ СПЛАВА АД33

Friction stir welding (FSW) is an innovative technology for the solid-phase joining of metal materials. It allows producing permanent joints of materials conventionally considered to be nonweldable, in particular aluminum alloys. However, an essential drawback of FSW is the relatively low stability of the stir zone microstructure. In particular, during post-weld heat treatment, seams frequently demonstrate abnormal grain growth. Such an undesirable phenomenon is often interpreted in terms of the so-called Humphrey’s cellular model, according to which the abnormal behavior is attributed to the essential microstructure refinement and the dissolution of the second-phase particles occurring during FSW. Since these two processes significantly depend on the temperature, the authors suggested that the thermal stability of the produced FSW seams should also be associated with the FSW heat conditions. To test this hypothesis, the authors obtained two welded seams at different FSW conditions and then studied their microstructural behavior during T6 mode thermal treatment (involving solution heat treatment followed by artificial aging). The authors used the advanced electron backscatter diffraction technique (EBSD) to investigate microstructure. In full accordance with the initial idea, the investigation showed that microstructural evolution in both studied microstructure states varied wildly. Specifically, the study identified that the reduction in the FSW temperature causes the suppression of abnormal grain growth. The authors suggested that the enhanced thermal stability of the material is associated with the conservation of the second-phase particles during the low-temperature FSW.

A Comprehensive Review on Optimal Welding Conditions for Friction Stir Welding of Thermoplastic Polymers and Their Composites.

Friction stir welding (FSW) and friction stir spot welding (FSSW) techniques are becoming widely popular joining techniques because of their increasing potential applications in automotive, aerospace, and other structural industries. These techniques have not only successfully joined similar and dissimilar metal and polymer parts but have also successfully developed polymer-metallic hybrid joints. This study classifies the literature available on the FSW and FSSW of thermoplastic polymers and polymer composites on the basis of joining materials (similar or dissimilar), joint configurations, tooling conditions, medium conditions, and study types. It provides a state-of-the-art and detailed review of the experimental studies available on the FSW and FSSW between similar thermoplastics. The mechanical properties of FSW (butt- and lap-joint configurations) and FSSW weld joints depend on various factors. These factors include the welding process parameters (tool rotational speed, tool traverse speed, tool tilt angle, etc.), base material, tool geometry (pin and shoulder size, pin profile, etc.) and tool material, and medium conditions (submerged, non-submerged, heat-assisted tooling, cooling-assisted tooling). Because of the dependence on many factors, it is difficult to optimize the welding conditions to obtain a high-quality weld joint with superior mechanical properties. The general guidelines are established by reviewing the available literature. These guidelines, if followed, will help to achieve high-quality weld joints with least defects and superior mechanical properties. Apart from parametric-based studies, the statistical-based studies (e.g., analysis of variance (ANOVA)-based studies) are covered, which helps with the determination of the influential parameters that affect the FSW and FSSW weld joint strength. Also, the optimal ranges of the most influential process parameters for different thermoplastic materials are established. The current work on the development of general guidelines and determination of influential parameters and their operating ranges from published literature can help with designing smart future experimental studies for obtaining the global optimum welding conditions. The gaps in the available literature and recommendations for future studies are also discussed.

Влияние режима сварки трением с перемешиванием и ее направления относительно направления прокатки сплава Д16 на структуру и свойства его сварных соединений

Introduction. Friction stir welding conditions determines character of thermomechanical impact on welded material, so a critical alteration of even one of condition parameters can result in formation of defects and strength decrease of welded joint. Also an important factor is an orientation of welded material relative to a welding direction since it determines kinetics of material deformation and consequently its final structure and properties. Research efforts of friction stir welding properties generally consist in analysis of final properties of obtained weld joints and its correlation with parameters of welding condition. But to solve a problem of obtaining of weld joints with strength and quality, it’s also important to estimate a welded material resistance to deformation from welding tool impact which could be achieved by monitoring a number of parameters directly in process of welding. The purpose of the work is to research an impact of welding condition parameters and an orientation of welded material’s structure on friction stir welding process behavior and also on structure and strength of weld joints of 2024 aluminum alloy. Results and discussion. By monitoring the torque and welding force, it is shown that as the tool penetration force increases, the material's resistance to deformation increases. When welding is longitudinal to the direction of base metal rolling a torque and a welding force parameters decreases in value of 5-20%. An increase of welding speed provides a growing of material resistance to welding tool movement, at that, a direction of welding doesn’t have a significant impact. With an increase of welding tool rotational speed, a material resistance to deformation decreases, a welding temperature grows and it results in growing of material’s plasticization degree and in improvement of its mass transfer conditions. It is also shown that the welding conditions, which allows welding the 2024 alloy at a temperature of 450 – 500 ºС, provides the degree of plasticization of the material, at which welded joints with a high-quality structure and high mechanical properties are obtained. In this conditions a direction of welding in relation to the direction of base metal rolling has an impact: when welding is longitudinal to the direction of rolling the tensile strength of weld joints reaches a value of 92%, and when welding is transverse - 95% of base material tensile strength.

From thick intermetallic to nanoscale amorphous phase at Al-Fe joint interface: roles of friction stir welding conditions

The formation of thick intermetallic compounds (IMC) at the joint interface between aluminum alloy and steel has been the major barrier for adopting Al-Fe bimetallic structures in safety-critical structures. Although friction stir welding (FSW) has recently shown some promise, the progress has been slow towards effectively controlling detrimental IMCs due to a lack of a better understanding of the effects of friction stir conditions on the Al-Fe interfacial transition layer development. This study presents a carefully designed FSW experiment to show how a thick intermetallic layer can be reduced to a nanoscale amorphous phase through control of friction stir conditions. Its implications on practical conditions for joining aluminum alloy and steel without detrimental IMCs are also discussed in light of both the experimental results and underlying mechanical and physical phenomena.

New Approaches to Friction Stir Welding of Aluminum Light-Alloys

Friction stir welding (FSW) is the most widely used solid-state joining technique for light-weight plate and sheet products. This new joining technique is considered an energy-saving, environment friendly, and relatively versatile technology. FSW has been found to be a reliable joining technique in high-demand technology fields, such as high-strength aerospace aluminum and titanium alloys, and for other metallic alloys that are hard to weld by conventional fusion welding. Several studies accounted for the microstructural modifications induced by solid-state FSW, based on the resulting mechanical properties obtained at the FSW joints, such as tensile, bending, torsion, ductility and fatigue responses. In the last few years with the need and emerging urgency to widen the FSW application fields, broadening the possible alloy systems, and to optimize the resulting mechanical properties, this joining technique was further developed. In this respect, the present contribution focuses on two modified-FSW techniques and approaches applied to aluminum alloys plates. In a first case, an age-hardening AA6082 sheets were double side friction stir welded (DS-FSW). In a second case a non-age-hardening AA5754 sheet was FSW by an innovative approach in which welding pin was forced to slightly deviate away from the joining centreline (defined by authors as RT). In both the cases different pin heights were used, the sheets were subjected to heat treatments (peak hardening T6 for the AA6082, and annealing for the AA5754) and compared to the non-heat treated FSW conditions. Microstructural modifications were characterized by optical microscopy (OM). The mechanical properties were characterized both locally, by nanoindentation techniques, and globally, by tensile (yield, YT; ultimate, UT; and elongation, El) or forming limit curve (FLC) tests. Both the new approaches were directly compared to the conventional FSW techniques in terms of resulting microstructures and mechanical responses.

High-Resolution Residual Stress Mapping of Magnesium AZ80 Friction Stir Welds for Three Processing Conditions

Low-angle synchrotron transmission diffraction has been used to create high-resolution 2D residual strain maps of friction stir welds made with three processing conditions. These spatial maps of residual strain reveal local concentrations not detectable by line scans, and confirm that the asymmetric material flow known to produce asymmetric temperature and texture distributions also results in asymmetric residual strain distributions. The experimental set-up permitted simultaneous measurement of both texture and strain, which provides strong evidence against the correlation of these features in magnesium friction stir welds. Mapping diffraction peak width across the weld provides insight into the spatial distribution of dislocations and microstrains, and indicates locations of interest for higher resolution research such as TEM. A diffraction method is presented to determine the solute content of a ternary system using the lower symmetry of a non-cubic system, which can be extended to detecting the onset of precipitation among other applications. Comparison of three friction stir-welding conditions shows how the residual strains at the interface can reverse from compressive to tensile with decrease in the heat input, explaining a significant disparity in the literature results. Lower residual stress values were found to be well-correlated with improved transverse tensile behavior.

Microstructural evolution in Al–Mg–Sc alloy (AA5024): Effect of thermal treatment, compression deformation and friction stir welding

Effect of thermal annealing and deformation in both compression and friction stir welding conditions on microstructural evolution in the cold rolled Al-4.36Mg-0.26Sc-0.09Zr (wt.%) alloy was investigated. To evaluate the thermal stability of the alloy, differential scanning calorimetry and static annealing experiments were carried out as a function of temperature. Microhardness measurements and quasi-static compression testing were performed on the as-received and annealed alloy samples. Friction stir welding was carried out on the as-received alloy sheet in butt configuration at two different tool traverse speeds of 250 and 500 mm/min. Upon annealing, the alloy showed continuous recrystallization with transformation of the elongated grain structure possessing strong rolling texture to coarse equiaxed microstructure with random orientation. The annealed alloy exhibited reduced hardness and compressive strength at room temperature. Detailed microstructural investigation of hot compression deformed and friction stir welded samples revealed formation of subgrain structure and followed by fine recrystallized grains with nearly random orientation. The analysis suggests that continuous dynamic recrystallization involving progressive subgrain rotation is the possible mechanism for microstructural changes occurring during hot deformation of Al–Mg-Sc alloy.

Influences of temperature and Sn-addition on microstructural evolution of Ag during FSW

ABSTRACTThe microstructural evolutions of pure Ag and Ag-0.75 wt-%Sn during rapid cooling friction stir welding (FSW) were examined. At the lower welding temperature of FSW conditions, the annealing twinning was highly suppressed and the microstructural evolution was dominated by the discontinuous dynamic recrystallisation (DDRX) via the high angle boundary (HAB) bulging. The fully recrystallised microstructure was remarkably finer than that formed through the frequent annealing twinning at the higher welding temperature. Moreover, the Sn-addition caused the HAB bulging due to the inhibition of dynamic recovery and decreased mobility of grain boundaries. With decreasing the ratio of the peak temperature to the recrystallisation temperature, the dominant grain refinement mechanism is implied to change from the annealing twinning to the DDRX.

Welding Deformation Analysis, Using an Inherent Strain Method for Friction Stir Welded Electric Vehicle Aluminum Battery Housing, Considering Productivity

With the rise of electric vehicles, the use of battery modules, which are key units that drive vehicles, is increasing. The battery housing is the final form of a battery system mounted on electric vehicles, and is generally made of aluminum alloys, located at the bottom of the vehicle. The aluminum housing has a special shape to accommodate the battery module and is produced by welding extruded panels. This study applied friction stir welding (FSW) to weld 2.5 mm thin aluminum plates in order to improve the weldability and productivity. To increase productivity, we compared the mechanical properties after performing experiments under various FSW conditions. As a result, it was possible to derive speed-enabling welding conditions that can improve productivity without decreasing tensile strength. Deformation occurred in the structure during welding, causing gaps in the structure. Since these gaps have a significant influence on the degradation of mechanical properties after welding, the welding deformation at each step of welding must be calculated and reflected in the process. This study used the inherent strain method to calculate the deformation of each step of welding to apply automatic welding, and reduced the analysis time to 1/30 compared to the thermal elasto-plastic analysis method. Finally, this study verified the validity of the analysis method by comparing the experimental results with the numerical results using the inherent strain method.

In-situ nanocomposite in friction stir welding of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy to AZ31 magnesium alloy

Prior to friction stir welding (FSW), silicon carbide (SiC) nanopowders were placed inside the groove on the adjacent side of magnesium sheet. In order to make a good distribution of these nanoparticles, first, friction stir processing (FSP) with a pinless tool was conducted on this side. Second, using a frustum pin tool, a combination of two travel speeds (25 and 35 mm/min) and three rotation speeds (550, 600 and 650 rpm) were employed to obtain the optimal conditions for FSW of AZ31 magnesium alloy to 6061 aluminum alloy. The joint fabricated at 35 mm/min and 650 rpm, exhibited improvement of 28% in tensile strength and enhancement about three times in elongation, compared with the joint without nanoparticles. SiC nanoparticles had an effective role on the grain refining of the stirred zone and improving the microstructural characteristics of the banded structure zone. Due to the decreased grain size and the presence of ceramic nanoparticles (SiC) with high value of hardness, the hardness level of the reinforced samples was greater than that of the non-reinforced samples. Fracture of the non-reinforced sample was completely brittle, while in the reinforced samples, fracture features changed to the ductile mode.

The effect of changing chemical composition on dissimilar Mg/Al friction stir welded butt joints using zinc interlayer

In this study, solid state joining technology of friction stir welding (FSW) was carried out for Al and Mg butt joints. To improve the microstructural characteristics of the banded structure zone, before to the FSW process, a Zn interlayer was also inserted in the butt joints. Optimal conditions for friction stir welding were obtained using a combination of two travel speeds (25 and 35 mm/min) and three rotation speeds (550, 600 and 650 rpm). Mg-Zn and Mg-Al-Zn IMCs, Al solid solution and residual Zn were the most common phases in the stirred zone, eliminating Al-Mg intermetallic formation. The joint fabricated at 35 mm/min and 600 rpm, in which tensile strength of the weld improved from 141 to 175 MPa and an elongation from 0.7 to 1.9 was achieved, gave the maximum mechanical properties compared with the Zn free sample FSWed under identical conditions. The fracture micrographs were compatible with the corresponding ductility results and the fracture surfaces of Zn added samples possessed a fine texture combining brittle and ductile fracture features. Meanwhile, the hardness level was lower than that of the Zn free sample because of the change in the IMCs composition of the Zn added samples.

Influence of friction stir welding conditions on joinability of V-alloy/SUS316L dissimilar joint

As one of the joining method to join between V-alloy and austenitic stainless steel SUS316L without melting of V and Fe to realize the self-cooled liquid-lithium blanket of fusion reactor, friction stir welding (FSW) is selected and the effect of FSW conditions on joinability of this dissimilar joint was examined. The sound dissimilar joint can be fabricated under the condition that V-alloy is set on the advancing side and the FSW tool is plunged into the SUS316L. Although the surface appearances of joint indicate that the case of the largest total heat input is the best condition, the results of cross-sectional microstructures and tensile tests suggests that the amount of adhesion to FSW tool seems to increase due to the higher temperature during FSW and the stir condition would be deteriorated. In addition, it is found that the higher rotational and traveling speeds might cause an insufficiency of the plastic flow and then crack or kissing bond would be generated. Moreover, it is revealed that one of the most preferable methods to prevent the adhesion of the mixture of base materials to the tool during processing is the selection of an appropriate coating on FSW tool.

Establishing the Dependence of Output Parameters Depending on Local Process Conditions for Friction Stir Welding of Pure Copper Plates

Welding copper and its alloys is usually difficult to achieve by conventional fusion welding processes because of high thermal diffusivity of the copper, which is at least 10 times higher than most steel alloys, in addition to this, there are the well-known disadvantages of conventional fusion welding represented by necessity of using alloying elements, a shielding gas and a clean surface. To overcome these inconveniences, Friction Stir Welding (FSW), a solid state joining process that relies on frictional heating and plastic deformation, is being explored as a feasible welding process. In order to achieve an increased welding speed and a reduction in tool wear, this process is assisted by another one (TIG) which generates and adds heat to the process. The research includes two experiments for the FSW process and one experiment for tungsten inert gas assisted FSW process. The process parameters that varied were the rotational speed of the tool [rpm] and the welding speed [mm/min] while the compressive force remained constant. The purpose of this paper is to correlate the evolution of temperature, tensile strength, elongation and microscopic aspect with the linear position on the joint (local process parameters) for each experimental case and then make comparisons between them, and to identify and present the set of process parameters that has the best mechanical properties for this material.

Effect of the surface roughness of friction stir welded joints on the fatigue characteristics of welded joints in V-1461 and V-1469 aluminium–lithium alloys

Investigations were carried out into the effect of friction stir welding conditions of V-1461 and V-1469 aluminium–lithium alloys on surface roughness and mechanical properties of welded joints. The general parameter of the welding conditions was the heat input coefficient determined by the ratio of the speed of rotation of the tool to the welding speed. The optimum range of friction stir welding conditions of sheets of the investigated alloys was determined. In this stage, the surface finish of the welded joint after welding is much better (required for increasing the fatigue characteristics and high-quality deposition of protective coatings), there are no defects and the strength of the welded joint is equal to 0.75–0.85 of the strength of the parent material. The production of the welded joints with reduced surface roughness (Rz ≤ 40 μm) greatly increases the fatigue characteristics of the welded joints (low-cycle fatigue strength equals more than 300,000 cycles without fracture).