Underwater Friction Stir Welding Research Articles

Underwater friction stir welding of ultrafine grained 2017 aluminum alloy

2017 aluminum alloy plates with an ultrafine grained (UFG) structure were produced by equal channel angular processing (ECAP) and then were joined by underwater friction stir welding (underwater FSW). X-ray diffractometer (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and microhardness tester were adopted to investigate the microstructural and mechanical characteristics of the FSW joint. The results indicate that an ultrafine grained microstructure with the mean grain size of ∼0.7 μm is obtained in the weld nugget by using water cooling. However, The FSW joint exhibits softening compared with the ultrafine grained based material and the heat affected zone (HAZ) has the lowest hardness owing to the coarsening of the strengthening precipitates.

Homogeneity of Mechanical Properties of Underwater Friction Stir Welded 2219-T6 Aluminum Alloy

Underwater friction stir welding (FSW) has been demonstrated to be available for the improvement in tensile strength of normal FSW joints. In order to illuminate the intrinsic reason for strength improvement through underwater FSW, a 2219 aluminum alloy was underwater friction stir welded and the homogeneity of mechanical properties of the joint was investigated by dividing the joint into three layers. The results indicate that the tensile strength of the three layers of the joint is all improved by underwater FSW, furthermore, the middle and lower layers have larger extent of strength improvement than the upper layer, leading to an increase in the homogeneity of mechanical properties of the joint. The minimum hardness value of each layer, especially the middle and lower layers, is improved under the integral water cooling effect, which is the intrinsic reason for the strength improvement of underwater joint.

Effect of Water Cooling on the Performances of Friction Stir Welding Heat-Affected Zone

The heat-affected zone (HAZ) is generally the intrinsic weakest location of the normal friction stir welded precipitate hardened aluminum alloys. In order to improve the mechanical properties of the HAZ by controlling the temperature level, underwater friction stir welding (FSW) of an Al-Cu aluminum alloy was conducted in the present study. The results indicate that the hardness of the HAZ can be improved through underwater FSW. Microstructural analysis reveals that the hardness improvement is attributed to the lowering of precipitate coarsening level and the narrowing of precipitate free zone, which are essentially induced by the variations of welding thermal cycles under the cooling effect of water.

Microstructural evolution and its effect on mechanical performance of joint in underwater friction stir welded 2219-T6 aluminium alloy

Underwater friction stir welding (FSW) has been demonstrated to be an effective method to improve the mechanical properties of joints. To illuminate the characteristics of underwater FSW, the microstructural evolution and its effect on mechanical performance of an underwater joint were investigated in the present paper. The weld nugget zone (WNZ) is characterised by the homogeneity of refined grain structures in the direction of thickness. The precipitate deterioration is gradually strengthened from the heat affected zone (HAZ) to the WNZ. The dislocation movement featured by different types of grain boundaries suggests that continuous dynamic recrystallisation has occurred in the WNZ during FSW. The evolutions of strengthening precipitates and grain structures have significant influence on hardness distributions and the tensile fracture features of the underwater joint.

Effect of welding speed on microstructures and mechanical properties of underwater friction stir welded 2219 aluminum alloy

Underwater friction stir welding (underwater FSW) has been demonstrated to be available for the strength improvement of normal FSW joints. In the present study, a 2219 aluminum alloy was underwater friction stir welded at a fixed rotation speed of 800 rpm and various welding speeds ranging from 50 to 200 mm/min in order to clarify the effect of welding speed on the performance of underwater friction stir welded joint. The results revealed that the precipitate deterioration in the thermal mechanically affected zone and the heat affected zone is weakened with the increase of welding speed, leading to a narrowing of softening region and an increase in lowest hardness value. Tensile strength firstly increases with the welding speed but dramatically decreases at the welding speed of 200 mm/min owing to the occurrence of groove defect. During tensile test, the joint welded at a lower welding speed is fractured in the heat affected zone on the retreating side. While at higher welding speed, the defect-free joint is fractured in the thermal mechanically affected zone on the advancing side.

Mechanical properties of underwater friction stir welded 2219 aluminum alloy

Underwater friction stir welding of 2219 aluminum alloy was carried out in order to further improve the joint performances by varying welding temperature history. The results indicated that the tensile strength of the joint can be improved from 324 MPa by external water cooling action in normal to 341 MPa. However, the plasticity of the joint is deteriorated. The underwater joint tends to fracture at the interface between the weld nugget zone and the thermal mechanically affected zone on the advancing side during tensile test, which is significantly different from the normal joint.