Journal of Welding Science

In this study, thermo-mechanical stability of two-pass constrained groove pressing (CGP) AA1050 sheets towards friction stir welding (FSW) employing hybrid powder (%50vol. micrometric graphite powder+%50vol. α-Al₂O₃ nanoparticles) was investigated by examining its microstructural evolutions and mechanical properties. FSW was carried out via different process variables in order to reach the highest ultimate mechanical properties of joints. The welding variables employed in this study were single-pass and multi-pass FSW, and different rotation speed to traverse speed ratios (ω/v) were. In order to appraise the powder effect on mechanical properties in the fabricated hybrid metal matrix composite (HMMC), some CGPed sheets were also welded with no powder. Besides optical microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) observations, Vickers microhardness and transverse tensile tests were conducted to examine mechanical properties of the weld zone. It was revealed that the effect of graphite powder as a solid lubricant was substantially influenced by the welding variables. More precisely, by employing graphite powder during the FSW, the peak temperature decreased to 224 ℃, while the peak temperature of 489 ℃ was resulted by welding without any powder. Thus, the thermo-mechanical stability of CGPed aluminum and their mechanical properties were enhanced. On the other hand, graphite powder can be responsible for mechanical properties drop due to deteriorating material flow. In addition, different strengthening mechanisms, including grain boundary Zener-pinning and particulate stimulated nucleation (PSN) mechanism, were provided and governed by both powders. However, increasing the ω/v ratio was a practical approach to obtain uniform powder distribution, and consequently, to attain ultimate mechanical properties. Moreover, weld soundness was perceived to be achievable by increasing the number of FSW passes due to eliminating the cavities and improved material flow, resulting in an ultimate tensile strength of 101 MPa, as an optimum efficiency of ~ %80, in three-pass FSW at ω/v=70.
 

The welding joints were investigated due to the significance of similar welding of Corten A weathering steel and its dissimilar welding with St12 plain carbon steel in industrial applications. The gas metal arc welding (GMAW) technique with carbon dioxide shielding gas was utilized in the present work. The welding process comprised current and voltage control, welding wire injection rate, shielding gas rate, welding speed, connection configuration, and microstructure evolution. Mechanical properties and microstructure evolution in similar and dissimilar joints and weld defects were evaluated by tensile, bending, hardness, metallographic, and radiographic tests. The weld microstructure in similar and dissimilar joints included grain boundary ferrite, acicular ferrite, and WidmanStatten ferrite. The tensile strengths of the similar and dissimilar joints were respectively 497 and 303 MPa. The weld zone hardness was 210 and 180 Vickers for similar and dissimilar joints, respectively. In conclusion, similar welding outperformed dissimilar welding considering weld joint defects, mechanical properties, and microstructure.
 

Stainless steel cladding is the formation of an alloy by creating a thin layer of stainless steel on another metal. In this research, a layer of SA240-TP316 austenitic stainless steel was coated on SA516-GR60 steel. Experiments were conducted to compare the mechanical properties of SA240-TP316 and claded SA516-GR60 steel welds in order to investigate the possibility of replacing the SA240-TP316 steel alloy. Examining the results of the chemical analysis of SA240-TP316 alloy shows that the coating has a similar chemical composition to SA240 alloy and with increasing depth, the hardness of the weld metal and the percentage of chromium is higher and the percentage of molybdenum in the weld alloy is lower. Comparing the ultimate strength of SA516 alloy after cladding and welding with SA240 stainless base alloy shows the improvement of tensile strength. In the first case, the strength changes in the range of 470 to 503 MPa and in the second case in the range of 477 to 570 MPa. The highest hardness was obtained in the heat affected area. Bending test showed that bending without cracking up to 180 degree angle is a sign of weld metal remaining ductile. The results of the impact test also show the ability to absorb energy, especially around the voltage of 150 volts.

 

This study aimed to investigate the effect of electron beam welding parameters on the microstructural characteristics and mechanical properties of the dissimilar joint between 17-4PH stainless steel and Ti6Al4V alloy. For this purpose, the welding of these two alloys was performed with an copper interlayer with a thickness of 1 mm. Two different welding speeds of 0.7 and 0.9 m/min with four levels of beam offset  (0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 mm) from the center of the interlayer towards the steel were used to accomplish the experiments. The results show that by using the copper interlayer with thickness of 1 mm, the cracks caused by the formation of intermetallic compounds are removed from the weld pool. At the interface between the titanium and the weld pool, at the beam offset  of 0 and 0.2 mm, a solid solution of copper and TiCu2 intermetallic compounds is formed, while at the beam offset  of 0.4 and 0.6 mm, a solid solution of copper and TiCu intermetallic compounds is formed. The weld pool, at the beam offset  of 0 and 0.2 mm, consists of TiCr2+TiFe2 intermetallic compounds while at the beam offset  of 0.4 and 0.6 mm, solid solution of iron (α-Fe), solid solution of copper and TiCu intermetallic compounds are formed. The highest value of hardness is observed at the interface between the weld pool and the titanium alloy, as well as at the interface between the weld pool and the steel, which is due to the presence of intermetallic compounds with high hardness in these regions. By increasing the welding speed and the beam offset, the hardness value decreases, which is due to the reduction of brittle intermetallic compounds in the joint structure. By increasing the beam offset from 0.4 mm to 0.6 mm at the speed of 0.7 m/min, the shear strength increases from 180 MPa to 210 MPa and at the speed of 0.9 m/min, the shear strength raises from 230 MPa to 250 MPa. The welded sample with the welding speed of 0.9 m/min and the beam offset of 0.6 mm has the highest shear strength equal to 250 MPa. The failure in all samples happened at the interface between the weld pool and the titanium alloy, which shows that the weakest region in the joint is this interface.

5xxx and 6xxx series alloys are among the most widely used aluminum alloys in various industries, including automobile, shipbuilding and aviation industries. In this research, the joint of two alloys AA6061-T6 and AA5052-H12 was investigated at 4 transmission speeds of 60, 90, 120 and 180 mm/min and 3 rotation speeds of 600, 800 and 1000 rpm. These investigations were carried out in the condition that each of the two alloys was placed in two progressive and regressive sides. The results of these studies showed that the highest tensile strength is when the AA5052 sample is placed on the advancing side and the transfer speed is 90 mm/min and the rotation speed is 600 rpm, and in this case, the final tensile strength value is equal to 197 MPa. In addition, the results showed that, generally, the tensile strength decreases with an increase in the transmission speed at a constant rotational speed, and with an increase in the rotational speed at a constant transmission speed, the tensile strength increases. In addition, microscopic and macroscopic examination of the sections of all samples was performed and various areas and defects were examined. According to the investigations carried out on the microstructure, the grain size in the weld nugget compared to the base metal, HAZ and TMAZ decreases. The grain size in HAZ is the largest in all samples, and this causes a decrease in weld strength in this zone.

In this research, the effect of temperature and time parameters are investigated on the microstructure and mechanical properties of  dissimilar brazing of 17-4 PH stainless steel and Ti-6Al-4V alloy with BNi-2 filler metal. The microstructure of the joint is evaluated with optical and scanning electron microscopes and the mechanical properties of the joint are also evaluated with tensile-shear and microhardness tests. It can be seen that at a constant temperature of 1050°C, increasing the time from 15 to 30 minutes decreases the shear strength from 34.66 to 29.39 MPa. Formation of brittle intermetallic compounds like NiTi2 and FeTi2 increase strength and promote brittle fracture.At a fixed time of 15 minutes, increasing the temperature from 1050 to 1100 °C causes the strength to increase from 34.66 to 38.46 MPa. Also, the increase in temperature and time increases the ISZ thickness formed in the joints on the side of the filler metal - Ti-6Al-4V from 41.40 to 81.48 microns. The increase in temperature and time also causes more diffusion of boron into the SS-filler joint, which forms various boron compounds and widens this region.

In this study, the effects of friction stir welding (FSW) parameters on the properties of dissimilar joints formed between 5083 aluminum alloys and 316L austenitic stainless steel, with a thickness of 4 mm, are investigated. The tool speed is varied in the range of 16 to 25 mm/min, while the tool rotation speed is maintained at a constant value of 250 rpm. To examine the microstructure of different weld regions, both optical and scanning electron microscopes are employed. To assess the mechanical properties, hardness and tensile tests are conducted. The results shows the formation of a composite region characterized by steel reinforcement particles dispersed within an aluminum matrix. At the steel-aluminum interface, a single layer of discontinuous intermetallic composition with a thickness of approximately 2 micrometers is observed. Notably, when the rotation speed is set to 250 rpm and the tool speed is 16 mm/min, a tensile strength of 298 MPa and ductility of 26% (93% of the tensile strength and 50% of the ductility of the 5083 aluminum alloy) are achieved.

The present study focuses on optimizing the mechanical properties and microstructure of laser welding in Haynes 25 (L-605) cobalt-based superalloy. Initially, the influence of laser welding variables such as laser power, pulse frequency, welding speed, and pulse width on the mechanical and metallurgical properties of the weld joints is investigated. By examining the welding variables, the values of G (thermal gradient) and R (cooling rate) are calculated, and their ratio (G/R) and cooling rate (G×R), which predominantly affect the solidification microstructure, are determined. The structural correlation with the mechanical properties resulting from welding is examined.  In this research, it is considered to obtain the welding variables to create a high percentage of the structure in the form of equiaxed dendrite. Microstructural analysis reveals the growth of equiaxed grains and dendritic structures in the weld zone. The high cooling rate in the weld pool leads to dendritic solidification starting from columnar dendrites at the weld walls and ending in equiaxed dendrites at the center of the weld. The microhardness value in the weld zone is HV 328, which is very close to the microhardness of the base material. The tensile strength of the weld samples reaches about 93% to 94% of the base metal tensile strength. Tensile testing of the weld samples indicates a ductile-brittle fracture. Examination of the scanning electron microscope confirms the presence of dimples, intergranular cracks, and microvoids in the fracture zone.

In this research, the influence of friction stir welding parameters (tool traverse speed ranging from 50 to 150 mm/min, and tool rotational speed ranging from 300 to 1100 rpm) was investigated on the microstructure and mechanical properties of AA5052 aluminum/PP-Z30S polypropylene joint. Results showed that joint formation was accompanied by the formation of mechanical locks in the shape of anchor-like aluminum pieces. Decreasing the heat input (either by increasing the tool traverse speed or decreasing the tool rotational speed) resulted in the formation of larger anchors. The results of tensile-shear test showed that increasing the tool traverse speed from 50 to 100 mm/min led to an enhancement in the fracture load (by ~10%), while at higher traverse speeds, the fracture load decreased (from 235 to 181 N) due to the formation of defects and voids at the joint interface. An increase in the tool rotational speed from 300 to 900 rpm resulted in a superior fracture load (by 70%) due to the formation of anchors perpendicular to the polymer surface with greater penetration depth.

In this research, copper/silver-silicon carbide Cu-Ag-SiC composite was prepared by the friction stir processing (FSP). For this purpose, nanometer and micrometer SiC particles were used as reinforcing particles. In order to evaluate the microstructural properties, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscope and optical microscope were employed. Evaluation of mechanical properties through microhardness measurement, tensile test and pin on disc test were utilized to evaluate the wear behavior of the composite. The results of X-ray analysis revealed the presence of two phases of CuAg solid solution along with SiC particles, which indicated the formation of Cu-Ag-SiC composite. The addition of nano-particles led to a significant decrease in the intensity of peaks compared to micro-particles. This indicated a decrease in the grain size of the CuAg matrix. Using the FSP in the presence of reinforcing particles and without it led to a decrease in the crystal size and average grain size compared to the sample without FSP. So that the grain size of the sample without FSP and the FSPed sample without reinforcing particles and with nano-reinforcing particles were found to be about 46.3, 19.2 and 3.6 µm, respectively. The wear mechanism in the sample before FSP was adhesive wear due to its soft nature of the matrix, and after FSP in the sample without reinforcing particles, the adhesive wear decreased and due to the addition of silicon carbide micro and nano- particles reinforcement, the wear mechanism in entirely altered to abrasive wear. Overall, it can be stated that the addition of silicon carbide nanoparticles by FSP leads to the fabrication of  Cu-Ag-SiC composite with high mechanical properties.

In this study, the effect of friction stir welding on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Fe-24Ni-4Cr austenitic steel was investigated. For this purpose, a sheet with a thickness of 1 mm was subjected to friction stir welding using a WC-5%Co tool at a traverse speed of 100 mm/min and a tool rotational speed of 450 rpm. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis revealed that this process led to grain refinement and an increase in high-angle grain boundaries in the stir zone, attributed to dynamic recrystallization during welding. Phase maps indicated an increase in the BCC phase fraction in the stir zone compared to the base metal. Given the high strain rate and the presence of stabilizing elements, this phase was primarily strain-induced martensite. Mechanical property assessments showed a significant increase in the tensile strength of the stir zone (450 MPa) compared to the base metal (350 MPa). Moreover, the yield strength of the stir zone (388 MPa) was substantially higher than that of the base metal (145 MPa), which can be attributed to grain refinement, an increase in high-angle grain boundaries, a higher dislocation density, and martensite formation. However, the ductility of the stir zone decreased due to higher stress concentration and dislocation density in this region. These findings suggest that friction stir welding can be an effective method for enhancing the strength and hardness of austenitic steels, but process conditions must be carefully controlled to prevent reductions in toughness and ductility.

Wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a prominent technique for producing large metallic components due to its high deposition rate. Utilizing austenitic stainless steels in this process not only reduces production costs but also provides greater design freedom. Among these steels, SS310, known as heat-resistant steel in the industry, offers excellent oxidation resistance and high-temperature performance. However, it is highly susceptible to hot cracking during welding and additive manufacturing processes. In this study, the microstructure and mechanical properties of SS310 fabricated using WAAM with Cold Metal Transfer (CMT) and Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) processes were compared. The results revealed that the CMT process, due to its lower heat input, effectively reduces the susceptibility of SS310 to hot cracking compared to the GMAW process. These findings emphasize the importance of selecting an appropriate process to achieve high-quality components and minimize structural defects.

This research looks at how microstructure and mechanical properties change in resistance spot welds of QP980 advanced high-strength steel. It specifically focuses on the effects of zinc coating and how it influences weld nugget formation, mechanical properties, and fracture behavior. The study involved microscopic examinations, mechanical tests, and finite element simulations to determine the thermal history of different weld zones. A key finding was that rapid cooling during the welding process led to the formation of, metastable phases, such as martensite, in both the weld nugget and the heat-affected zone. A finite element model of the welding process was used to simulate heat distribution and analyze the microstructure in various weld regions. This model showed that reaching the peak temperature during four-pulse resistance spot welding is delayed. This delay, along with proper hold times, helps prevent the formation of voids. The simulated thermal history and the rapid heating/cooling conditions effectively predicted the evolution and transformation of the microstructure in different weld areas. It was found that the presence of a zinc coating, and the resulting reduction in electrical contact resistance, delayed the formation of the weld nugget at lower welding currents. However, at higher currents, the primary source of heat generation shifted from contact resistance to bulk resistance within the steel sheet. This led to larger weld nuggets in coated samples compared to uncoated ones. While uncoated samples showed higher weld nugget hardness (512 Vickers) and greater tensile-shear strength (with a maximum load-bearing capacity of 28.1 kN in uncoated samples versus 24 kN in coated samples), coated samples were able to achieve the critical weld nugget size for a change in fracture mode at lower welding currents (9 kA compared to 9.5 kA).