Improvement of Formation Quality for Friction Stir Welded Joints

This study takes into account the rotational direction of the stir tool, cooling rates around the weld zones, and fabrication of defect-free joints
BY R.-D. FU, R.-C. SUN, F.-C. ZHANG, AND H.-J. LIU

ABSTRACT
The weld, ambient temperature, and direction of a friction stir welding (FSW) tool play roles as important as that of the welding parameters in the FSW process. On the assumption that the weld parameters are the same under different directions, the joint welded using a stir tool rotated in a counterclockwise direction exhibits better formation quality than does the joint welded in a clockwise direction. The formation quality of the joints welded underwater clearly improves compared with that of the joints welded in air. Excellent weld joints free from defects are obtained in the present range of the FSW parameters for joints welded underwater and the stir tool rotated in the counterclockwise direction. The investigation of the flow path of the softened metal around the FSW tool reveals that the flow pattern of the softened metal driven by the shoulder and the pin varies with the rotational direction of the FSW tool, weld ambient temperature, and weld parameters. An excessively high weld input is detrimental to sound flow and avoidance of weld defects. By contrast, moderately decreasing the ambient temperature around the weld zone can improve the formation quality of the weld joints, regardless of the other weld conditions. melting point of the welded alloys. This way, the metal in the welded zone reaches a soft state, and a circumferential metal flow is obtained all around the contact surface between the FSW tool and weld joints. The formation quality of friction stir welded joints relies on the deformation ability and flow of the metal around the FSW tool. Inappropriate weld parameters and conditions result in weld defects, such as flashes, tunnels, and voids. Thus, investigations on the flow mechanism of the plastic metal around the FSW tool have been carried out using various methods (Refs. 58). At the same time, consider-

Introduction
High-strength aluminum alloys, such as 7xxx, are commonly used in modern industry because they are lightweight and highly durable (Ref. 1). These alloys are difficult to weld using conventional fusion welding techniques because the quality of the welded joint deteriorates under the presence of porosity, hot cracking, and distortion (Refs. 2, 3). Friction stir welding (FSW), a novel solid-state welding process invented in 1991 at TWI, was developed to solve these problems (Ref. 4). In FSW, the interaction of a nonconsumable and rotating tool with workpieces creates a joint through frictional heating and plastic deformation at temperatures below the
R.-D. FU (rdfu@ysu.edu.cn), R.-C. SUN, and F.-C. ZHANG are with State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Qinhuangdao, Hebei Prov., P.R. China. FU and ZHANG are also with College of Materials Science and Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, Hebei Prov., P.R. China. H.-J. LIU is with State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding Production Technology, Harbin, Heihongjiang Prov., P.R. China.

KEYWORDS
Friction Stir Welding Welding Condition Formation Quality FSW Tool Rotational Direction Weld Ambient Temperature Aluminum Alloys

able efforts have been devoted to understanding the effect of process parameters or the profiles of the FSW tool on the material flow behavior of friction stir welded joints (Refs. 911). However, despite advancements in the study of weld joint quality, further optimization of weld parameters and conditions remains a key issue because of the special formation processes of the FSW. Determining methods that can improve the formation quality of friction stir welded joints is a worthwhile endeavor. In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to submerged FSW because it improves the mechanical properties of friction stir welded joints (Refs. 1215). The principle of submerged FSW is that the welds are placed into a liquid medium, and weld processing is carried out under a specific ambient temperature. This method is highly suitable for aluminum alloys that are sensitive to excessive heating during welding processes (Ref. 16). The peak temperature of the weld thermal cycles at heat-affected zones can be effectively decreased by forced cooling during submerged FSW. However, the effects of submerged FSW on controlling the formation quality of friction stir welded joints are rarely reported. In the present work, the effects of weld conditions are systematically investigated, such as the rotational directions of the FSW tool and welding in air and underwater, on the formation quality of weld joints under a wide range of welding parameters. This work aims to more effectively elucidate the relationship between weld conditions and weld defects. The findings can serve as reference for industrial fabrication.

Experimental Procedure
All welding procedures were performed on high-strength 7050 aluminum alloy plates with a thickness of 5.8 mm, width of 80 mm, and length of 180 mm.

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through the actual shoulder plunge depth at approximately 0.5 mm. The temperature history of the welds during FSW was continuously recorded using a multichannel thermodetector. Metallographic samples were ground, polished, and etched using Kellers reagent (1 mL hydrofluoric acid, 1.5 mL hydrochloric acid, 2.5 mL nitric acid, and 95 mL water). Micrographs of the entire weld joint were observed using an optical microscope.

Results and Discussion

Welding in Air and Underwater with the FSW Tool Rotated Clockwise

Fig. 1 Cross-section morphology of the joints welded in air with different welding parameters and clockwise rotational direction of the FSW tool.

Fig. 2 Cross-section morphology of the joints welded underwater with different welding parameters and clockwise rotational direction of the FSW tool.

The cross-section morphology of the joints friction stir welded in air with the FSW tool rotated clockwise at different travel and rotational speeds is shown in Fig. 1. The tunnel defect forms at the advanced side (AS) of the friction stir welded joints under all welding parameter ranges. The size of the tunnel defect decreases with increasing travel speed, but not with rotational speed. This result indicates that decreasing weld heat input under the same weld conditions prevents tunnel defects at the AS of the friction stir welded joints. This observation also shows that the metal around the defects exhibits vortex-like flow features that cause disordered flow. Figure 2 shows the cross-section morphology of the joints welded underwater with the same weld parameters as that used for the joint welded in air. Although the weld defects continue to form under all weld parameter ranges, the size of the weld defects clearly decreases. On the basis of the joints welded in air (Fig. 1), we deduce that the cause of weld defects may be closely related to the excessive heat input for the joints welded in air. Increasing only the travel speed cannot effectively eliminate weld defects because the flow mode of the softened metal around the weld defects has an important effect: an excessively high travel speed may result in the transformation of the metal flow from ordered to disordered mode, i.e., a vortexlike flow, which is often considered abnormal and should be avoided in FSW processes.
Welding in Air and Underwater with the FSW Tool Rotated Counterclockwise

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The chemical composition of the alloy is 6.00% Zn, 2.2% Mg, 2.24% Cu, and 0.05% Ni, with the balance made up of Al. Welds were produced using CNC FSW equipment. The nonconsumable FSW tool with left-hand screw threads is made of H13 steel. The diameters of the shoulder and pin are 12 and 6.2 mm, respectively. The length of the pin is about 5.3 mm. The welding direction was parallel to the rolling direction of the plate, and the rotation axis of the tool was nor-

mal to the plane of the plate. Four welding conditions were chosen in the weld process: the rotational directions of the stir tool were clockwise and counterclockwise, and the welds were exposed to air and submerged in water. The welds were submerged in water at a depth of approximately 30 mm from the top surface of the plates. The range of travel speed was 40 to 200 mm/min, and the range of rotational speed was 350 to 1000 rev/min. The penetration depth was controlled

Figure 3 shows the cross-section morphology of the joints welded in air with the FSW tool rotated counterclockwise under different weld parameters. At a rotational speed of 350 to 600 rev/min and travel speed of 40 to 100 mm/min, the weld defects disappear from the weld joint. For the joints welded at a rotational speed of

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1000 rev/min, the weld defects persist, and the size of the defects decreases with increasing travel speed. An exception is when the tunnel defect forms again for the joint welded at a rotational speed of 350 to 1000 rev/min when the travel speed is 200 mm/min. The size of the defects decreases with increasing rotational speed and when the formation position of the defects shifts upward. This result can be attributed to an increase in weld heat input for increasing rotational speed. As a result, the flowability of the softened metal increases. The above-mentioned variations of weld defects with the weld parameters are in contrast to those observed in the FSW tool rotated clockwise. In addition, the metal flow mode and formation mechanics of the weld defect can be clearly observed from the travel speed variations of the defects for the joints welded at a rotational speed of 1000 rev/min. Figure 3 shows that metal flow can be divided into two parts, namely, shoulder extrusion zone I and pin stirring zone II. The formation of the weld defects at the top of the AS is closely related to the metal flow driven by shoulder extrusion and pin stirring. Moreover, the flow driven by the shoulder becomes incomplete at lower travel speeds, i.e., at the moment the weld heat input is so high that the softened metal under the shoulder cannot facilitate flow with the rotational movement of the shoulder. The above-mentioned results further demonstrate that an excessively high heat input is detrimental to the formation quality of weld joints under most weld conditions. The joints welded underwater with different weld parameters and the FSW tool rotated counterclockwise are shown in Fig. 4. Compared with the joints welded in air (Fig. 3), those welded underwater at the same weld parameters are free of defects. This result indicates that the range of the optimum FSW parameter expands when the joints are welded underwater and the FSW tool is rotated counterclockwise.

Discussion
Role of Rotational Direction in Weld Formation Fig. 4 Cross-section morphology of the joints welded underwater with different welding parameters and counterclockwise rotational direction of the FSW tool.

The results show that the quality of the joints welded with the FSW tool rotated counterclockwise is superior to that of the joints welded in the clockwise direction. In addition, the formation positions of the weld defects differ when the rotational direction of the FSW tool is altered, i.e., the weld defect is located at the bottom zones of the AS for clockwise rotation, and at the top zones of the AS for counterclockwise rotation. This result reveals that the metal flow direction should change when the rotational direction is altered. The metal flow

around the FSW tool is shown in Fig. 5. Generally, the weld zones of weld joints are divided into two parts. The first is zone I, where the softened metal driven by the shoulder occurs via a horizontal flow around the axle of the FSW tool. The second is zone II, where the softened metal driven by the screw thread on the pin is positioned either downward or upward in the spiral flow with respect to the rotational direction of the FSW tool (Ref.

17). When the FSW tool rotates clockwise, aside from the horizontal flow of the metal driven by the shoulder in zone I, an additional flow runs from zones I to II driven by the pressure force of the shoulder. In zone II, the metal first occurs downward in the spiral flow driven by the stirring of the screw thread on the pin. Once the metal reaches the bottom of the joints, the flow direction of the metal is reversed, as shown by the arrows in Fig. 5A. When the

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Fig. 3 Cross-section morphology of the joints welded in air with different welding parameters and counterclockwise rotational direction of the FSW tool.

Fig. 5 Metal flow around the FSW tool. A Clockwise direction; B counterclockwise direction.

flow is complete, no weld defects form at the AS of the weld joint. However, the flow at the AS stops because the temperature of the bottom metal is lower than that of the upper metal. Meanwhile, the downward flow from zone I does not cross paths with the upward flow. Consequently, weld defects form at this position. When the FSW tool rotates counterclockwise, the metal flow direction in zone II is opposite to that in the clockwise rotation Fig. 5B. This flow from zones II to I crosses paths with the downward flow from zone I at the top position near the AS. The good mixture between the two flows effectively prevents the formation of weld defects at the position where the temperature is high. Thus, the probability that weld defects will form is lower in the counterclockwise direction than in the clockwise direction. However, although the counterclockwise direction of the FSW tool can effectively decrease the occurrence of weld defects, it does not completely eliminate weld defects, similar to welding at high rotational or travel speeds. Cavity or groove-like defects can be caused by insufficient heat input and abnormal stirring (Ref. 18). Insufficient heat input has been widely accepted as being related to the deterioration of the flowability of the metal around the FSW tool. Abnormal stirring is seldom considered, but it is an important factor in metal flow under certain conditions. Figures 14 show that the features of the vortex-like flows around the location of the weld defect almost merge regardless of the rotational direction of the FSW tool. This near-merging demonstrates that abnormal stirring can also result in weld defects. Therefore, the weld defect formed in the counterclockwise direction may be related to abnormal stirring, which stems from the wiping effect among the interfaces between layers extruded by the FSW tool in the weld zone. Consequently, the wiping effect results in the lack of mixing and a vortex-like flow around the pin (Ref. 19). 172-s JUNE 2012, VOL. 91

Role of Cooling Conditions in Weld Formation

A comparison of the results for air and underwater welding with all other conditions constant reveals that the formation quality of the joints welded underwater is superior to the quality of those welded in air. This finding indicates that the formation quality of the joints can be improved Fig. 6 Thermal history of the joints welded in air and underthrough the acceleration of water. A 350 rev/min; B 1000 rev/min. the cooling rate around the weld zone. As previously distions, insufficiently flowing material recussed, if the metal flow exhibits a vortexsults in surface incomplete fill, wormhole, like feature, the occurrence probability of or incomplete consolidation defects on weld defects increases. The formation of a the AS. The optimum processing condivortex-like flow is related to both excessive tions for preventing flow-related defects heat input and the slide-stick wiping are postulated to occur at a temperature flow. To obtain insight into the relationwhere the stick-slip wiping flow occurs, ships between weld defects and weld heat and the material flowing from the region input, we measured the transversal temahead of the pin tool is precisely balanced perature distribution of four group joints with the material flowing back into the vawelded with the FSW tool rotated councated region behind the tool (Ref. 17). terclockwise Fig. 6. The weld temperaWhen welded in air conditions, metals ture fields of the joints welded at rotashow higher plasticization than when they tional speeds of 350 and 1000 rev/min are are welded underwater because of high shown in Fig. 6A and B, respectively. heat input. The flow resistance of plastiFirst, the peak temperature around the cized metal increases because of the wippin for the joints welded underwater siging effect that occurs between each layer nificantly decreases compared with that driven by the FSW tool. In addition, alfor the joints welded in air. Moreover, the though the flowability of welded metal inweld temperature at the RS is higher than creases with increasing heat input, the that at the AS for the joints welded at low flow path also varies to form flashes rather and high weld parameters. According to than flow downward. The balance beprevious studies (Refs. 14, 20), high temtween the flow from the region in front peratures can promote the plasticization and behind the pin is broken. Conseof a welded base metal. The quality of quently, incomplete filling at the AS rejoints welded at high heat input is better sults in tunnel defects. than that of joints welded at low heat In underwater welding, the excessive input. However, excessive heat input can heat in plasticized metals is quickly dissichange the friction conditions and flow pated by ambient water, causing a depaths of plasticized metal. Under hot procrease in wiping effects. The stick friction cessing with stick conditions, excessive becomes the dominant factor that promaterial flow results in flash formation, motes plasticized metal flow together with surface galling, and nugget collapse. the rotation of the FSW tool. Under cold processing with slip condi-

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Conclusions
The conclusions derived are summarized as follows. 1. The rotational direction of the stir tool plays an important role in weld formation during FSW. The quality of the joints welded using the stir tool rotated counterclockwise is superior to that of the joints welded in the clockwise direction, regardless of the other weld conditions. 2. Accordingly, the cooling rates around the weld zones also play a role as important as that of the other weld conditions in the weld formation of friction stir welded joints. The quality of the joints welded underwater is better than that of the joints welded in air, regardless of the other weld conditions. 3. Defect-free joints are obtained under all weld parameters when the joints are welded underwater and the FSW tool is rotated counterclockwise. The fabrication of defect-free joints also indicates that the ranges of optimum FSW parameters expand under this weld condition. 4. Controlling the plasticized state and flow patterns of the metal around the stir tool is essential in fabricating defect-free joints. Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Modern Welding Production Technology State Key Laboratory and the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars (No. 50925522).
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