Boride Formation Induced by pcBN Tool Wear

in Friction-Stir-Welded Stainless Steels

SEUNG HWAN C. PARK, YUTAKA S. SATO, HIROYUKI KOKAWA,
KAZUTAKA OKAMOTO, SATOSHI HIRANO, and MASAHISA INAGAKI

The wear of polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (pcBN) tool and its effect on second phase
formation were investigated in stainless steel friction-stir (FS) welds. The nitrogen content and
the flow stress were analyzed in these welds to examine pcBN tool wear. The nitrogen content in
stir zone (SZ) was found to be higher in the austenitic stainless steel FS welds than in the ferritic
and duplex stainless steel welds. The flow stress of austenitic stainless steels was almost 1.5 times
larger than that of ferritic and duplex stainless steels. These results suggest that the higher flow
stress causes the severe tool wear in austenitic stainless steels, which results in greater nitrogen
pickup in austenitic stainless steel FS welds. From the microstructural observation, a possibility
was suggested that Cr-rich borides with a crystallographic structure of Cr2B and Cr5B3 formed
through the reaction between the increased boron and nitrogen and the matrix during FS
welding (FSW).

DOI: 10.1007/s11661-008-9709-9

The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 2009

I. INTRODUCTION and chemical wear, possess sufficient mechanical

FRICTION stir welding (FSW) has been widely
studied and commercially used in low-softening temper-
ature material structures since it was invented nearly
15 years ago.[1
16] The feasibility studies of FSW on
high-softening temperature material (HSTM) were also
made relatively early. Some initial feasibility studies of
FSW on 12 pct Cr alloy and low carbon steel were
demonstrated by The Welding Institution (TWI).[17]
Thereafter, FSW feasibility was examined in several
types of HSTMs such as ferritic steels,[18,19] stainless
steels,[20–24] and heat-resistant steels.[20] Transverse ten-
sile specimens failed in regions corresponding to the
base material (BM), and their transverse tensile prop-
erties were governed by the BM properties in most of
FS-welded steels; i.e., yield and ultimate tensile strengths
of the weld were comparable to those of the BM.
However, the research on FSW of HSTMs such as
steels representing most of the welded structures is still
limited, compared to that of LSTM. One of the major
causes of the limited studies on HSTM is the lack of
suitable welding tools. The tool must resist physical
SEUNG HWAN C. PARK, formerly Postdoctoral Student,
Department of Materials Processing, Graduate School of Engineering,
Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, is Researcher, Hitachi Research
Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., Hitachi 319-1292, Japan. Contact e-mail:
seunghwan.park.vq@hitachi.com YUTAKA S. SATO, Assistance
Professor, and HIROYUKI KOKAWA, Professor, are with the
Department of Materials Processing, Graduate School of Engineering,
Tohoku University. KAZUTAKA OKAMOTO and SATOSHI
HIRANO, Senior Researchers, and MASAHISA INAGAKI, Chief
Researcher, are with Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd.
Manuscript submitted February 6, 2008.
Article published online January 24, 2009
strength at elevated temperatures, and effectively
dissipate the heat carried to the tool during the
welding process. For initial tool materials for HSTM,
W-series alloys such as W alloys and WC-Co alloy
have been used.[17,21] The FSW of mild steel using Mo-
based alloy tool has also been demonstrated.[18]
However, tool wear was inevitable. The previous study
reported the changes in tool dimensions arising from
both rubbing wear and deformation of the tool.[18] The
greatest changes in tool dimensions occurred during
the initial plunging stage of the tool. Recently, a new
tool made of polycrystalline cubic boron nitride
(pcBN) that appears capable of meeting these require-
ments, and especially the wear resistance, has been
developed.[20] Development of a tool material with
excellent properties offers a pathway to more active
studies on FSW of steels.
Several studies have demonstrated the potential of
pcBN tool for ferrous materials.[22–26] A refined micro-
structure formed in the stir zone (SZ), and adequate
mechanical properties were achieved in the welds,
suggesting that pcBN is one of the promising tool
materials for HSTM. Unfortunately, wear and damage
of pcBN tools still occur. It is important to examine the
wear behavior of the pcBN tool during FSW, because
the tool wear affects the mechanical and corrosion
properties of the welds.
In the present study, the fundamentals of pcBN tool
wear during FSW were investigated in stainless steels.
The FSW was applied to ferritic (type 430), duplex (type
329J4L), and austenitic (types 304, 316L, and 310)
stainless steels using pcBN tool. The microstructures
were observed by electron microscopy. Their micro-
structural evolution and the boride formation induced
by pcBN tool wear in austenitic stainless steel were
examined in this study.

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A VOLUME 40A, MARCH 2009—625

 II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
A. Materials and Process Details
The material type and chemical composition used in
the present study are shown in Table I. Five types of
as-received stainless steels with 6-mm thickness, includ-
ing 430 ferritic, 329J4L duplex, 304, 316L, and 310
austenitic types, were FS welded. The stainless steel plate
was tightly clamped by clamping fixtures, and then FSW
was performed on the plate. Bead-on-plate FS welds were
produced at a travel speed of 1.33 mm/s and a rotational
speed of 550 rpm using an MS100 pcBN tool with a pin
length of 4.29 mm. All of the welding trials were carried
out on a manual vertical milling machine with 11 kW
spindle drive motor power. The tool was tilted at 3.5 deg
from the plane normal, and an inert Ar gas shroud was
used for shielding, which prevented surface oxidation.
The welding temperature was measured in each stainless
FS weld using K-type thermocouples.
B. Evaluation of Tool Wear
When pcBN tool wear occurs during FSW, both boron
and nitrogen content should increase in the weld because
the pcBN consists of boron and nitrogen. Following
FSW, the nitrogen contents of the SZ and BM were
measured in an inert gas atmosphere by a fusion gas
chromatographic analyzer produced by LECO* (model
*LECO is a trademark of LECO Corporation, St. Joseph, MI.
TC-436DR oxygen and nitrogen analyzer). The samples
of about 0.5 g for nitrogen content analysis were
carefully cut from only the SZ using an electrical-
discharge machine (EDM). The samples were then
cleaned by filing away the surface and rinsing them with
acetone for 300 seconds using an ultrasonic cleaner. At
least three samples were analyzed for both the SZ and
BM. The average value was used for the nitrogen
contents of each region.
It is likely that tool wear is related to the resistance force
from the material to be welded to the tool during FSW.
The resistance force would be presented by the flow stress
of welded material at welding temperatures. The steady-
state flow stress during hot compression test was mea-
sured using a hot working simulator ‘‘Thermecmastor Z
(Fuji Electronic Industrial Co. Ltd., Saitama, Japan).’’
The measurement of flow stress is schematically shown in
Figure 1. Thermecmastor Z consists of a chamber,
compression bases, and a high-frequency induction heat-
ing system. Cylindrical-shaped specimens were prepared,
Table I. Materials and the Chemical Composition Used in the Present Study
Type C Si Mn P S
430 0.070 0.42 0.88 0.029 0.002
329J4L 0.016 0.41 0.78 0.028 0.001
304 0.040 0.59 1.08 0.032 0.003
316L 0.019 0.43 0.87 0.026 0.001
310 0.040 0.57 0.85 0.023 0.001
626—VOLUME 40A, MARCH 2009
with a 6-mm diameter and a 9-mm height. Thermocouples
were spot welded on the surface of specimen, and then the
specimen was placed on the lower base. The chamber was
evacuated using a rotary vacuum pump. The specimen
was heated to the temperature from 1373 to 1573 K by a
high-frequency induction system. The actually measured
peak temperatures during FSW were applied for hot
compression test. The flow stress at the measured average
temperature were used in this study, because there is a
high possibility that the tool wear occurs in the vicinity of
the interface between the tool surface and the welded
material, where the temperature is the highest. When the
temperature of each specimen reached the target value,
the hot compression test was conducted by displacement
of the upper base toward the compression direction. The
applied strain rate ranged from 15 to 80 s
1. The steady-
state flow stress was defined as the average value in the
range of strain between 0.25 and 0.40.
C. Microstructural Observation
Cross sections perpendicular to the welding direction
were observed using optical microscopy (OM). Speci-
mens for OM were etched electrolytically in a solution of
10 pct oxalic acid + 90 pct water with a power supply
set to 30 V for about 10 seconds. Elemental analysis
using an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) was
carried out for particles found on the cross section. Thin
disks with a diameter of 3 mm were cut from the various
locations of the weld using an EDM, and then the
electron-transparent thin sections were electrolytically
made by twin-jet polishing in a 10 pct perchloric
acid + 90 pct ethanol solution. These were observed at
Fig. 1—Schematic illustration of the measurement of flow stress.
Ni Cr N Mo Cu W
0.09 16.34 0.039 — — —
7.27 24.81 0.166 3.13 0.43 0.41
8.56 18.10 0.066 — — —
12.19 17.70 0.028 2.19 — —
19.19 25.35 0.025 — — —
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
200 kV with a JEOL**-2000EXII transmission electron
**JEOL is a trademark of Japan Electron Optics Ltd., Tokyo.
microscope (TEM) and a Hitachi HD-2000 (Tokyo,
Japan) scanning transmission electron microscope
(STEM) equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray
(EDX) spectroscopy analysis system, using a 0.5-nm
electron probe with a spatial resolution of 1.0 nm. The
particles in the advancing side of the SZ were identified
with both a selected area electron diffraction (SAED)
pattern and STEM-EDX.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Wear of pcBN Tool
The cross sections perpendicular to the welding
direction of FS-welded 430, 329J4L, 304, 316L, and
310 stainless steels are shown in Figure 2. A counter-
clockwise rotation direction of the welding tool was
applied to these welds. The retreating and advancing
sides correspond to the left- and right-hand sides on the
cross sections shown in Figure 2. The SZ, which is seen
Fig. 2—Cross section of FS-welded stainless steels perpendicular to the welding direction.
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
around the weld center, showed different contrast
between the advancing and the retreating sides. The
SZ on the advancing side (SZ-AS) had a band structure
with deeply etched lines and pits, which is typically
found in FS-welded austenitic stainless steels,[25,26] so
that the strong contrast of this region on the cross
section would be attributable to the corroded lines and
pits.
Analysis of the nitrogen content was conducted to
investigate the wear behavior of pcBN tool in five types
of stainless steels including ferritic (type 430), duplex
(type 329J4L), and austenitic (types 304, 316L, and 310)
stainless steels. The typical regions analyzed are drawn
in Figure 2(e) as white squares. The nitrogen contents of
the advancing side of the SZ were compared with those
of the BM and the retreating side of the SZ. The
advancing and retreating sides are notated as SZ-AS and
SZ-RS throughout the article, respectively.
Nitrogen contents of the BM, SZ-AS, and SZ-RS in
five types of stainless steel welds are shown in Figure 3.
Types 430 ferritic and 329J4L duplex stainless steels
showed very little increase in nitrogen content in both
the SZ-AS and SZ-RS, although the SZ-AS contained
slightly higher nitrogen content than the BM and
SZ-RS. On the other hand, a large increase of nitrogen
contents was detected in the SZ-AS in austenitic
VOLUME 40A, MARCH 2009—627

Fig. 3—Nitrogen content in the SZ of FS weld and BM.
Fig. 4—Nitrogen content in the advancing side of the SZ in
FS-welded austenitic stainless steel.
stainless steel FS welds. In contrast, the SZ-RS of the
austenitic stainless steel FS welds showed roughly
the same amount of nitrogen content as the BM. The
increase in nitrogen content in the SZ-AS of FS-welded
austenitic stainless steels is summarized in Figure 4. The
nitrogen content in the advancing side increased in the
following order: 304, 316L, and 310 austenitic stainless
steels. Type 310 steel exhibited the largest increase in
nitrogen content among these austenite stainless steels,
roughly 5 times greater than the BM. These results
suggest that the pickup of both boron and nitrogen is
greater in austenitic stainless steels during FSW.
B. Factor Governing Wear Behavior of pcBN Tool
The nitrogen content was analyzed in stainless steel FS
welds, which showed that the pickup of boron and
nitrogen is more significant in the austenitic stainless
steels. Since FSW is a mechanical process accompanying
recrystallization at high strain and high temperature, the
flow stress at steady state would be one of the important
factors that represent the tendency of tool wear. During
recrystallization, the steady-state flow stress is not
628—VOLUME 40A, MARCH 2009
strongly dependent on strain so that the flow stress
predominantly depends on the strain rate and temper-
ature, which is generally known to be proportional to the
Zener–Hollomon parameter (Z = e_ exp (Q/RT)).[27,28]
In the present study, the peak welding temperatures were
measured to be about 1373 K (1100 C) in 430 ferritic FS
weld and greater than or equal to 1473 K (1200 C) in
the other welds. Some previous studies roughly estimated
the strain rate of about 10 to 15 s
1 during FSW of Al
and Mg alloys.[29,30] Therefore, temperature between
1373 K (1100 C) and 1523 K (1250 C) and strain rates
greater than or equal to 15 s
1 were chosen in the hot
compression test. Effects of temperature and strain rate
on stress-strain curves in five types of stainless steels are
shown in Figure 5. Effects of temperature on steady-
state flow stress at the strain rate of e_ = 15 s
1 are
presented in Figure 6. The steady-state flow stress
decreases with increasing temperature and slightly with
decreasing strain rate. The steady-state flow stress
followed the following order: 430 ferritic < 329J4L
duplex < austenitic stainless steels. This order is incident
with the tendency of the boron and nitrogen pickup in
stainless steels obtained by the analysis of nitrogen
content. These results reveal that the boron and nitrogen
pickup during FSW occurs more significantly in steels
having higher steady-state flow stress. Tribochemical
reaction would also affect tool wear during FSW,
because FSW contains tribological phenomena. Forma-
tion of the borides related to tribochemical wear will be
presented in Section C.
C. Boride Formation Induced by pcBN Tool Wear
In this section, the evolution of B-rich second phases
in austenitic stainless steel FS welds will be discussed.
The OM and TEM images of the BM, SZ-RS, and
SZ-AS in type 304, 316L, and 310 weld microstructures
are shown in Figure 7. The observed regions are roughly
coincident with the regions where the nitrogen content
was analyzed. The BM consisted of the annealed grain
structure with low dislocation density. The SZ had
relatively fine and equiaxed recrystallized grains. Much
research has reported that this recrystallized grain
structure generally originates from the high-temperature
exposure and severe plastic deformation during
FSW.[25,30,31] The SZ-AS had alternating bands similar
to the ‘‘onion ring’’ structure that is often seen in Al
alloy FS welds. The TEM images revealed that all
the welds contained fine particles both along grain
boundaries and in grain interiors in the SZ-AS. In the
304 FS weld, sigma phase was detected among these
particles.[25,26]
The nitrogen content analysis clarified the presence of
nitrogen arising from the wear of the pcBN tool. In
order to confirm the distribution of the solute elements,
boron and nitrogen in the weld, relatively large-scale
elemental analysis on the cross sections perpendicular to
the welding direction was conducted for some particles
in the SZ-AS by EPMA. The EPMA maps and line
profiles of Cr, Ni, B, and N in austenitic stainless steel
FS welds are shown in Figure 8. The corresponding
backscattered electron images are also presented in
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
Fig. 5—Stress-strain curve in stainless steels using the hot working simulator.
Fig. 6—Effect of the temperature on steady-state flow stress.
Figure 8. Some particles contained high Cr and low Ni
contents compared to the austenite matrix. A boron
peak was detected in these particles, although the
austenitic stainless steels used in the present study did
not contain any boron, as shown in Table I. It is certain
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
that the boron comes from pcBN tool, which indicates
that some wear of the pcBN tool occurs during FSW.
On the other hand, a nitrogen peak was not detected in
some particles in the EPMA map, except for relatively
large particles with at least 1-lm diameter, as shown in
Figure 8 in 316L weld. Because the large particles
contained lower Cr and Ni contents than the austenite
matrix, they may have been from the pcBN debris.
Detailed TEM observations revealed that the SZ-AS
had other precipitates different from the sigma phase,
with various morphologies along the grain boundaries
and in the grain interiors. Typical TEM image, SAED
pattern, and EDX spectra of the particles obtained in
the 304, 316L, and 310 FS weld by TEM and STEM are
shown in Figures 9 through 11. The size of the preci-
pitates ranged between about 100 and 1000 nm. These
particles exhibited a high Cr content of about 50 to
60 wt pct, while the Ni content was very low. The boron
peak is clearly found in the EDX spectra of particle, but
the nitrogen peak is not detected. These SAED patterns
suggest that the particles are Cr5B3 with tetragonal and
Cr2B with orthorhombic crystallographic structures.
The zone axis, index pattern, and measured lattice
parameter of each particle are also shown in Figures 9
through 11. These are roughly coincident with the
VOLUME 40A, MARCH 2009—629
Fig. 7—Optical micrographs and typical TEM images of the weld.
powder diffraction data, although the lattice parameter
is 3 to 10 pct larger than the powder data.
It should be noted that nitrogen was not detected in
most of the Cr-rich borides, although the SZ-AS
exhibited about 2 to 5 times higher nitrogen than the
630—VOLUME 40A, MARCH 2009
austenite matrix of the BM, as shown in Figure 4. This
suggests that the nitrogen comes from the pcBN during
FSW but exists in the matrix after FSW. Because the
solubility of nitrogen is higher in austenite than in
ferrite, the nitrogen from the pcBN would dissolve into
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
Fig. 8—EPMA compositional map on the advancing side of the SZ in FS-welded austenitic stainless steel.

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A VOLUME 40A, MARCH 2009—631

Fig. 9—STEM-EDX analysis of the advancing side of the SZ in FS-welded 304 austenitic stainless steel. (a) Bright-field image, (b) SAED
pattern, and (c) through (f) EDX spectra of the particle and the austenite matrix shown in (a).

the austenite matrix during the boride formation.
Therefore, tribochemical reaction arising from differ-
ences in the solubility of nitrogen as well as the flow
stress would also be one of reasons why the nitrogen
pickup during FSW is shown more significantly in the
austenitic steel welds.
The TEM observation and large-scale elemental
analysis showed a possibility that chemical compounds
containing nitrogen as well as boron coexist with Cr
borides in the advancing side of the austenitic stainless
steel weld, as shown in Figure 8. The size of this
chemical compound is 1 lm or more, which is larger

632—VOLUME 40A, MARCH 2009 METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A

Fig. 10—TEM-EDX analysis of the advancing side of the SZ in FS-welded 316L austenitic stainless steel. (a) Bright-field image, (b) SAED
pattern, and (c) and (d) EDX spectra of the particle and the austenite matrix shown in (a).
than that in the Cr carbides observed in the present
study. This evidence suggests that relatively large wear
particles remain completely unreacted due to insufficient
dissolution of BN into the matrix. The aforementioned
results strongly suggest that boron and nitrogen from
the tool react with the austenite matrix during FSW.
The reaction would be expressed as follows:
BN þ 2Cr ! Cr2 B þ N
3BN þ 5Cr ! Cr5 B3 þ 3N
Nonoxide ceramic borides generally have strongly
negative free energies of formation, giving them excellent
stability under many conditions.[32] Because the available
thermodynamic data on Cr borides are limited, it is
difficult to calculate the standard free energy of the
boride formation. It has been reported that the standard
free energy of Cr5B3 boride formation is much lower than
that of BN at 1500 K (1227 C).[33] This temperature is
roughly equal to the welding temperature during FSW of
austenite stainless steels in the present study. A previous
study[34] on Cr boride formation has shown that Cr2B
and Cr5B3 borides can coexist at temperatures between
1273 K (1000 C) and 1573 K (1300 C) and that Cr2B is
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
thermodynamically more stable than Cr5B3.[34] These
data suggest that Cr-rich borides with crystallographic
structure of Cr2B and Cr5B3 possibly form by the
reaction between BN and austenite matrix during
FSW. As mentioned previously, high nitrogen solubility
in austenite may help these reactions during FSW.
On the other hand, there is a possibility that Fe-rich
boride containing Cr, such as (Fe, Cr)2B, forms in the
early stage of boride formation, because the affinity
of Fe to B is greater than that of Cr.[35] However,
(Fe, Cr)2B is less stable than (Cr, Fe)2B at high
temperature due to the lower melting temperature
of (Fe, Cr)2B. This would cause the substitution of
Cr atoms for Fe atoms in the (Fe, Cr)2B phase to lower
the free energy of the system. As the Cr content in the
(Fe, Cr)2B exceeds the solubility limit, (Fe, Cr)2B begins
to transform into the (Cr, Fe)2B phase by atomic shifts
of B on {110} crystallographic planes.[35] It has been
reported that the (Fe, Cr)2B fi (Cr, Fe)2B phase
transformation takes place through the generation of
stacking faults in (Cr, Fe)2B along the [100] crystallo-
graphic direction.[35] The present study also found many
borides with a number of stacking faults. Figure 12
shows an example of Cr2B having staking faults.
Many stacking faults with one-dimensional disordered
structures presented as ‘‘SF’’ are observed in the highly
VOLUME 40A, MARCH 2009—633
Fig. 11—STEM-EDX analysis of the advancing side of the SZ in FS-welded 310 austenitic stainless steel. (a) Bright-field image, (b) SAED
pattern, and (c) through (f) EDX spectra of the particle and the austenite matrix shown in (a).

magnified bright-field image (Figure 12(b)). These faults
lie on {100} crystallographic planes exactly perpendic-
ular to the direction of streaking in Figure 12(c). These
crystallographic features are in good agreement with a
previous study.[35] This evidence suggests that the boride
is formed through the BN fi (Fe, Cr)2B fi (Cr, Fe)2B
phase transformation during FSW.
The analysis of nitrogen content and the Cr-rich
borides shows that the increase in boron and nitrogen
content was mainly found in the SZ-AS in austenitic
stainless steels. This microstructural heterogeneity in the
SZ could be attributed to the material movement from
the retreating side to the advancing side at the trailing
edge of the tool during FSW. The material undergoes

634—VOLUME 40A, MARCH 2009 METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A

Fig. 12—(a) Bright-field image, (b) magnified TEM image, and (c) SAED pattern of the particle in the advancing side of the SZ in FS-welded
304 austenitic stainless steel.
large shear deformation along the pin surface toward
the rotating direction during stirring.[31,36,37] The Cr
borides and BN compounds from the tool are simulta-
neously captured into the material. The shear deforma-
tion probably moves most regions to the advancing side
at the trailing edge of the tool, and then the regions
accumulate around the SZ-AS. This would be one of the
possible reasons why the higher boron and nitrogen
contents are detected in the SZ-AS.
The present study clarified that the Cr-rich borides are
formed in the SZ-AS in austenitic stainless steel FS
welds when the pcBN tool severely wears during FSW.
Because the Cr-rich borides consume the Cr, the Cr-
depleted zone, whose width is generally a hundred and
several tens of nanometers, would be created in the
vicinity of the Cr-rich borides, as well as the sigma
phase.[26] The Cr-depleted zone was not observed in the
EPMA map, which is attributed to the fact that the
spatial resolution of EPMA is usually larger than 1 lm.
Coexistence of the Cr-rich boride and sigma phase
would cause the strong contrast consisting of the
corroded grain boundaries and pits in the SZ-AS on
the cross sections (Figure 2). This result implies that
suppression of the pcBN tool wear is a requirement to
produce the high-quality welds without the preferen-
tially corroded SZ-AS in austenitic stainless steels.
However, the pcBN tool having the much higher wear
resistance (an MS80 pcBN tool) has been recently
developed, and the degree of the tool wear occurring
during FSW of austenitic stainless steels is remarkably
reduced. The effect of the pcBN tool grade on the tool
wear will be reported in a separate article.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
The FSW was applied to five types of ferritic, duplex,
and austenitic stainless steels, and interstitial pickup and
B-rich phase evolution were investigated in their welds.
The largely increased nitrogen content was detected in
the advancing side of the SZ in austenitic stainless steel
FS welds. It was shown that the level of boron and
nitrogen increases in the SZ of austenitic stainless steel
FS welds. A possibility was suggested that tool wear
during FSW can be attributed to high flow stresses in
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
austenitic stainless steels. The increase boron and
nitrogen in the SZ resulted in the formation of Cr-rich
borides, of between 100- to 1000-nm diameter, with a
crystallographic structure of Cr2B and Cr5B3 through
the reaction between the boron and nitrogen and the
matrix during FSW.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors sincerely thank Professors K. Ikeda,
K. Maruyama, T.W. Nelson, C.D. Sorensen, and Z.J.
Wang, for many helpful suggestions and advice, and
Mr. A. Honda, Mr. M. Doi, and H. Matsumoto for
there technical assistance. Financial support from the
Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science
and Technology for the Promotion of Science with a
Grant-in-Aid for Young Researchers and for the
Global COE Program in Materials Integration Inter-
national Center of Education and Research at Tohoku
University is gratefully acknowledged.
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