Materials and Design 103 (2016) 160–170

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Materials and Design

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Effect of lap configuration on magnesium to aluminum friction stir lap

welding assisted by external stationary shoulder
Shude Ji a,⁎, Zhengwei Li a,⁎, Liguo Zhang a, Zhenlu Zhou a, Peng Chai b
a
Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang 110136, PR China
b
School of Mechanical Engineering & Automation, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing 100191, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the present study, friction stir lap welding (FSLW) assisted by external stationary shoulder was firstly used to
Received 28 February 2016 weld magnesium to aluminum alloys. Effects of the assisted stationary shoulder on joint surface appearances,
Received in revised form 18 April 2016 cross-sections, microstructure and mechanical properties were mainly studied. Lap joints using different lap con-
Accepted 19 April 2016
figurations were also discussed. Results show that lap joints with smooth surface and very small flash can be ob-
Available online 20 April 2016
tained by the assisted stationary shoulder. When using different sheet configurations, joint cross-section
Keywords:
morphologies and microstructure changed significantly. The main intermetallic compounds (IMC) formed in
Friction stir lap welding the stir zone (SZ) boundary on the Al/Mg joint is Al12Mg17. The main IMC formed in the Mg/Al joint SZ is
Stationary shoulder technology Al3Mg2. With increasing the welding distance, tunnel defect appears in the Al/Mg joint. Lap shear failure load
Sheet configuration, cross-section of the Mg/Al joints are much bigger than that of the Al/Mg joints. All the lap joints present shear failure and dim-
Lap shear failure load ples can be observed on all joints.
Intermetallic compounds © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
To produce more economical and better mechanical vehicles, light-
weight materials such as aluminum (Al) alloys and magnesium (Mg) al-
loys have been increasingly used in automotive industries in the last few
decades [1,2]. Consequently, the joining technologies of Al to Al alloys,
Mg to Mg alloys and dissimilar Al to Mg alloys have gained more and
more attentions [3]. Fusion welding technologies, which always accom-
panies with solidification cracking, porosity and high residual stress, are
not suitable for joining Al or Mg alloys [4]. Besides, attempts using fu-
sion welding for joining Al/Mg alloys were unsuccessful for formation
of brittle intermetallic compounds (IMCs). IMC, which always owns
higher hardness and lower ductility, is one of the important factors
influencing the strength of the dissimilar alloys joint [5–8].
As a solid-state joining technology, friction stir welding (FSW) was
invented by The Welding Institute, UK in 1991 [9]. Owning advantages
of smaller distortion, less energy consumption and less welding defects,
FSW is more suitable to join Al and Mg alloys [10,11]. In terms of the
joint sheets arrangement, FSW can be classified into friction stir butt
welding and friction stir lap welding (FSLW) [12]. Since invented, FSW
has been extensively utilized for joining Al to Al alloys [13–15], Mg to
Mg [16–17] alloys and Al to Mg alloys [18–25]. Especially, dissimilar Al
to Mg FSW joints have become the hotspot recently [25]. Kostka et al.
[18] found that the 1 μm IMC layer formed in the Al/Mg FSW joint
mainly consisted of fine-grained Al12Mg17 phase. Mohammadi et al.
⁎ Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: superjsd@163.com (S. Ji), qingdaolzw@163.com (Z. Li).
[19] reported that the tapered threaded pin was beneficial to obtain
sound Mg to Al joint with better mechanical properties. Firouzdor
et al. [6] showed that IMCs formed in the stir zone (SZ) and significantly
reduced the joint strength. They also reported that the IMC formation
was due to liquated material solidification instead of the solid state dif-
fusion. Mofid et al. [7] found out that the IMC was significantly reduced
under liquid nitrogen because of lower temperature. Furthermore, Liang
et al. [8] found three weak zones in the Al/Mg FSW joints: (1) Al/Mg bot-
tom interface, (2) banded structure zone and (3) softened Al alloy on
the retreating side (RS).
According to the republished papers, lots of published papers used
Mg alloy as the upper sheet in FSLW joints or friction stir spot welding
(FSSW) joints [4,5,18,19], while few used Al alloy as the upper sheet
[6,20]. Shen et al. [21] reported that when the Mg alloy sheet was placed
as the upper sheet, FSSW joint owned better mechanical properties. Rao
et al. [4] placed AM60 Mg alloy as the upper sheet during FSSW and
found out that bigger lap shear failure load was attained when using
lower rotating speed. Mohammadi et al. [5] reported that during
FSLW of Al to Mg alloys, different welding speeds significantly changed
the SZ microstructure. Firouzdor et al. [6] used 6061 Al alloy as the
upper sheet and crack can be observed in the joint center. Chen et al.
[20] used AC4C Al alloy as the upper sheet during FSLW and discovered
that a lower welding speed improved the joint strength.
Stationary shoulder FSW (SSFSW) was initially invented to weld ti-
tanium alloy in order to overcome the uneven temperature distribution
during welding [26]. Compared with traditional FSW, SSFSW owns a
∼30% lower heat input and therefore resulted in a reduced heat affected
zone (HAZ) width [27]. In recent years, SSFSW has been extensively

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2016.04.066
0264-1275/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 S. Ji et al. / Materials and Design 103 (2016) 160–170
applied to weld many kinds of Al alloys [29–34]. Stationary shoulder can
diminish flash and eliminate groove by preventing plastic material from
escaping out of the joint. Besides, Li et al. [34] found out that the assisted
stationary shoulder can significantly increase joint bonding width and
mechanical properties of the FSLW joints. However, so far, studies
about stationary shoulder FSLW of Al to Mg alloys have not been re-
ported yet.
In the present study, stationary shoulder technology is applied to
fabricate Al to Mg alloys lap joint. The focus is concentrated on effect
of the assisted stationary shoulder on joint surface appearance, micro-
structure and mechanical properties of the lap joints. Influence of
sheet configuration was also discussed. Microstructure features and el-
emental distribution were studied. Lap shear failure load test was used
to investigate the joints qualities.
2. Methods and experiments
2.1. Methods
6061 Al alloy and AZ31 Mg alloy were chosen as the research objects.
Dimensions of all sheets were 300 mm × 140 mm × 3 mm. Two sheets
were lap combined with a width of 50 mm. For convenience, the lap
joint, which AZ31 Mg alloy is placed as the upper sheet, is called the
Mg/Al joint, as shown in Fig. 1a. Accordingly, the Al/Mg joint refers to
the joint which 6061 Al alloy is placed as the upper sheet, as shown in
Fig. 1b. All the lap joints were welded according to B configuration,
which means that the RS bears the load during the lap shear tests
The FSW-3LM-4012 machine was used during the FSLW experi-
ment. The stationary shoulder system includes an inner rotating tool
and an external stationary shoulder. During SSFSW, void can be ob-
served when using lower rotating speed [35]. Hence, the inner rotating
shoulder is mainly used to increase heat input during welding. The de-
tailed geometries of the assisted external stationary shoulder system
are shown in Fig. 2.
2.2. Experiment
Prior to welding, all sheets were cleaned with emery paper to wipe
off the oxidation layer. Then the lap joints were welded along the center
line of the overlap area. Constant rotating and welding speeds of
1000 rpm and 20 mm/min were chosen during welding. Tilting angel
Fig. 1. Joints configuration in the present study: (a) Mg/Al joint and (b) Al/Mg joint.
Fig. 2. The assisted external stationary shoulder: stationary shoulder system (a) and its dimensions (b).
161
of the tool axis was 2.5° during the experiment. Shoulder plunge
depth was 0.2 mm. After welding, metallographic samples and lap
shear specimens were cut perpendicular to the joint using an electrical
discharge cutting machine. Width of the lap shear specimens is 35 mm.
The metallographic specimens were burnished, polished and then
etched with 5 ml acetic acid, 10 ml distilled water, 4.2 g picric acid in
100 ml ethanol for 10 s to reveal the microstructure of the AZ31 Mg
alloy. Metallographic analysis was carried out on optical microscopy
(OM, Olympus-GX71). The joint microstructure and elemental distribu-
tion were analyzed by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM-SU3500)
equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis
system. Moreover, XRD analysis was carried out for examining the IMCs
in the SZ. Lap shear tests were performed on a computer-controlled uni-
versal tensile testing machine using a constant speed of 5 mm/min.
After the lap shear tests, fracture positions of the specimens were ob-
served using a stereoscopic microscope (ZSA403) and fracture surfaces
were analyzed using SEM.
3. Result and discussion
3.1. Joint surface appearances
Fig. 3 shows the surface appearances of the lap joints using different
sheet configurations. It can be seen that both joint surfaces are smooth.
No arc corrugation and other surface defects can be observed. Due to
non-rotating, the rear part of the stationary shoulder brings a scraping
effect on the joint surface, which is beneficial to eliminate the arc corru-
gation. Smooth joint surfaces are therefore attained. Moreover, the ex-
ternal stationary shoulder exerts a big forging force on the joint
surface, which is beneficial to the joint formation [27].
On the Mg/Al joint, relative big flash can be observed near the key-
hole region. The flash morphology is very much like the flash in ref
[31]. Very small flash can be observed along the joint edge, as shown
in Fig. 3a. On the Al/Mg joint, very small flashes can be observed along
the joint edge and near the keyhole, as shown in Fig. 3b. During the tra-
ditional FSW or FSLW process, plastic material is driven by the inner ro-
tating tool to flow from the advancing side (AS) to the RS. Some material
is squeezed out of the joint, forming flash [34]. In the present study, the
external stationary shoulder effectively prevents plastic material from
escaping out of the joint, reducing the flash [34]. However, the station-
ary shoulder cannot collect 100% of the material. Hence, very small
162 S. Ji et al. / Materials and Design 103 (2016) 160–170

tionary shoulder. Owning better flow-ability, a portion Al alloy flows

into this gap when Al alloy was placed as the upper sheet, leading to ma-
terial loss. However, less Mg alloy, which owns relatively bad flow-
ability, is squeezed into the gap. Adopting the same shoulder plunge
depth, more mg alloy will be squeezed out at the end section, forming
relatively big flash, as shown in Fig. 3a.
In general, for the dissimilar Mg to Al alloys, sound lap joints can be
obtained using an external stationary shoulder.

3.2. Cross sections of the lap joints

Fig. 3. Joint surface appearances: (a) Mg/Al joint and (b) Al/Mg joint.
flashes are still formed, as shown in Fig. 3b. The reasons for different
flashes at the joint end sections in Fig. 3a and b can be attributed to dif-
ferent flow-abilities of the Mg and Al alloys. As shown in Fig. 2, there still
exists a very small gap between the inner rotating tool and assisted sta-
Fig. 4 shows cross-sections of the lap joints using different lap con-
figurations. In Fig. 4a, the Al/Mg joint presents a bowl-like morphology
due to the tapered-threaded pin and the concaved shoulder. The joint
SZ is the region where the adequate mixing between Mg and Al occurs.
Obvious lamellar structures can be observed, as shown in Fig. 4a. Due to
mainly driven by the rotating pin thread [13], the relatively white mi-
crostructure at AS of SZ flows towards the joint surface. At the SZ bot-
tom, very small void can be observed, as shown in Fig. 4a. At both AS
and RS, the original lap interface bends upwards and material of the
lower sheet (Mg) flows upwards. This feature is called hook during
FSLW or FSSW. By contrast, hook height at RS is much bigger than that
at AS (Fig. 4a). Fig. 4b shows the cross-section of the Mg/Al joint. Com-

Fig. 4. Cross-sections of the lap joint: (a) Al/Mg joint and (b) Mg/Al joint.

Fig. 5. SZ microstructures of the lap joint: (a) microstructures of Al/Mg joint and SEM enlarged view (b); (c) microstructures of Al/Mg joint and SEM enlarged view (d).
 S. Ji et al. / Materials and Design 103 (2016) 160–170 163

Fig. 6. Microstructures of the Al/Mg joint: (a) region 1, (b) region 2, (c) region 3, (d) EDS results of the red line in (c), (e) region 4 and (f) region 5 marked in Fig. 4a.

pared with the Al/Mg joint, cross-section of the Mg/Al joint presents a
relative square and very different morphology. Quite adequate mixing
happened in the SZ, therefore two onion ring structures can be ob-
served. In the SZ, rather complicated IMCs, showing relative white mor-
phology, can be observed. At RS, two big hooks, which mainly consist of
the unbroken Al alloy, are formed. The upper hook firstly bends up-
wards and then extends into the SZ upper region. The lower hook di-
rectly extends into the SZ along the original lap interface. The lower
hook separates the two onion rings. Similar to the Al/Mg joint in Fig.
4a, hooks at RS are much bigger than the hook at AS (Fig. 4b). In refs
[5,6,19], the all authors lap welded Al to Mg alloys using different
welding parameters [5], lap configurations [6] and even tool geometries
[19]. Compared with their studies, bonding areas of the cross-sections in
the present study are much bigger. Hence, it is concluded that the mi-
crostructure variation and the material mixing between the Al and Mg
alloys in the SZ are largely influenced by the assisted stationary
shoulder.
3.3. Microstructures of the lap joints
For any joint, microstructure of the SZ plays an important role on
joint mechanical properties [5,6,36]. In general, uniform and finer grains

Fig. 7. Voids at the bottom of the Al/Mg joint (a) and (b).
164 S. Ji et al. / Materials and Design 103 (2016) 160–170

Fig. 8. Microstructures of the Mg/Al joint: (a) region 6, (b) region 7, (c) region 8 and (d) region 9 marked in Fig. 4b.

Table 1 between the Al and Mg alloys and the forward movement of the tool
EDS results of Fig. 8. system. Fig. 5b shows the enlarged SEM photograph of the lamellar mi-
Point Phase Mg (%) Al (%) O (%) crostructure. The original relatively white structure shows gray view on
the SEM photograph. Element analysis of the lamellar IMC will be
1 Oxide 33.823 12.036 54.142
2 Al3Mg2 40.490 59.510 discussed in the following part. Similarly, in Fig. 5c and Fig. 5d, the SZ
3 Al3Mg2 43.113 56.887 microstructure of the Mg/Al joint is mainly Mg matrix plus relatively
4 Mg 84.360 15.640 white and lamellar IMCs. The Mg alloy mainly shows darker color
5 Mg 91.092 8.908
after etching, while the IMC shows relative white color (Fig. 5b). Similar
6 Al3Mg2 38.454 61.546
7 Al3Mg2 + little Al 31.449 68.551
to the Al/Mg joint, excellent material mixing happens in the Mg/Al joint.
8 Al3Mg2 42.313 57.686 Therefore, when using the assisted stationary shoulder system, ade-
9 Al3Mg2 + Al 26.350 73.650 quate material mixing happens during welding and Mg and Al alloys
10 Al3Mg2 40.581 59.419 mix adequately with each other in the SZ.
11 Al12Mg17 58.554 41.446
For the dissimilar Mg to Al lap joints, the IMC formation at the bond-
ing interface mainly determines the joints strength [5,6]. Hence, analyz-
ing the IMC components at the SZ boundary is vital to understand the
distribution in the SZ always results into better mechanical properties. joint mechanical properties. Fig. 6 shows the microstructures of differ-
On the contrary, non-uniform grains leads to poor joint strength. For ent regions (marked in Fig. 4) on the Al/Mg lap joint. Fig. 6a shows the
the joint of dissimilar alloys (Al and Mg), the mixing degree between region above the hook defect, as marked in Fig. 4a. In this region, plenty
Al and Mg alloys definitely determines the joint strength. Fig. 5 shows of IMC, which mainly consists of Al12Mg17, Mg alloy and oxide can be
the SZ microstructures of the lap joints using different joint configura- observed. Fig. 6b shows the enlarged view of the hook region adjacent
tions. For the Al/Mg joint in Fig. 4a, the SZ is mainly composed of Al ma- to the SZ. Similar to Fig. 6a, IMC in this region is also mainly Al12Mg17.
trix. On the Al matrix, relatively white lamellar IMCs can be observed, as Besides, lots of oxides can be observed. The oxide formation at this re-
shown in Fig. 5a. This morphology is mainly related to adequate mixing gion can be attributed to the original residual oxides at the BM surface.

Fig. 9. Hooks of the Al/Mg joint: (a) hook at RS and (b) hook at AS.
 S. Ji et al. / Materials and Design 103 (2016) 160–170 165

Fig. 10. Hooks of the Al/Mg joint: (a) hook at AS, (b) hook at RS and (c) hook extending into the SZ.

Similar to Fig. 6a and Fig. 6b, a relatively thickness IMC plus oxide layer Fig. 8 shows the SZ microstructures (marked in Fig. 4b) on the Mg/Al
can be observed at region 3, as shown in Fig. 6c. Adjacent to the SZ, an joint. Table. 1 shows the EDS results of the points marked in Fig. 8. As
IMC layer, which mainly consists of Al12Mg17 due to adequate mixing shown in Fig. 8a, many concentrated IMCs spread on the Mg matrix, in-
of the Al and Mg alloys, is formed. Fig. 6d shows the EDS results along dicating excellent material mixing. The EDS results show that the IMC is
the testing line in Fig. 6c. The variations of the Mg and Al alloys can be mainly Al3Mg2. In Fig. 8a, an oxidation zone, which consists of 54.142%
clearly recognized. At the SZ bottom, relatively adequate mixing is still oxygen element can also be observed. Compared to Fig. 8a, more dis-
formed at RS. But the mixing degree is inferior to the SZ upper region, perse IMCs are observed in Fig. 8b and Fig. 8c. Similarly, the mainly
as shown in Fig. 6e and Fig. 6f. At the bottom region of the Al/Mg IMC is also Al3Mg2. The three regions are located near the onion rings
joint, very small voids can be observed, as shown in Fig. 7. All the structure. Therefore, it is concluded that on the Mg/Al joint, adequate
voids appear at the AS of the joint, which is very much like the void in mixing between Mg alloy and Al alloy happened. The main IMC formed
traditional FSW joint. Void not only reduces the joint effective bonding in the joint is Al3Mg2. Fig. 8d shows the SZ region near the lower hook.
area, but also induces stress concentration when the joint bears external Big and concentrated IMC layer can be observed on the Mg matrix, indi-
force. Therefore, increasing the material mixing of the bonding interface cating relatively weak mixing at this region. The EDS results indicated
at AS, in order to eliminate the void, is vital to obtain joint with high that besides Al3Mg2, a portion IMC of Al12Mg17 is also formed. The
strength. According to the Al\\Mg phase diagram [5,6,19,28], the IMC shear yield strength of 6061 Al alloy is different from that of the
component formation is a rather complicated process. It is related to el- AZ31 Mg alloy, resulting into different welding temperatures of the
ement proportion, temperature and so on. During FSLW assisted by sta- Mg/Al joint. Besides, using different lap configurations, element propor-
tionary shoulder process, the mechanical stirring process and mixing of tions are different in SZ of different joints. Moreover, testing positions
the Al and Mg alloys are complex. Located at the SZ boundary, the ele- on the Mg/Al joint is different from the Al/Mg joint. Hence, different
ment proportion is likely to well-distributed. However, in consideration IMCs can be obtained, as shown in Fig. 8.
of the Al12Mg17 + Mg in Fig. 6a, b and c, it is believed that For any FSLW joints, one typical feature is called “hook”, as marked
Mg + Al12Mg17–L process at the eutectic temperature 746 K happened in Fig. 4. During the lap shear test, as the orientation of the failure
during welding. crack, hook significantly affects the joint lap shear properties. Moreover,
morphology of the hook can influence effective sheet thickness (EST)
and effective lap width (ELW), which are always used to quantitatively
describe lap joint quality [34]. Fig. 9 and Fig. 10 respectively show the
hooks of the Mg/Al joint and Al/Mg joint. As shown in Fig. 9a, on the
Table 2 Al/Mg joint, very adequate material mixing happens between Al alloy
Element analysis results of the hook region shown in Fig. 9. and Mg alloy. Table 2 shows the EDS analysis results of the points
marked in Fig. 9. The EDS analysis results show that plenty of
Point Phase Mg (%) Al (%) O (%) Si (%) C (%)
Al12Mg17 is generated. Fig. 9b shows the hook at the AS. It is seen that
1 Oxide 1.652 5.506 20.230 2.514 70.099
the material mixing is much weaker compared to the RS. Besides the
2 Mg-oxide 33.559 4.029 56.026 6.386
3 Mg 96.684 3.316 IMC, some oxides present bright and concentrated morphologies are
4 Al12Mg17 + Mg 64.289 35.711 also formed. Especially points 2 and 6 are composed of 56.026% and
5 Al12Mg17 + Mg 61.036 38.964 48.474% oxygen element, respectively. Besides the oxide, it can be
6 Al-Oxide 1.102 36.843 48.474 15.582 seen that near the hook, the main content of the IMC is Al12Mg17.
7 Mg-oxide 69.545 8.231 20.052 2.172
Hence, for the Al/Mg joint, Al12Mg17 is the main IMC that is formed. As
166 S. Ji et al. / Materials and Design 103 (2016) 160–170

Fig. 11. Onion rings of the Al/Mg joint: (a) onion ring at the upper SZ and (b) onion ring at the lower SZ.

shown in Fig. 10a, morphology of the hook at AS on the Mg/Al joint is 3.4. Microstructure variation on the Al/Mg joint
acute, which is very much like the AS hook on the Al/Mg joint. Above
the hook, the interface between the SZ and TMAZ is obvious. At RS, On all the Al/Mg joints, a serious tunnel defect can be observed near
two big Al-matrix hooks can be seen. As shown in Fig. 10b, the upper the keyhole, as shown in Fig. 13. Similar to void and other volume de-
hook extends far into the upper Mg alloy, showing good material ex- fect, tunnel not only reduces the effective area of the SZ but also induces
change between the upper and lower sheets. The lower hook extends serious stress concentration, significantly reducing the joint mechanical
far towards AS, meaning the good material mixing between AS and properties. In order to understand the formation reason of the tunnel,
RS. Moreover, it can be seen that the hook of the Mg/Al joint are both several region cross-sections along the Al/Mg joint are studied. Fig. 14
higher than those of the Al/Mg joint, which may result from better shows the positions of different sections. The distances from the joint
flow-ability of the Al alloy. Different hook morphologies lead to different beginning point are respectively 5 mm, 8 mm, 13 mm and 18 mm.
mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of the joint will be The cross-section of the Al/Mg joint in Fig. 4 is 3 mm from the
discussed in the following part. welding beginning point. Fig. 15 shows the different joint cross-
On the Mg/Al joint, two big onion rings with alternate bright and sections on the Al/Mg joint marked in Fig. 13. In Fig. 15a, the joint
gray rings can be observed, as shown in Fig. 11. Figs. 11a and b respec- shows no defect at 5 mm. Similar to the cross-section shown in
tively show the onion rings at SZ upper and lower regions. Much more Fig. 4a, lamellar IMCs which mainly composed of Al12Mg17 can be ob-
IMCs can be observed on the lower onion ring. The different morphol- served. With increasing the distance from the welding starting point,
ogies of the two onion rings can be attributed to different material
flows of the two regions. The formation of the onion rings is considered
to be the adequate mixing of the Mg/Al alloys as a result of the tool ro-
tation and movement. Similar to the EDS analysis results shown in Fig. 8,
the bright IMC microstructures of the onion rings are mainly the Al3Mg2.
Worth mentioning is that on the Al/Mg lap joint, a crack is found
above the hook at RS, as shown in Fig. 12. Along the hook, the crack fur-
ther extends into the SZ. As introduced above, hook defect of the lap
joint significantly affects the joint mechanical properties. Similarly, the
crack above the hook certainly brings a negative impact on the Al/Mg
joint strength. In the study of Firouzdor et al. [6], they attributed the
crack to the opposite directions of the tool rotation and movement. In
the present study, the formation of the crack may be attributed to the
brittle IMC above the hook and different flow behaviors of the shoulder
affected zone and the pin affected zone.
Fig. 13. Tunnel defect of the Al/Mg joint.

Fig. 12. Crack above RS hook of the Al/Mg joint. Fig. 14. Sketch map of different sections.
 S. Ji et al. / Materials and Design 103 (2016) 160–170 167

Fig. 15. Different cross-sections on the Al/Mg joint: (a) 5 mm, (b) 8 mm, (c) 13 mm and (d) 18 mm.

lamellar IMCs disappear and onion ring structures are formed in SZ, as
shown in Fig. 15b and c. Meanwhile, tunnel defect begins to appear at
the SZ bottom and size of the tunnel gradually becomes bigger. Possible
reason is the bad deformability of Mg alloy compared with Al alloy [28].
This tunnel defect has been reported in ref [28]. In ref [28], when Mg
alloy is put as the AS without tool offset, or tool offset to Al, bad
flowability of the Mg alloy leads to serious channel defect. Besides, it
can be seen that with increasing the welding distance, hook at AS be-
comes bigger, while cold lap firstly extends upwards and then bends to-
wards the tunnel. After the distance is long enough, serious tunnel is
formed, which results into very poor mechanical properties.

3.5. Lap shear failure load and fracture modes of the joints

Fig. 16 shows the load-displacement curves of the lap joints using

different lap configurations. It can be seen the Mg/Al joint owns obvious
better lap shear properties in general. The maximum load of 5856.1 N
can be obtained. The higher lap shear failure load of the Mg/Al joint
Fig. 16. Lap shear failure load of the joints. can be attributed to the defect-free microstructure feature. By contrast,

Fig. 17. Fracture positions of the joints: (a) the beginning section of Al/Mg joint, (b) the ending section of Al/Mg joint and (c) the Mg/Al joint.
168 S. Ji et al. / Materials and Design 103 (2016) 160–170
Fig. 18. XRD result of the Mg/Al joint.
lap shear failure load of the Al/Mg joint is much smaller because of the
tunnel defects. Tunnel significantly reduces the bonding area of the
joint and induces serious stress concentration during the tests. Although
owning lower lap shear failure loads, average elongation of the Al/Mg
joints is bigger than those of the Mg/Al joints, which may results from
the morphology difference using difference lap configurations.
During the lap shear test, both the Mg/Al and Al/Mg joints present
shear fracture mode. Fig. 17 shows the fracture positions of the lap
joints. As shown in Fig. 17a, at the welding starting region of the Al/
Mg joint, the weld nugget is pulled out from the lower sheet, proving
that the SZ is mainly composed of Al alloy. Besides, a crack initiating at
AS and extending into the SZ can also be observed. At the ending sec-
tion, crack mainly propagates along the hook and further through the
tunnel. At the AS, a crack, which initiates at the hook tip and further ex-
tends into the upper sheet, can be observed. Fig. 17c shows the fracture
position of the Mg/Al lap joint. It can be seen that crack mainly propa-
gates along the hook at RS, further extends through the SZ upper region
and finally to the AS. The weld nugget, which shows relative dark color
after etching, is pulled out from the upper sheet. At the AS of the lower
Fig. 19. Fracture morphologies of the Al/Mg joint (Al side): (a) to (d) from AS to RS.
sheet, a crack appears along the SZ/TMAZ interface at the lower sheet,
indicating the weak bonding of the interface. Shear fracture of Al to
Mg lap joints have been reported by other researchers [5].
3.6. Fracture morphologies
Due to the serious tunnel defect, the XRD spectra of the Al/Mg joint
are not performed. Fig. 18 shows the XRD spectra of the fractured Mg/Al
joint at the Mg side. It is seen that the diffraction peaks are mainly Al
phase, Mg phase, Al12Mg17 and Al3Mg2 IMCs. The results indicate that
Mg and Al alloys adequately mix with each other during FSLW assisted
by external stationary shoulder process. The XRD results also indicates
that the temperature during FSLW assisted by external stationary shoul-
der exceed both the eutectic temperature of Mg and Al.
Fig. 19 shows the fracture morphologies of the Al/Mg joint. Due to
the non-flatness of the Al side, the fracture morphologies of Mg side
were mainly discussed. The morphologies were taken along the “AS to
RS” line. As shown in Fig. 19a, plenty of dimples with very small sizes
and depths can be seen, presenting ductile fracture mode. Fig. 19b
shows irregular cracks and IMCs with different sizes, showing weak
bonding. The morphology shown in Fig. 19b is very much like the mor-
phology shown in ref [5]. Fig. 19c mainly locates near the tunnel defect.
The fracture morphology presents some irregular ridges and no dimples
can be observed. The morphology near the hook at RS is shown in Fig.
19d. Although owning weak bonding strength, some shallow regions
showing dimple-like morphology can be seen due to the big forging
force of the external stationary shoulder during welding.
Fig. 20 shows the fracture morphologies of the Mg/Al joint. The frac-
ture morphologies were taken from the Al side. The morphologies were
also taken along the “AS to RS” line. Fig. 20a shows the fracture mor-
phology near the hook at AS and it mainly shows a flat morphology.
Fig. 20b and Fig. 20c show the SZ region. It is seen in Fig. 20b that
some ridges due to the movement of the tool are formed. Some dimples
with various sizes can be seen in Fig. 20c, presenting ductile fracture
mode at this region. Fig. 20d shows irregular bedded structure and
IMCs with different sizes, presenting weak bonding. This morphology
is very much like the morphology reported in ref [24]. The fracture mor-
phology presents relative flat surface and no dimples can be observed
(Fig. 20e).
 S. Ji et al. / Materials and Design 103 (2016) 160–170 169

Fig. 20. Fracture morphologies of the Mg/Al joint (Al side): (a) to (e) from AS to RS.

Fig. 21 shows the fracture morphologies of Mg side on the Mg/Al 4. Conclusions

joint along the “AS to RS” line. Fig. 21a shows the hook at AS and no
effective bonding is formed. The hook morphology is very much
like the hook at the Al side. Fig. 21b shows the SZ of the joint. The mor-
phology, where plenty of IMCs are formed, is very much like the mor-
phology in Fig. 20d. Similar to the Al side, some dimples indicating
good bonding are formed in Fig. 21c. In Fig. 20b, some band-like struc-
tures are formed near the hook on RS. As shown in Fig. 20e, dimples
can also be observed. The dimples can be attributed to fractured hook
(Al alloy) of the RS.
It should be noted that lots of dimples can be observed on the lap Al
to Mg joints assisted by external shoulder (Fig. 19a, Fig. 20c, Fig. 21c and
e). This phenomenon is different from that of the other papers [5,19], in
which no dimples can be observed on the fracture surfaces. The dimples
observed in the present study indicate adequate material mixing and
good bonding of the lap joints in the present study, proving the advan-
tages of the assisted stationary shoulder.
In the present study, stationary shoulder technology is used in FSLW
of dissimilar Al to Mg alloys. Joint surface appearances, cross-sections,
microstructure and mechanical properties of the lap joints were mainly
studied. The main conclusions can be drawn:
(1) The assisted stationary shoulder is beneficial to the lap joint for-
mation. Smooth lap joints without arc corrugation, flash and sur-
face defect can be obtained.
(2) By the assisted stationary shoulder, excellent material mixing
happened during welding. SZ of the Al/Mg joint is Al matrix
with relative lamellar IMCs. For the Mg/Al joint, two big hooks
composed of Al alloy separate two onion rings in the SZ.
(3) The main IMCs formed on the Al/Mg joint SZ boundary is
Al12Mg17. The main IMC formed in the Mg/Al joint SZ is mainly
Al3Mg2.

Fig. 21. Fracture morphologies of the Al/Mg joint (Mg side): (a) to (e) from AS to RS.
170 S. Ji et al. / Materials and Design 103 (2016) 160–170
(4) With increasing the welding distance, tunnel defect, which
mainly results from bad flow-ability of the Mg alloy, appears
and gradually becomes bigger the Al/Mg joint.
(5) Lap shear failure loads of the Mg/Al joints are much bigger than
those of the Al/Mg joints. All the lap joints present shear failure
mode.
(6) Fracture morphologies of the lap joints using different lap config-
urations show much difference. Dimples, which indicating good
bonding, can be observed on all joints. Dimples on the fracture
surfaces prove the advantages of the assisted stationary shoulder.
Acknowledgement
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation
of China (No. 51204111), the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning
Province (No. 2013024004 and No. 2014024008), the Project of Science
and Technology Department of Liaoning Province (No. 2013222007)
and the Aeronautical Science Foundation of China (2013ZE54021).
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