Evaluation of dissimilar friction stir lap joints

using digital X-ray radiography

T. Saravanan*1, H. Das2, K. Arunmuthu1, J. Philip1, B. P. C. Rao1, T. Jayakumar1
and T. K. Pal2
A digital X-ray radiography methodology is proposed for quality assessment of aluminium–zinc
coated steel dissimilar lap joints produced by a friction stir welding process. This methodology
uses digital frame integration for acquisition of data to reduce the image noise followed by high
pass filtering to sharpen the image by gradient operation and contrast adjustments to detect
micro defects in FSW joints. The effect of welding parameters such as rotational and travel speed
of weld tool and penetration depth on quality of the weld is studied. The new methodology has
resulted in three-fold increase in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with improved defect detection
sensitivity. The present study clearly shows that the weld tool rotational speed, travel speed and
plunger depth have a decisive role on the quality of the weld obtained by the friction stir welding
process.
Keywords: Friction stir weld, Lap joint, Digital X-ray radiography, SNR, Weld defects

Introduction (ECT) enables detection and evaluation of defects in the

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid state joining
technique and is increasingly used for joining of
aluminium and other light weight alloys. In FSW, a
rotating tool is inserted into the interface of two
materials to be joined and when sufficient plasticity
developed the rotating tool travels along the interface at
certain speed. As the tool is moved in the welding
direction, the leading face of the tool forces plasticised
material to flow back mainly around the retreating side
while applying a substantial force to consolidate the
weld. Frictional heat is generated both internally by
viscous dissipation and at the interfaces between the tool
pin and the shoulder. This causes the materials to soften
without reaching the melting point, thereby entering the
viscous–plastic domain. The FSW joints show excellent
mechanical properties because of the recrystallised fine
and equiaxed grains in the stir zone.1 For surface
modification and for spot joining, the FSW is also highly
useful.2 The important welding parameters to be chosen
for sound FSW joints include vertical force, travel and
rotational speed of the tool, geometry of tool and the
tilting angle between the tool and the welding material.
For quality control of FSW joints, X-ray radiography
technique3 is often chosen for detection of voids and
phased array ultrasonic technique (UT) for detection of
finer porosities. For defects in the root of the joint in
electrically conducting materials, eddy current technique
1
Metallurgy and Materials Group, Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic
Research, Kalpakkam, India
2
Welding Technology Centre, Metallurgical and Material Engineering
Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
*Corresponding author, email tsara@igcar.gov.in
weld zone. Esmaeili et al.4 have used radiography
technique to detect weld defects in aluminium to brass
dissimilar friction stir welds. It has been reported that
the optical microscopy combined with X-ray radio-
graphy have revealed that the coarse and continuous
fragments of brass in aluminium matrix, tunnelling and
voids in the weld joints. Kumbhar et al.5 studied the
mechanical properties of friction welded aluminium
6061 alloys after qualifying the FSW joints to be
defect-free by X-ray radiography technique. Saeid
et al.6 studied the effect of welding speed on the
microstructure and mechanical properties of the stir zone
of SAF 2205 grade duplex stainless steel and established
sound FSW joints by X-ray radiography with the traverse
speeds in the range of 50–200 mm min21 at a constant
rotational speed of 600 rev min21. They also reported
that increase of travel speed to 250 mm min21 resulted in
formation of a groove like defect along the weld. Akinlabi
et al.7 effectively used the X-ray radiography technique
on friction stir welds of 5754 Aluminum and C 11000
copper dissimilar butt joint configuration to detect
wormhole defects and cracks in the weld joints. The
higher travel speeds resulted in severe lack of penetration
while formation of voids occurred at lower rotational
speeds. However, at higher rotational speed and opti-
mized travel speed, defects were not observed in weld
region.
Li et al.8 used various NDE techniques to detect and
locate the weld defects in Al-T6 FSW butt welds. They
used X-ray radiography, phased array ultrasonics, eddy
current and fluorescent penetrant technique to assess the
shape and locations of different types of FSW defects.
Using conventional X-ray film radiography technique,
they demonstrated that the FSW weld quality depends

ß 2014 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute
Received 26 July; accepted 12 September 2013
DOI 10.1179/1362171813Y.0000000172 Science and Technology of Welding and Joining 2014 VOL 19 NO 2 125

on tool shoulder target depth, spindle tilt angle and
fixture clamping conditions on the work pieces, besides
tool rotational and travel speeds. The lower tool
immersion depth results in defective tightness appear-
ance while higher immersion depth leads to excessive
flash and tunnels due to over tool shoulder pressure.8 It
is observed from this work that the reduced signal-to-
noise ratio (SNR) associated with the film systems
results in limited achievable contrast sensitivity (CS).
ASTM E-2736 indicates that digital detector array
(DDA) is better than X-ray film systems in detecting
small defects because of higher contrast to noise ratio
(CNR) levels. Detection of defects of size less than one
pixel can be possible by frame averaging or integration,
longer exposure time, higher energy, higher current and
minimum focus detector distance.
Adamowski et al.9 employed X-ray radiography tech-
nique to detect volumetric defects in FSW of aluminium
alloys of AW 6082-T6. They reported formation of surface
opened tunnel defects along the length of the weld due to
insufficient downward pressure at a welding speed of
170 mm min21 and at a rotation speed of 1230 rev min21.
Kim et al.10 studied the effect of welding speed on the
quality of FSW aluminium alloys joints by different NDE
techniques. X-ray radiography technique revealed that at
250 mm min21 welding speed, a good quality welding
could be obtained. At 500 and 750 mm min21 welding
speeds, cavities and lack of bonding type defects are
formed at the joint interface. Park et al.11 used X-ray
radiography technique to evaluate FSW bead-on plate
welds on copper–zinc alloys. Radiography images showed
a groove type continuous void when the tool rotational
speed was less. Saliha Gachi et al.12 have reported that X-
ray radiography technique revealed the absence of weld
defects at the surface and at inner zone of FSW weld joints
of thick aluminium sheets. Yu et al.13 proposed a magnetic
non-destructive technique to detect complex tiny flaws in
the FSW of aluminium alloys. The anomalous character-
istics of the magnetic field in the flaw are analyzed using a
magnetic sensor with 1nT resolution in which the
difference of the relative permeability of the flaws is
detected in geomagnetic field. Wang et al.14 studied the
metal transfer and welding arc behaviour of consumable
and non-consumable indirect arc droplet welding using a
high speed digital camera. It was reported that neutron
radiography technique is a suitable non-destructive tool to
assess the nugget size of spot welds.
Welding of aluminium alloys to steel is of interest to
the automotive industry. Since, the conventional fusion
welding of these alloys results in formation of brittle
intermetallic compounds, FSW appears to be a viable
Table 1 Parameters used for welding FSW lap joints
Joint identification Rotational speed/min21
J1 500
J2 500
J3 1000
J4 1000
J5 1000
J6 1500
J7 1500
J8 1500
J9 500
J10 1000
J11 1500
Science and Technology of Welding and Joining
Saravanan et al. Evaluation of dissimilar friction stir lap joints
joining approach to produce sound aluminium steel
weld joints. Studies on X-ray radiography procedure
using DDA for examination of dissimilar FSW lap joints
are scarce. It is observed from the earlier reports8 that
the conventional X-ray film radiography technique is
not useful for detection of submillimetre size FSW
defects (micro-pores or tiny voids) including kissing
bond type defects, crack like root flaws.
The objective of the present study is to develop a
digital X-ray radiography procedure for dissimilar
aluminium and zinc coated steel FSW lap joints and to
explore ways for improved SNR and for enhancing the
defect detection limit. Owing to the quantum nature of
the X-rays, normally radiography images are noisy and
this affects the detection of tiny defect features in
conventional radiography. This methodology uses digi-
tal frame integration for acquisition of data to reduce
the image noise followed by high pass filtering to
sharpen the image by gradient operation and contrast
adjustments to detect micro defects in FSW joints. Using
this methodology, the quality of the aluminium–zinc
coated steel FSW lap joints for penetration depths of
2?50 and 2?30 mm under varied travel and rotational
speeds is evaluated and the results are discussed.
Experimental
Friction stir welded lap joints are fabricated with 6061
grade aluminium of 2?0 mm thickness and zinc coated
steel sheet of 1?0 mm thickness. Test specimen dimen-
sions are 1506100 mm (width6length). The joints are
produced using Friction Stir Welder Model RM 1A-0?7,
under displacement control mode. The tool, made of
steel SKD61, comprises of a shank, shoulder (11?0 mm
diameter) and probe. The tool axis was tilted by 20 with
respect to the vertical axis of the plate surface. The welds
were produced for a dwell time of 2 s and for two
different depths of 2?30 and 2?50 mm. Table 1 shows the
welding parameters used for the fabrication of the FSW
lap joints.
X-ray radiography of the welds is carried out using a
450 kV Balteau constant potential X-ray unit (focal spot
size 1?2 mm) and flash scan FS35 Thales flat panel
detector was used as the X-ray detector (127 mm pixel
pitch). The radiography exposure parameters used are
given in Table 2. The X-ray images are acquired after an
exposure time of 4?2 s (frame time) and integration of a
number of single frame X-ray images is carried out.
Integration of X-ray radiography images is carried out
using data acquisition software VI3 which averages the
multiple frames of data into one image. This digital frame
integration results in significant reduction in image noise.
Travel speed/mm min21 Target depth/mm
50
100
50
100
150
50
100
150 2?50
100
100
100 2?30
2014 VOL 19 NO 2 126

1 Flow chart of the proposed methodology for digital X-
ray radiography of FSW joints
This is achieved by calculating the arithmetic mean of the
signals collected for certain number of images. The
integration of the frames results in improved SNR which
facilitates the detection of microdefects effectively.
Figure 1 shows the flow chart of the proposed
methodology for radiography of FSW joints. SNR is
determined with varied number of frames of exposure.
The SNR measurement is carried out using ISee
software15 for region of interest (ROI), i.e. the weld,
using the ASTM E -2737 procedure. In this procedure,
the SNR is defined as the ratio of the mean grey value to
median single line standard deviation.
ðSNRÞROI ~ðGray valueÞmean =ðsÞsingle line
From the quantum nature of the X-ray radiation, the
SNR improves by a factor of !N where ‘N’ is the
number of frames used for integration of the exposures.
Figure 2 shows the plot of SNR for varied square root
of number of frames of integration. As can be seen, SNR
increases linearly up to 20 frames of integrated exposure
Table 2 Radiography exposure parameters for
joints
Voltage applied/kV 135
Current/mA 1
Exposure time/s 105
Number of frames 25 frames integration
Source-to-object distance (SOD)/mm 1000
Object-to-detector distance (ODD) Contact
Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) 169
Magnification 1?0
Saravanan et al. Evaluation of dissimilar friction stir lap joints
2 Plot of SNR versus square root of number of frames
integration for exposure
and then, it saturates beyond 25 frames. This behaviour
at higher frame acquisition is attributed to the contribu-
tion of the digital detector structural noise which is
significant in comparison to the statistical quantum
noise of the X-ray exposure. Thus, the number of frames
for integration is fixed as 25. The higher SNR achieved
enhances the contrast sensitivity. In order to further
improve the contrast sensitivity, gradient based high
pass filtering followed by contrast and brightness
adjustment is employed.
The contrast sensitivity is given by the product of
SNR and effective attenuation
CNR
~SNRmeff (2)
Dw
where CNR is the contrast-to-noise ratio, Dw is the
minimal change in material thickness and meff is the
effective attenuation
Figure 3a and b shows the radiographic images
obtained with 1 and 25 frames exposure respectively
for a typical FSW joint made at a rotational speed of
500 min21 and travel speed of 50 mm min21 for a
plunger depth of 2?30 mm. The former resulted in a
normalised SNR of 114 whereas the latter gave a SNR
of 169. The radiographic image (Fig 3a) is not accep-
table, as the ASTM E 2737 accepts the images with
SNR.130. Figure 3c shows the high pass filtered image
(1) of Fig. 3b. The SNR measured on the same ROI is 527.
Figure 3d shows the contrast and brightness adjusted
image of Fig. 3c where the pores and voids (encircled)
are clearly seen along the length of the stir zone.
FSW
3 Digital X-ray radiography image of FSW joint with rota-
tional speed of 500 min21 and travel speed of
50 mm min21 for plunger depth of 2?30 mm a exposure
performed at 1 frame (!N51), b exposure with 25
frames integration (!N55), c high pass filtered image
and d magnified view of FSW weld portion showing
pores and voids encircled
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 Saravanan et al. Evaluation of dissimilar friction stir lap joints

4 a radiography image of typical FSW weld with IQI wire and b its grey level profile across wires

Measurement of sub-pixel contrast
resolution
To study the capability of the proposed methodology
concerning contrast sensitivity, 13FE–EN IQI wire
penetrameter is pasted on the FSW joint. Figure 4a
shows the radiography image of a typical FSW weld.
From the grey level profile (Fig. 4b) across the IQI wire
on the image, it is observed that the higher frames of
integrated exposure followed by high pass filtering,
contrast and brightness adjustment resulted in detection
of 63 mm thick wire using a 127 mm pixel size flat panel
array detector. The chosen high pass filter has negative
gradients in the kernel which enhances the visualisation
of sub-pixel IQI wires, by grey value transitions between
the image gradients and filter template elements. i.e. the
sharpening after filtering.
Results and discussion
Results of radiography of FSW lap joints with
two different tool shoulder depths i.e.
penetration depth viz. 2?50 and 2?30 mm are
discussed
Figure 5a–c show the 1 frame and 25 frames integrated
radiography images of the FSW lap joints fabricated

5 Digital X-ray radiography images of FSW joints of a J1, b J2 and c J3

Science and Technology of Welding and Joining 2014 VOL 19 NO 2 128


6 X-ray radiography images of FSW joints of a J4 and b J5
with the friction stir welding parameters as indicated in
Table 1 for a target depth of 2?50 mm. Evaluations of
the radiography image for the joint J1 shows that a lack
of bonding defect is observed at the root side. For the
welding conditions of J1, the insufficient heat energy
produced by 500 min21 rotational speed of the tool,
results in a cold weld for the dissimilar FSW aluminium
steel lap joint configuration. Thus, the inadequate
recrystallisation of swirl zone on root side of the weld
resulted in original faying surface below the stir zone. In
Fig. 5a–c, it is observed that among the two exposure
conditions, the initial 1 frame image revealed defect
features with less contrast and sensitivity.
Figure 5a also shows the presence of steel debris on
the aluminium plate side while the steel plate is not
plasticised due to inadequate stirring of the high density
steel metal. This result is in good agreement with the
results obtained on aluminium steel dissimilar friction
stir welds by Shimoda et al.16 The photograph on the
right side of Fig. 5a shows that the weld surface is
smooth and this is an indicator of the colder weld, as
reported by Adamowski.8 Figure 5b shows the radio-
graphic image of the lap joint J2. In comparison to the
Fig. 5a, the joint J2 is welded with a higher travel speed
of 100 mm min21. In the joint J2, as indicated by
arrows, the lack of bonding defect is present to a great
extent along the length of weld (WZ) zone due to the
combined effect of higher travel speed and lower
rotational speed of the tool. Figure 5c shows the
radiographic image of FSW joint with conditions of
J3. For the welding parameters of 1000 min21 rotational
speed and 50 mm min21 travel speed of joint J3, the
Science and Technology of Welding and Joining
Saravanan et al. Evaluation of dissimilar friction stir lap joints
heat energy produced is optimal which resulted in sound
FSW joints. For J3, since the heat energy produced is
higher due to the higher tool rotational speed and low
travel speed of tool, the thickness of the thermomecha-
nically affected zone (TMAZ) in the FSW plate is
reduced which facilitates the improved contrast of TMA
zone as indicated in the radiography image. Figure 6a
shows the radiographic image of the joint J4. Figure 6a
shows that the heat flux produced is optimum as J3 and
no defect indications are observed. Figure 6b shows the
radiographic image of the joint J5 prepared with
1000 rev min21 rotational speed and 150 mm min21
travel speed. Similar to J3 and J4, the heat input is
sufficient to produce a good quality weld joint for the
welding parameters of J5. Although, the linear heat flux
is less at the higher travel speed of 150 mm min21 in J5,
it has sufficiently plasticised the stir zone.
Figure 7a–c show the 1 frame and 25 frames
integrated radiography images of the FSW joints of J6,
J7 and J8 for a tool rotational speed of 1500 rev min21
with welding speeds of 50, 100 and 150 mm min21
respectively. In the case of travel speed at 50 mm min21,
due to higher thermal gradient at higher tool rotational
speed of 1500 min21, small cavities are present in the
weld as indicated by circles. At a constant travel speed of
50 mm min21, with increase in rev min21, energy input
increases from 88?9 to 223?8 kJ mm21, the Z force
decreases from 6 to 3?5 kN and the torque decreases from
15 to 11?2 Nm. As expected, material is more softened
with increasing energy input, a more sticking condition is
achieved at 1500 rev min21 and 50 mm min21, material
reaches to a state of abnormal stirring with a very low
2014 VOL 19 NO 2 129

7 X-ray radiographic images of FSW joints of a J6, b J7 and c J8
downward force and torque (3?5 kN and 11?2 Nm
respectively).These may lead to the formation of cavity.10
In the case of higher travel speeds of 100 and
150 mm min21, at 1500 rev min21 speed, the quality of
welds is good as indicated in Fig. 7b and c since heat
energy produced is comparatively less to that of the
50 mm min21 case. Evaluation of the joints J6, J7 and J8
indicates that though the rotational speed of 1500 min21
is higher, the heat energy is optimum with the higher
travel speed of the tool and this resulted in good quality
FSW lap joints particularly in the case of J7 and J8. It is
observed from Fig. 7a that the tiny defect features at 1
frame are not detected.
Penetration depth of 2?30
Figure 8a–c shows the radiography images of the weld
joints J9, J10 and J11 exposed at 1 frame respectively.
Science and Technology of Welding and Joining
Saravanan et al. Evaluation of dissimilar friction stir lap joints
Figure 9a–c shows the 25 frames integrated radiography
images of the FSW joints made for the penetration
depth of 2?30 mm with a travel speed of 100 mm min21
at different rotational speeds of 500, 1000, 1500 min21
respectively. It is observed from these radiographic
images that the voids and porosities are present as
indicated in the magnified images of Fig. 9d–f. The
formation of these weld defects is attributed to poor
material flow ability as the frictional heat input
produced is lower in the case of 2?30 mm penetration
depth. The poor weld quality obtained for the joints J9,
J10 and J11 is attributed to the welding parameters
used as indicated in Table 1. With the decreased tool
penetration depth of 2?30 mm, tool torque is less which
in turn, lowers the shear flow stress of the metal acting
perpendicular to the direction of tool rotation, thus
resulting in defective joints with voids as shown in
2014 VOL 19 NO 2 130
 Saravanan et al. Evaluation of dissimilar friction stir lap joints

8 Digital X-ray radiography image of FSW joints of a J9, b J10 and c J11 exposed at 1 frame

Fig. 9g. This finding clearly demonstrates that at 1
frame due to higher image noise, the microdefects are
not detected.
Conclusions
A digital X-ray radiography methodology is presented to
detect micropores and voids in aluminium–zinc coated
steel dissimilar friction stir lap joints. The studies
confirmed that by using this methodology, the SNR
improves from 114 to 527. This methodology has been
successfully used to study the effect of rotational speed,
travel speed of weld tool and weld penetration depth. It is
observed that FSW joints produced with 500 rev min21
rotational speed at a penetration depth of 2?50 mm and 50,
100 mm min21 travel speeds resulted in a poor weld
quality. However, welds with 1000 rev min21 rotational
speed and travel speeds of 50, 100 and 150 mm min21
resulted in good quality FSW joints, essentially due to
sufficient heat energy is produced. The welding para-
meter combination of 1500 rev min21 rotational speed,
50 mm min21 welding speed have produced cavities in the
joints, due to excessive heat energy. A penetration depth of
2?30 mm for a welding speed of 100 mm min21 at
rotational speeds of 500, 1000, 1500 rev min21 resulted
in the formation of micropores and voids that are
detrimental to the weld joints. The results highlight the
need for optimisation the FSW parameters to obtain
defect-free weld joints. Studies clearly indicate that the
proposed methodology can be effectively used for
examination of Al–Zn coated steel dissimilar weld joints
produced by friction stir welding process.

9 25 frames integrated X-ray radiography image of FSW joints of a J9, b J10, c J11, d magnified view of box region of
a, e magnified view of box region of b, f magnified view of box region of c and g SEM micrograph showing voids

Science and Technology of Welding and Joining 2014 VOL 19 NO 2 131


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