Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 8

Materials and Design 47 (2013) 143150

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Materials and Design


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matdes

Microstructural characterization and formation of a0 martensite phase in Ti6Al4V


alloy butt joints produced by friction stir and gas tungsten arc welding processes
M. Esmaily a,b,, S. Nooshin Mortazavi c, P. Todehfalah a, M. Rashidi d
a
Manchester Materials Science Centre, The University of Manchester, M1 7HS Manchester, United Kingdom
b
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology (CTH), S-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
c
Department of Materials and Manufacturing Technology, Chalmers University of Technology (CTH), SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
d
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden

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

Article history: The obtained microstructures of a Ti6Al4V alloy welded by Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) and
Received 26 August 2012 Friction Stir Welding (FSW) were investigated and evaluated quantitatively. In the GTAW method, the
Accepted 11 December 2012 effect of current was examined so that the samples were subjected to various currents between 90
Available online 26 December 2012
and 120 A. In the FSW process, samples were welded by different rotational speeds (450850 rpm).
Non-destructive tests including Visual and Radiography Tests (VT and RT) were used to identify
Keywords: defect-free samples. The microstructural studies by electron microscopes revealed formation of different
Titanium alloys
phases in the weld area of the samples welded via mentioned methods. The recorded peak temperatures
Friction stir welding
Gas tungsten arc welding
in the weld regions compared favorably with the expectations about the evolved microstructures. A bi-
a0 Martensite phase modal microstructure was just obtained in the FSWed sample with a peak temperature below b transus
temperature (T < 995 C). a0 martensite phase, which is an acicular and strengthening phase in this alloy,
was only observed in FSWed specimens.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction It seems in solid state processes, like Friction Stir Welding


(FSW), fusion-related problems can be solved up to a desired point
Titanium alloys, especially Ti6Al4V have a number of excep- through controlled effective parameters and applying an appropri-
tional characteristics including reasonable high strength/weight ate amount of heat to the welding zone. This newer process was in-
ratio, tensile and fatigue strength and excellent resistance to corro- vented in Cambridge at The Welding Institute (TWI) in 1991 [6,7].
sion. This special and expensive alloy is used in various applica- In FSW a cylindrical tool with two main parts (pin and shoulder)
tions in aerospace, automotive industries and medicine [13]. joins the pieces through rotational and displacing movements.
Fusion methods as older and simpler method have been developed Metals with low melting temperatures like Al, Al alloys, Cu, Cu al-
more than other processes for welding of this alloy. Simple, cost- loys, and Mg and Mg alloys were rst welded in this way [810].
effective and more applicable as is Gas Tungsten Arc Welding After some geometrical and material developments in the tool,
(GTAW), it is the most commonly used fusion method that is able metals with higher strength and melting temperatures such as Ti,
to produce moderate to good microstructure and mechanical per- Ti alloys, Ni, Ni alloys and different types of steel were welded
formance in the weldments with controlling the effective process by FSW [11,12]. Some analysis indicated that the welds made by
parameters. However, high heat input in the fusion zone leads to this method can yield better mechanical properties, fewer defects
some problems such as the expansion of heat affected zone and and less residual stresses than that of conventional fusion pro-
the appearance of residual stresses in the welding zone. To resolve cesses for many metals and alloys [12,13].
these weak points and produce high quality joints, workpieces Numerous investigations have been reported concerning micro-
need to be preheated before welding and also some heat treatment structure and mechanical properties of Ti6Al4V welded through
cycles are required after the welding. All these issues can result in GTAW in Refs. [1417]. Also there are some cited studies like Zhou
low efciency of the GTAW method for some critical applications et al. [18] that have provided valuable viewpoints about the inu-
[4,5]. ence of the FSW parameters on the microstructure of Ti6Al4V al-
loy joints. But there is a limited knowledge about some
microstructural feature appearing during the welding, for example,
Corresponding author at: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering,
the probability of the a0 martensite phase formation in the weld
Chalmers University of Technology (CTH), S-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden. Tel.: +46
31 772 28 64; fax: +46 317723224. area is not very well established. From the strength point of view,
E-mail address: mohsen.esmaily@chalmers.se (M. Esmaily). the presence of this martensitic phase is of great importance in the

0261-3069/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2012.12.024
144 M. Esmaily et al. / Materials and Design 47 (2013) 143150

weld area since if considering the rank of the strength from high to To carefully monitoring the temperature in the welding areas
low, a0 martensite comes rst before other important microstruc- and measure the cooling rates, in situ underground thermocouples
tural types such as Widmansttten, bimodal and equiaxed micro- with a diameter of 1.5 mm were spot-welded to the samples. For
structure and also it has the lowest ductility. This paper deals welding of the GTAW-T1, T2, T3 and T4 samples, current was the
with the evolved microstructural features and specically forma- parameter under study (varied between 90 and 120 A) and other
tion of a0 martensite phase, a crucial phase for mechanical proper- parameters were controlled and accordingly kept constant. In case
ties, in the weld zone of the plates welded through FSW and GTAW of FSW of F1, F2, F3 and F4 samples, a wide range of rotational
methods. In order to identify the optimal parameters of each weld- speed of the tool from 450 to 850 rpm was applied. More details
ing method, samples with no micro and macroscopic defects were of the welding parameters are presented in Table 1.
detected by using Non-Destructive Tests (NDT). The microstruc- To determine external and internal defects in the butt-welded
ture of the samples was then examined and the main microstruc- samples, Visual and Radiography Tests (VT and RT) were con-
tural phases were measured quantitatively. ducted based on well-established welding quality standards like
EN ISO 17637 and EN ISO5817 [19]. The quality of the welds and
also the sufciency of the W  25%Re tool for different rotational
2. Experimental method speeds in FSW were examined by an Energy Dispersive Spectros-
copy (EDS) analysis system on inclusions formed in the weld zone.
The material under investigation was a 4 mm thick Ti6Al4V Certain preparation was needed for microstructural character-
alloy sheets, with the chemical composition (wt.%) of Ti6.2Al ization and phase analysis using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Transmis-
3.4V2.5 N1.4Mo0.05Cr0.1O and 0.1C. The microstructure of sion Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy
the base metal can be explained by a microstructure consisting (SEM) and Optical Microscopy (OM). Investigations were initiated
of globular a grains with intergranular b phase, as illustrated in on the etched specimens using Kroll Solution (H2O 100 ml, HF
Fig. 1. 3 ml, and HNO3 5 ml) and by an Olympus (model BX 60) OM
Pairs of plates were cut and machined into regular welding equipped with a system of digital image capture and Philips XL-
specimens of 400  80 mm. Single V butt joint (with a root gap 30 SEM. XRD measurements were carried out with a Philips XPert
of 1.5 mm and bevel angle 60 C) and ordinary square butt joint diffractometer with Cu Ka radiations with a counting time of 10 s.
congurations were prepared for GTAW and FSW, respectively. In order to observe a, b and martensite phases, JEOL 2000 EXII TEM
The introduced temperatures during welding processes are clearly observations were done with 200 kev after electro polishing prep-
higher than 480 C. Therefore, there was a high risk of surface oxi- aration operation in a 93% methanol, 5% Acid Solphoric solution in
dation and reaction of the welding metals with the atmosphere 40 C. For measuring hardness in different welding zones Vickers
gasses like Oxygen and Hydrogen. In case of GTAW, a container microhardness tests were conducted with a load of 100 N and a
with an automatic welding table and for FSW a composite con- dwell time of 15 s by a Leco LM-247AT instrument. Since duplex
tainer that was mounted on a CNC mill machine table were fabri- titanium alloys contain different phases with very different sizes
cated to reach a controlled atmosphere. These containers were rst (from big prior b grains to very ne a and b plates), quantitative
evacuated with a vacuum pump and then lled with 99.999% Ar- investigation of the microstructure is more complicated than that
gon as shielding gas. From FSW tooling point of view, since the al- for alloys like CP-Ti. By considering these complexities and also
loy is a high melting point material, there is a limited number of to obtain more reliable data with a focus on the FSWed samples,
materials that are able to provide superior wear, mechanical and characterizations have been performed using different commercial
oxidation resistance. Besides, the design of the tool and cooling image analyzer software namely AdobeR PhotoshopR CS4, ImageJR
system is a great of importance. There are some vital consider- and Matlab based image analysis program that specially designed
ations in the manufactured tool for this study. Geometrically, some to carry out characteristic analysis of microstructure images.
basic and important facts are employed, for instance, the tool must
not have thin sections or sharp angels. Cooling system has to pro-
vide a consistent thermal environment and sufcient thermal con- 3. Results and discussion
ductivity by circulating the coolant around upper part of the
shoulder and tool shank, as illustrated in Fig. 2. These requirements By simply evaluating the welded regions, different zones can be
were met to prevent damage to the spindle bearings of the CNC identied [20]. As seen in Fig. 3, there are three main zones in fu-
machine, to reduce the tool wear and avoid introducing tool debris sion welds; i.e. Fusion Zone (FZ), Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) and
into the weld area, and overlay to enhance the tool life and make Base Metal (BM). In case of FSW, however, more zones can be de-
the FSW process more efcient. ned: Stir Zone (SZ), Thermo Mechanical Affected Zone (TMAZ),
Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) and Base Metal (BM) together with
Retreating Side (RS) and Advancing Side (AS), with regard to direc-
tion travel and rotation of the tool.
Inspection of the welds was required to ensure acceptable sur-
face appearance and proper consolidation throughout the weld
zone (according to the mentioned standards) in GTAW as well as
the absence of other defects such as channel defects and worm
holes in FS welded samples. Thus, to determine if the weldments
comply with design specications and to identify optimal parame-
ters resulting in intact and non-defective joints, NDT techniques
were carried out, as presented in Table 2.
The weld made by GTAW-90 A produced some diffusion defects
that can be attributed to insufcient heat input. In this sample, the
molten ller metal was piled up on the base metal rather than
melts and mix with the base metal. In terms of macro and micro
defects, acceptance criteria in the joints welded by 100 and
Fig. 1. Microstructure of Ti6Al4V base metal. 110 A were successfully met that proves the sufciency of the heat
M. Esmaily et al. / Materials and Design 47 (2013) 143150 145

Fig. 2. Experimental setup: CNC machine, cooling system and a schematic of the tool used in this study; tank, heat exchanger coils and pumps used for cooling the tool.

Table 1
Summary of the welding parameters.

Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) Friction Stir Welding (FSW)


Electrode W + 2% thoriated Welding speed 65 mm/min Pin shape Tapered circular
Welding speed 110 mm/min Plunge rate 2.5 mm/s Shoulder shape Concave
Gas ow rate 14 lit/min Power spindle 18.5 kw Shoulder diameter 10 mm
Torch position Vertical Tool material W  25%Re Pin length 3.5 mm
Electrode diameter 5 mm Dwell time 5s Shoulder angle (a) 8
Arc voltage 12 A Tool tilt 2 Pin angle (b) 24

Fig. 3. Schematic overview and low magnication images; the FSW-F2 (upper) and GTAW-T2 (lower) welds.

Table 2
Studied factors as well as VT and RT test results for FSW and GTAW welds.

No. Code Describe Visual test Radiography test Overall


1 T1 GTAW-90 A Pile-up Not acceptable Rejected
2 T2 GTAW-100 A Well-shaped No signs of defect OK
3 T3 GTAW-110 A Well-shaped No signs of defect OK
4 T4 GTAW-120 A Burn-through defect Not acceptable Rejected
5 F1 FSW-450 rpm Coarse with some cavities Tool debris in SZ Rejected
5 F2 FSW-650 rpm Well-shaped No signs of defect OK
6 F3 FSW-750 rpm Well-shaped No signs of defect OK
7 F4 FSW-850 rpm Moderate (coarse) Worm hole in SZ Rejected
146 M. Esmaily et al. / Materials and Design 47 (2013) 143150

Fig. 4. (a) and (b) Weld appearance of F4 and its radiography test. (c) and (d) Weld appearance of T4 and T2.

input in the FZ. The sample welded by 120 A was ruled out as the rich inclusions in the SZ (the bright parts). The results of the EDS
input heat was too high gave rise to melting the edges of the plates test conrmed the presence of some tungsten rich compositions.
(Fig. 4a and b). Overheating as a result of high heat input of the SEM/EDS examinations on four trial experiments with the same
sample was also the cause of rejection of the FSW-F4 that pro- rotational speed, i.e. 450 rpm, indicated the presence of external
cessed with the highest rotational speed. Although this sample inclusion from tool in the SZ and this brings us to one impor-
had a relatively acceptable appearance according to VT, it was tant conclusion. Although from previous literatures [2428] tung-
failed due to existence of a worm hole defect in its RT results, as sten-rhenium tools are exhibited enhanced fracture and wear
shown in Fig. 4c and d. resistance and commonly used to weld refractory metals via
Recorded temperature proles depicted that the temperature in FSW, in order to obtain a sound weld with a bi-modal microstruc-
the weld zones in seven out of eight samples exceeded the b-tran- ture in Ti6A4V, super-abrasive tools such as Polycrystalline Cu-
sus temperature (995 C), as shown in Fig. 5. Peak temperature be- bic Boron Nitride (PCBN) should be considered as the main tool
low b-transus was just accomplished for the FSWed sample welded material option.
with the lowest rotation speed, i.e. 450 rpm, where the heat input The rest of this study and detailed quantitative investigation of
of the process was minimized according the following model [21]; the microstructural features were carried out with the selective
and non-defective specimens (i.e. T2, T3, F2, and F3). The investiga-
q0 4=3p2 lPwR3 1 tions displayed that by increasing the rotational speed from 450 to
650 and then to 750 rpm, more heat input were introduced and
where q0 is the net power, P stands for the pressure, w is rotation this led to decreasing the tool wear signicantly, in which no indi-
speed of the tool and R is related to the tool geometry. The recorded cation of tool wear was recorded and also forces exerted on CNC
temperatures are in a good agreement with this equation and also machine was clearly reduced.
other well-known models for FSW process that quanties the aver- The nature of the resultant microstructures of FSW were altered
age heat input per unit area and time as a function of process and conrmed that the temperature in the SZ of the FSW-F2 and F3
parameters [22]. were higher than the b phase transformation temperature. Com-
When the peak temperature is below b-transus, the process is pare to the BM the microstructures of the SZ were highly rened
occurring in a + b phase region. As a result of this fact, a bi-modal and made of prior b grains, a grain boundaries and lamellar-shaped
microstructure consists of globular grains with an aspect ratio (l/b; grains of a and b phases that formed in the prior b grains. Also, it
length/thickness) of 1.7 in transformed-b matrix (a colony com- can be mentioned that for these two cases as the rotational speed
prises alpha and beta lamella structure) was formed (Fig. 6). This rises, both b grains and a colonies grew in size that can be seen in
type of microstructure in Ti6Al4V alloy can be a proffered micro- Fig. 7. Typical TEM micrographs in the SZ of the FSWed and in the
structure combination for an optimal mechanical performance FZ of the GTAWed samples are also presented in Fig. 8. As can be
[23]. Although rotational speed of 450 rpm produced a bi-modal seen very complex microstructure consists of a and b lamellar as
microstructure in FSW-F1, introducing lower heat input to the well as a0 martensite phase present in the SZ of FSW-F2 and F3
workpiece highlighted the concern regarding tool wear. Fig. 6 also samples. Considering the thermal proles provided in Fig. 5, this
displays obvious evidences of tool debris and some other tungsten- diffusionless transformation of b phase to a0 martensite occurred
in the areas that processed with lower temperatures and as a result
of faster cooling rates. This microstructure is extremely small and
acicular; it has also some specic mechanical properties like high
strength and hardness and relatively low toughness [29].
Although martensitic formation and its differentiation from
Widmansttten/basketweave structure in the weld zone of Ti
6Al4V alloy can be a problematic issue, valuable information on
the diffusional and diffusionless transformations are previously
documented by Ahmed and Rack [30]. They have shown that in or-
der to attain different microstructures, material has to experience
different values of cooling rates and this is presented in a form of
a Continuous Cooling Transformation (CCT) diagram. So, it is of
interest to measure the cooling rates as it can provide valuable in-
sights into the probability of the formation of different phases.
The cooling rates of the weld zones were compared with the
previously documented CCT diagram, as shown in Fig. 9. As seen
in the diagram, three types of microstructure (i.e. fully martensitic
or diffusionless structure, diffusional transformations and a combi-
nation of these two) can be formed. The calculated cooling rates
Fig. 5. Location of the in situ thermocouples and thermal history of the selective prove the suggestion about the formation of a0 martensite in
FSW and GTAW weldments (T1, T2, F1, and F2). FSWed samples. It is worth mentioning that in this study the cool-
M. Esmaily et al. / Materials and Design 47 (2013) 143150 147

Fig. 6. EDS results and SEM image of the SZ of the specimen welded by rotation speed of 450 rpm.

Fig. 7. The SEM images of the SZ related to FSWed samples at different rotational speeds. (a) 650 rpm, and (b) 750 rpm.

Fig. 8. Bright-eld TEM micrograph of the SZ of F2 (FSWed sample).

Fig. 9. Schematic continuous cooling diagram for Ti6Al4V. The measured cooling
rates associated with the FSW and GTAW welding process is indicated, proving that
ing rates of the weld area calculated based on a method for estima- a0 martensite is avoided in GTAWed samples. (i) Above 410 C s1, martensite
tion of cooling rate from a published work done by Poorhaydari structure forms. (ii) A mixed combination of non-martensitic and martensite plates
et al. [31] and also using temperature histories obtained experi- appear at cooling rates between 410 and 20 C s1. (iii) and below 20 C s1,
Widmansttten or basketweave a is expected.
mentally. A comparison between the estimated data and the mea-
sured values implies reasonable conformity between predicted
cooling rates and those obtained by thermocouples experimen-
tally. The approved values are presented in Table 3. sion about the absence of peaks for orthorhombic martensite
XRD patterns of the parent material and welded sample also (a00 ). This means that the martensite a00 phase was not formed in
proved the later statements about the formation of martensitic the weld areas of neither FSWed nor GTAWed samples. The pres-
phase in FSWed samples, as shown in Fig. 10 and Table 4. The ence of very weak peak of b phase in the diffractogram of the
Braggs peaks of the as-received material that shows a simple FSW-F2 is due to the fact that some of the b phase was converted
XRD pattern of hexagonal close packed (HCP) a phase and body- to martensitic a0 phase. In other words, the microstructure is a
centered cubic (BCC) b phase. The data provides a rst impres- combined result of diffusional and diffusionless transformations
148 M. Esmaily et al. / Materials and Design 47 (2013) 143150

Table 3
Heat input, cooling rate and size of different microstructural features in the weld area of the samples processed through GTAW and FSW.

GTAW-T2 (FZ) GTAW-T3 (FZ) FSW-F2 (SZ) FSW-F3 (SZ)


Peak temperature (C) 1112 1210 941 1005
Heat input (J/mm) 803 898 393 523
Cooling rate (C s1) 16.5 13.5 32 29
Size of prior grain (lm) 11.2 0.24 15.1 0.18 10.5 0.46 13.7 0.34
a Plate width 0.38 0.15 0.45 0.19 0.19 0.23 0.55 0.13
b Plate width 0.17 0.14 0.22 034 0.15 0.1 0.19 0.17

the weld area consisted a ner morphology that is referred to bas-


ketweave type.
The absence or very low fraction of the a0 phase in the FZ of the
samples welded via GTAW method in this study could be attrib-
uted to the temperature history of the samples. In other words,
since welding were performed with more heat input levels and
consequently less cooling rate, the b ? a phase transformation
took place through a diffusion process and no or only few unstable
b phase were excited to transform into the martensitic phases.
Seemingly, from the literature [3640], the main microscopic
variables that enormously inuence the engineering properties in
the welding zone are a grain size, prior b grain size and the thick-
ness of a and b lamellar. Table 3 provides a complete set of data
that are describing the relation between the size of the microstruc-
tural features and the calculated heat inputs and measured cooling
rates. These analyses revealed that different processes produced
different morphology and phases.
Among all the conditions the thinnest acicular a and b plates
were respectively those of FSW-F2 and F3. As an example, in
FSW-F2 the size of prior b grains was in the range of 713 lm
Fig. 10. X-ray diffraction patterns of Ti6Al4V alloy after welding by different and that of a grains were between 4 and 8 lm. The obtained data
techniques. from FSWed samples readily indicated that the more the rotational
speed, the higher the heat input introduces and consequently there
will be less desirable material ow around the tool which, in turn,
results in the formation of larger and coarser phases in the SZ.
Table 4
X-ray diffraction data of Ti6Al4V before and after welding by two techniques. For GTAW joints, an increase in the arc current and heat input
brings about a coarser microstructure consist of a and b acicular
2h hkl- hkl- I (counts) I (counts) FSW- I (counts) GTAW-
phases with large prior grain boundaries. The main microstructural
a b Before F2 T2
factors are size and morphology of prior b grains and width of a
35.33 100 96 99 87
and b plates in FZ. Generally, the size and morphology of these
38.6 002 50 51 54
39.65 110 30 12 29 grains depend on heat input and heat transfer. Therefore, in order
40.47 101 489 501 495 to keep the grains small, it needs to keep the heat input as mini-
53.29 102 69 59 52 mum as possible. When heat input of the GTAWed samples in-
57.89 102 11 2 13 creased from 803 to 898, the size of prior b grains, a and b plate
63.72 110 19 21 18
width increased due to the slower cooling rate. This trend was
more pronounced in the FSWed samples, as seen from the quanti-
tative data.
For the samples welded by fusion welding, since a wide zone
in the FSW-F2 and F3. Furthermore, the full width half maximum around the fusion pool undergoes a temperature between the fu-
(FWHM) values (D2h) of a peaks related to the FSW-F2 weldments sion and b transformation temperature that experience grain size
(0.4) were bigger than those processed via GTAW-T2 (0.28) indi- growth in GTAW, an increase in the heat input expands this zone
cating the formation of a0 martensite that led to the broadening which has seriously harmful effects on the engineering properties.
of a reections possibly due to the overlapping. All in all, the specimen welded with 110 A has a more delicate
In case of fusion welding, it is quite well documented that structure, compared to that with 100 A.
GTAW produces a very coarse columnar b grains in the weld areas It should be born in mind that since GTAW is a fusion method,
that are originated during weld solidication [32,33]. From micro- the temperature is much higher than b phase transformation tem-
analysis studies, it can also be concluded that depends on the perature that makes HAZ larger than that of the FSWed samples.
amount of heat input and cooling conditions Widmansttten This can be easily evaluated with the Vickers microhardness mea-
plate-like or basketweave acicular with no a0 structure were surements. The data were obtained based on the distance from the
formed in the FZ of GTAW-T2 and T3 specimens, as provided in center of the SZ in FSW and FZ in GTAW in Fig. 11. Hardness values
Fig. 8b. The less heat input and consequently faster cooling rates of the SZ (HV  399) related to FSW-F1 and F2 was considerably
favor a more basketweave kind of microstructure as some authors more than that in the base metal (HV  305). Besides, the microh-
believe that basketweave is a ner form of Widmansttten mor- ardness results exhibit that the weld produced at 650 rpm rota-
phology [34,35]. In this study, T2 experienced faster cooling rate tional speed had the greatest values in SZ and least decrease in
(18.5 C s1) in the FZ than that of T3 (16 C s1) and as a result HAZ. Relatively large variations and scattering of the values in
M. Esmaily et al. / Materials and Design 47 (2013) 143150 149

Fig. 11. Vickers microhardness proles across the welds produced by FSW and GTAW techniques.

the SZs of the FSWed samples can be possibly attributed to the speed of 650 rpm. The high microshardenss values in the
transformation resulting from welding as well as the presence of FSWed samples can be attributed to the presence of mar-
martensitic phase nearby to the other and softer grains like b tensitic phase.
phase.
The results of microhardness of GTAW-T2 and T3 show that
weld metal zone had the highest hardness. For the specimen
References
welded with 100 A (T2) HV was 370 5 and for the specimen
welded with 110 A (T3), HV was around 364. The higher microh- [1] Boyer RR. An overview on the use of titanium in the aerospace industry. Mater
ardness values of the FSWed samples in compare to GTAWed weld- Sci Eng A 1996;213:10314.
ments can be also a sign of faster cooling rate and as a result more [2] Moiseyev VN. Titanium alloys: Russian aircraft and aerospace applications;
2006. p. 16980.
renement of the microstructure and formation of acicular mar- [3] Gil FJ, Ginebra MP, Manero JM, Planell JA. Formation of a-Widmansttten
tensite structure. structure: effect of grain size and cooling rate on the Widmansttten
morphologies and on the mechanical properties in Ti6Al4V alloy. J Alloy
Comp 2001;329:14252.
4. Conclusion [4] Sundaresan S, Janaki Ram GD, Madhusudhan Reddy G. Microstructural
renement of weld fusion zones in alphabeta titanium alloy using pulsed
A Ti6Al4V alloy was welded in butt joint condition through a current welding. Mater Sci Eng A 1999;262:88100.
[5] Gurappa I. Characterization of titanium alloy, Ti6Al4V for chemical, marine
solid state (FSW) and a fusion method (GTAW) and the processed and industrial applications. Mater Charact 2003;51:1319.
microstructures were characterized. The main conclusions drawn [6] Mishra RS, Ma ZY. Friction stir welding and processing. Mater Sci Eng R
from this study are as follows: 2005;50:178.
[7] Thomas W, Nicholas ED, Needham JC, Murch M, Temple-Smith P, Dawes C.
Improvements relating to friction welding. US Patent 0 615 480 B1; 1991.
(1) Optimization of parameters, to produce sufcient heat input [8] Rhodes CG, Mahoney MW, Bingel WH, Spurling RA, Bampton CC. Effects of
and awless joints of Ti6Al4V alloy, were done by means friction stir welding on microstructure of 7075 aluminum. Scr Mater
1997;36:6975.
of NDT and the results are summarized as follows: rotational [9] Liu G, Murr LE, Niou CS, McClure JC, Vega FR. Microstructural aspects of the
speed between 650 and 750 rpm (with a travel speed of friction-stir welding of 6061-T6 aluminum. Scr Mater 1997;37:35561.
110 mm/min) for FSW and current of 100 and 110 A for [10] Park HS, Kimura TK, Murakami T, Nagano, Nakata YK, Ushio M. Microstructure
and mechanical properties of friction stir welds of 60%Cu40%Zn copper alloy.
GTAW process.
Mater Sci Eng A 2004;37:11609.
(2) Among all defect-less weldments, microstructure of the [11] Song KH, Nakata K. Effect of precipitation on post-heat-treated Inconel 625
samples welded at rotational speed of 650 rpm in FSW and alloy after friction stir welding. Mater Des 2010;31:29427.
the one welded with 100 A in GTAW were ner in size. [12] Mironov S, Sato YS, Kokawa H. Development of grain structure during friction
stir welding of pure titanium. Acta Mater 2009;57:451927.
(3) A bi-modal microstructure was achieved at welding temper- [13] Richter-Trummer V, Suzano E, Beltro M, Roos A, dos Santos JF. Inuence of the
atures below the b transus temperature via FSW process. FSW clamping force on the nal distortion and residual stress eld. Mater Sci
However, introducing less heat input gave rise to the forma- Eng A 2012;538:818.
[14] Balasubramanian M, Jayabalan V, Balasubramanian V. Effect of pulsed gas
tion of tungsten reach inclusions and other tool debris in the tungsten arc welding on corrosion behavior of Ti6Al4V titanium alloy. Mater
SZ. Des 2008;29:135963.
(4) By increasing the rotational speed to 650 rpm and as a [15] Lin YC. Elucidation of microstructure and wear behaviors of Ti6Al4V
cladding using tungsten boride powder by the GTAW method. J Coat
result more heat input (So that Tstir zone > b-transus temper- Technol Res 2011;8:24753.
ature) and also the presence of noticeably faster cooling [16] Balasubramanian TS, Balakrishnan M, Balasubramanian V, Muthumanickam
rates, compare to GTAW weldments, a0 martensite struc- MA. Inuence of welding processes on microstructure, tensile and impact
properties of Ti6Al4V alloy joints. Trans Nonferr Met Soc China
ture were detected in the SZ of the FSWed samples. This 2011;21:125362.
statement conrmed by three evaluation methods; (i) [17] Zhou W, Chew KG. Effect of welding on impact toughness of butt-joints in a
TEM observation, (ii) calculating the cooling rate and com- titanium alloy. Mater Sci Eng A 2003;347:1805.
[18] Zhou L, Liu HJ, Liu QW. Effect of rotation speed on microstructure and
paring with a previously reported CCT diagram, and (iii)
mechanical properties of Ti6Al4V friction stir welded joints. Mater Des
XRD patterns. 2010;31:26316.
(5) From microhardness results, it can be derived that remark- [19] EN ISO 5817: 2003. Arc-welded joints in steel, nickel and nickel alloys,
ably broader FZ and HAZ were excited in the GTAW than titanium and titanium alloys (except electron beam welds) guidance on
quality levels for imperfections.
FSWed samples. Besides, the highest HV with 399 3 mea- [20] Frigaard O, Grong , Midling OT. A process model for friction stir welding of
sured in the specimen welded by FSW method at rotational age hardening aluminium alloys. Metall Mater Trans A 2001;32:1189200.
150 M. Esmaily et al. / Materials and Design 47 (2013) 143150

[21] Mahoney MW, Mishra RS. Friction stir welding and processing. ASM [31] Poorhaydari K, Patchett BM, Ivey DJ. Estimation of cooling rate in the welding
International; 2007 [Chapter 2]. of plates with intermediate thickness. Weld J 2005;84:149S55S.
[22] Roy GG, Nandan R, DebRoy T. Dimensionless correlation to estimate peak [32] Wang F, Williams S, Rush M. Morphology investigation on direct current
temperature during friction stir welding. Sci Technol Weld Join pulsed gas tungsten arc welded additive layer manufactured Ti6Al4V alloy.
2006;11:6068. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 2011;57:597603.
[23] Weixin Y, Miaoquan L, Jiao L. Effect of processing parameters on [33] Balasubramanian TS, Balasubramanian V, Muthumanikkam MA. Effect of
microstructure and mechanical properties in high temperature deformation welding processes on fatigue properties of Ti6Al4V alloy joints. Int J Mech
of Ti6Al4V alloy. Rare Met Mater Eng 2009;38:1924. Mater Eng 2010;5:1809.
[24] Zhou L, Liu HJ. Effect of 0.5 wt.% hydrogen addition on microstructural [34] Miller H, Chen RT, Starke EA. Microstructure, creep and tensile deformation in
evolution of Ti6Al4V alloy in the friction stir welding and post-weld Ti6AI2NbITa08Mo. Metall Trans A 1987;18:145168.
dehydrogenation process. Mater Charact 2011;62:103641. [35] Pederson R. The microstructures of Ti6Al4V and Ti6Al2Sn4Zr6Mo and
[25] Weinberger T, Enzinger N, Cerjak H. Microstructural and mechanical their relationship to processing and properties. PhD thesis, Lule University of
characterization of friction stir welded 15-5PH steel. Sci Technol Weld Join Technology, Lule, Sweden; 2004 [ISSN: 1402-544].
2009;14:2105. [36] Akman E, Demir A, Canel T, elik T. Laser welding of Ti6Al4V titanium alloys. J
[26] Khan MI, Kuntz ML, Su P, Gerlich A, North T, Zhou Y. Resistance and friction stir Mater Process Technol 2009;209:370513.
spot welding of DP600: a comparative study. Sci Technol Weld Join [37] Zhang S, Lin X. Inuence of heat treatment on the microstructure and
2007;12:17582. properties of Ti6Al4V titanium alloy by laser rapid forming. Rare Met Mater
[27] Liyanage T, Kilbourne L, Gerlich AP, North TH. Joint formation in dissimilar Al Eng 2007;36:12636.
alloy/steel and Mg alloy/steel friction stir spot welds. Sci Technol Weld Join [38] Barreda JL, Azpiroz X, Irisarri AM. Inuence of the ller metal on the
2009;14:5008. mechanical properties of Ti6Al4V electron beam weldments. Vacuum
[28] Sorensen CD, Nelson TW. Friction stir welding of ferrous and nickel alloys. In: 2010;85:105.
Mishra RS, Mahoney MW, editors. Friction stir welding and processing, vol. [39] Lutjering G. Inuence of processing on microstructure and mechanical
6. ASM International; 2007. p. 11121. properties of (a + b) titanium alloys. Mater Sci Eng A 1998;243:3245.
[29] ASM Titanium Alloys. Materials properties handbook. ASM, International; [40] Lee DG, Lee S, Lee CS, Hur S. Effects of microstructural factors on quasi-static
1994. p. 483619. and dynamic deformation behaviors of Ti6Al4V alloys with Widmansttten
[30] Ahmed T, Rack H. Phase transformations during cooling in a + b titanium structures. Metall Trans A 2003;34A:254154.
alloys. Mater Sci Eng A 1998;243:20621.

Вам также может понравиться