Proceedings of the National Conference on

Trends and Advances in Mechanical Engineering,

YMCA University of Science & Technology, Faridabad, Haryana, Oct 19-20, 2012
A STUDY OF RECENT TRENDS IN FRICTION STIR WELDING
Rajan1, Shailesh S. Sengar2, Jitender Kumar3
1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, YMCAUST Faridabad
2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, YMCAUST Faridabad
3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, YMCAUST Faridabad

Abstract
This paper deals with the fundamental understanding of friction stir welding process. Friction stir welding is
one of the most economical and highly efficient methods in joining similar and dissimilar metals. Most
commercial FSW applications use simple butt joint like circular cross section and alternative designs such as
T-sections, ɪ-section, triangular Geometry and corner welds are very rarely welded. The focus of this paper is on
mechanism of FSW, influence of parameters, heat generation in the process, understanding the deformation,
microstructure and the properties of similar and dissimilar welded materials. This review paper will cover
relevant published work conducted to date on FSW.

Keywords: FSW, LSW, FSSW, ERHAFW

1. Introduction
Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid state process for joining materials, especially dissimilar materials, which
involves generation of heat by the conversion of mechanical energy into thermal energy at the interface of the
work pieces without using electrical energy or heat from other sources during rotation under pressure.As a high-
quality, precise, high-efficiency, energy-saving and environmental- friendly technique, FW has been widely used
in the aerospace, shipbuilding, automobile industries and in many applications of commercial importance. Some
of the advantages over the conventional welding techniques are very low distortion, no fumes, porosity or
spatter, no consumables, no special surface treatment and no shielding gas requirements. Two important types of
friction welding is explained as follows:

2. Spin welding
Spin welding systems consist of two chucks for holding the materials to be welded, one of which is fixed and the
other rotating. Before welding one of the work pieces is attached to the rotating chuck along with a flywheel of a
given weight. The piece is then spun up to a high rate of rotation to store the required energy in the flywheel.
Once spinning at the proper speed, the motor is removed and the pieces forced together under pressure. The force
is kept on the pieces after the spinning stops to allow the weld to "set". This technique is also known as inertia
welding, rotational welding or inertial friction welding.

3. Linear friction welding

Linear friction welding (LFW) is similar to spin welding except that the moving chuck oscillates laterally instead
of spinning. The speeds are much lower in general, which requires the pieces to be kept under pressure at all
times. This also requires the parts to have a high shear strength. Linear friction welding requires more complex
machinery than spin welding, but has the advantage that parts of any shape can be joined, as opposed to parts
with a circular meeting point.

4. Mechanism of joint formation

In most of cases three stages are identified in friction welding. First stage occurs as the surface contact is made
at localized regions especially at surface irregularities and asperities. Due to the high local pressure during
rotation, surface films are broken down to reveal the parent metal and local hot spots are continuously formed
and destroyed. The second stage is characterized by steadily increasing power demand. At the start of this stage,
the temperature reaches its operating value and plastic deformation begins at the interface as indicated by ‘burn
off’ at the joint area. The third stage of the process begins when the rotating component is brought to rest and the
applied pressure is maintained or decreased to consolidate the weld. Rapid material displacement in joint region
causes diffusion at the interface, recrystallization and grain growth. During deceleration stage, the interface
undergoes hot working as identified by the rise in torque. This continues until such a point when the shear
strength of the interface equals to that of the material adjacent to it. The absolute value of the torque developed is
governed by the adjacent material, applied pressure and the speed of rotation.

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 Proceedings of the National Conference on
Trends and Advances in Mechanical Engineering,
YMCA University of Science & Technology, Faridabad, Haryana, Oct 19-20, 2012

Fig 1 A setup of friction welding [8]

5. Influence of process parameters

The important parameters associated with friction welding are 1) Rotational speed 2) Friction pressure 3)
Friction time. High axial pressure and low rotational speed produces a high rate of deformation and this results in
a short weld time. Low friction pressure or high rotational speed produces a relatively low rate of deformation.
The friction time is selected so as to ensure that the faying surfaces are cleaned by friction and the weld zone.
The optimum friction time for a given combination depends on material composition, dimensions, friction
pressure and rotational speed. When the friction time is too short, the heating effect could become irregular and
this results in lower bonding strength in some regions. Any heating time in excess of the optimum time will
reduce productivity and increases material consumption which leads to coarse grain structure.

6. Literature review
Electric-resistance-heat-aided friction welding (ERHAFW) [1] was introduced by Wen-Ya Li, Min Yu. This
technique is a combination of electric resistance welding with the conventional continuous-drive friction welding
and this employment helped in improving the joint quality and energy-saving. In this work, 21-4N (austenitic
stainless steel) and 4Cr9Si2 (martensitic stainless steel) valve steel rods of 4 mm diameter were used as base
metals. The results show that electric-resistance-heat-aided friction welding can be applied to join thin rods
within a relatively short time, which is very difficult for conventional friction welding (FW). The ERHAFW is
suitable for joining the thin rods of 4 mm diameter.

Experimental investigations on joint properties of brass plates by friction stir welding [2] was studied by Cemal
Meran. It is difficult to fusion welding of brasses. The main problem of these alloys in fusion welding is the
evaporation of the zinc during the welding process. The solution to this problem as investigated by him, lies in
recent methodology of friction stir welding. In this research, it was pointed out friction stir welding is capable of
especially brass plates which are 3 mm in thickness. He concluded that evaporation of zinc and copper which
makes welding more difficult disappears in friction stir welding because of not reaching to melting point of metal
during welding. In addition, mechanical properties of obtained weld joints were reach to base metal strength
level if suitable welding parameters are determined. Fractures usually occur either in heat affected zone or in
weld joint.

Investigations on the linear friction welding process through numerical simulations [3] was done by Livan
Fratini. LFW is a solid-state joining process applied to non-axis symmetric components and involves joining of
materials through the relative motion of two components undergoing an axial force. The force of friction
transformed into heat which cause local softening of material and the bonding occurs. In this paper process
conditions allowing effective bonding conditions were highlighted and local conditions of pressure and
temperature determining effective bonding of the specimens were determined. A dedicated prototype machine
has been designed and assembled in order to produce experimental test welds. Such conditions can be obtained
acting on the process parameters, namely the oscillation frequency of the specimens and the acted pressure. The
numerical model is able to effectively reproduce the process conditions. The subsequent stages and process

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 Proceedings of the National Conference on
Trends and Advances in Mechanical Engineering,
YMCA University of Science & Technology, Faridabad, Haryana, Oct 19-20, 2012
mechanics of the LFW operations were highlighted and effective bonding conditions were determined. Future
developments include the definition of a bonding criterion, taking into account the combined effects of
temperature and pressure, to be used for LFW processes.

A study on automatic gap detection in friction stir butt welding operations [4] was done by Yu Yang . A
common problem that arises when welding two sheets is the presence of a gap between the sheets. When the
FSW tool encounters a gap, material can possibly escape from the processing zone and the welded part’s
effective cross-sectional area around the gap will decrease. A monitoring algorithm was developed to detect gaps
in friction stir butt welding operations in real time. Experimental studies were conducted to determine the
process parameters (like tool rotation rate and tool traverse speed) and the gap width affect the welding process;
particularly, the plunge force. This paper will be useful in monitoring friction stir butt welding operations and in
performing intelligent control, where process parameters are varied when defects such as gaps are encountered. It
can also be used as a non-destructive evaluation technique that provides the operator with the location of a
possible defect. The monitoring algorithm developed in this paper can be modified for the detection of other
defects in FSW processes. One example is the initiation of wormholes that result in a sudden change in the
plunge force in the tool traverse direction.

An experimental study on friction welding of plastically deformed steel by [5] Mümin Sahin. An experimental set
up was designed and realized in order to achieve the friction welding of plastically deformed steel bars. The parts
of same and different diameters deformed plastically, but same material was welded with different process
parameters. The strengths of the joints were determined by tension tests. Variations in hardness and
microstructures in the welding zone were obtained and the effects of welding parameters on the welding zone
were investigated. This paper concluded that optimum welding parameters obtained from equal diameter parts
could not be used in welding of parts having different diameters and widths. The tensile strength of the joints
decreases with the increase in width. Increasing hardness due to rapid cooling decreases the strength because of
affecting notch. This was due to martensite structure that is a hard and brittle phase. Therefore, welded parts will
not be stronger. The weld strength of the joints is not affected prior plastic deformation due to two reasons. First,
plastic deformation in friction welding process is larger than the degree of prior plastic deformation. Secondly,
the effect of prior plastic deformation is removed in the welding zone due to high temperature in the welding
zone. As a result, plastically deformed steels can easily be applied by friction welding method.

A study on friction Stir Spot Welding of polymeric material [6] was done by Saeid Hoseinpour Dashatan. In
this paper the feasibility of friction Stir Spot Welding (FSSW) for two dissimilar polymers; polymethyl
methacrylate (PMMA) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) was investigated. An improved tool equipped
with two additional plates was used to make lap joint welded specimens. The effect of FSSW parameters on
mechanical properties of welded specimens was also studied. The process parameters were tool rotational speed,
tool plunge rate and dwell time. Signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance were utilized to obtain the
influence of process parameters on weld strength as a mechanical property. The study demonstrates that welding
of PMMA to ABS by friction stir spot welding was feasible and process parameters had a significant effect on
weld strength. The most effective parameter was found to be tool plunge rate. Main effect diagrams obtained by
statistical analysis had shown that weld strength was enhanced by increasing the dwell time while increasing the
tool plunge rate decreases weld strength. For tool rotational parameter, there was an optimum rotation speed at
which the joint strength reached a maximum value. As a result of macrostructure observations, three different
fracture modes were recognized through failure of lap-shear tests.

The joining with friction welding of high-speed steel and medium-carbon steel [7] was studied by Mumin Sahin.
In the experiments, high-speed steel and medium-carbon steel were used. Post-weld annealing was applied to the
joints . First, the optimum welding parameters for the joints were obtained. Later, the strengths of the joints were
determined by tension, fatigue and notch-impact tests, and results were compared with the tensile strengths of
materials. Then, hardness variations and microstructures in the post-weld of the joints were obtained and
examined. Then, obtained results were compared with those of previous studies. The tensile strength of the joints
increases together with the friction time and pressure, and it rises to maximum, but it decreases for more friction
time and pressure. The fatigue strength of the welded joints shows similar behavior like the tensile properties.
The impact properties of the welded joints that were obtained in the study were a little bit different from static or
fatigue loadings. In macro and microstructure examinations, decarburization zone in the welding of high-speed
steel and medium carbon steel occurs in the medium-carbon steel next to the weld during welding. Therefore,
this zone is the weakest link in the joint. But, its tensile strength is still comparable with that of the medium-
carbon steel parent metal.
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 Proceedings of the National Conference on
Trends and Advances in Mechanical Engineering,
YMCA University of Science & Technology, Faridabad, Haryana, Oct 19-20, 2012

7. Conclusion
From the study of notable works on friction stir welding following conclusions can be drawn. The drawback of
fusion welding is evaporation of zinc and copper which makes welding more difficult disappears in friction stir
welding because of not reaching to melting point of metal during welding. Tool geometry is very important
factor for producing sound welds Welding parameters, including tool rotation rate, traverse speed, spindle tilt
angle, and target depth, are crucial to produce sound and defect-free weld. In FSW the stirring and mixing of
material occurred only at the surface layer of the weld adjacent to the rotating shoulder Compared to the
traditional fusion welding, friction stir welding exhibits a considerable improvement in strength, ductility, fatigue
and fracture toughness Fatigue life of friction stir welds are lower than that of the base material,.

References
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[2] Cemal Meran-The joint properties of brass plates by friction stir welding, Materials and Design 27 (2006)
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[3] Livan Fratini, Gianluca Buffa, Davide Campanella, Dario La Spisa-Investigations on the linear friction
welding process through numerical simulations and experiments, Materials and Design 40 (2012) 285–291
[4] Yu Yang, Prabhanjana Kalya, Robert G. Landers, K. Krishnamurthy-Automatic gap detection in friction stir
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