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Keywords: Joining of TZM components by inertia rotary friction (IFW) welding is an established industrial process for
Refractory metals welding cross-sections up to 1500 mm2. Up-scaling to medium-size components up to 5000 mm2 in a direct drive
Molybdenum friction welding process requires a better understanding of the influencing factors of the weld procedure, e.g.
TZM machine parameters, weld preforms, and the clamping system. Based on the existing IFW process for TZM tubes,
Welding
welding parameters were transferred to tubular components of pure molybdenum (OD: 150 mm, ID: 130 mm,
Rotary friction welding
4400 mm2). Successful welds were produced showing a fine-grained, defect-free microstructure. However,
molybdenum proved to be more challenging than TZM. Particularly high upset rates and motor overload oc-
curred during the friction phase. Therefore, a study was carried out to reveal the underlying mechanisms with
small-size samples under laboratory conditions. It was shown that extensive plastic deformation of the entire
weld zone occurred due to higher thermal diffusivity and lower strength of molybdenum compared to TZM. This
high upset rate reduces the process window for a reproducible welding procedure significantly. In conclusion, a
concentrated energy input during the transition from friction to forge phase is required to countervail the high
thermal diffusivity of molybdenum. Based on these observations, the feasibility of friction welding of medium-
size molybdenum tubes will be discussed.
⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: markus.stuetz@tugraz.at (M. Stütz).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2018.02.004
Received 29 November 2017; Received in revised form 22 January 2018; Accepted 4 February 2018
Available online 06 February 2018
0263-4368/ © 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
M. Stütz et al. International Journal of Refractory Metals & Hard Materials 73 (2018) 79–84
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M. Stütz et al. International Journal of Refractory Metals & Hard Materials 73 (2018) 79–84
Fig. 1. (a) Input pressure course for Mo and TZM samples with indicated phases: Pre-heating, friction, and forging. (b) Friction speed was varied between 91% and 100% speed to adjust
weld energies.
almost constant specific weld energy. The more intense forge force
gradient resulted in sound joints (dashed line), but also in instable forge
conditions with an asymmetric weld flash and an angular misalignment
of the welding interface (triangle marks). The results show that rotary
friction welding of Mo is sensitive to small changes of the process
parameters. The parameter window for sound welds is small and poor
bonding or instable plastic deformation or instable forging may occur
easily. The specific weld energy has a significant influence on the upset
and weld quality, but the forge conditions (spindle deceleration and
forge force gradient) as well.
The TZM experiments were performed analogously to the Mo ex-
periments, but almost a twice as high level of friction- and forge pres-
sure (see Fig. 1) was required for successful welds due to the higher
strength of TZM in comparison to Mo. TZM shows a similar course of
the specific weld power as Mo with two distinct peaks (Fig. 6a). Fur-
thermore, lower weld speed results in lower weld energy and lower
upsets (Fig. 6b). Fig. 3. Medium-size friction welded Mo-tube (OD: 150 mm, ID: 130 mm).
TZM allows a larger variation of welding parameters compared to
Mo to produce good welds. It was possible to vary the friction pressure,
TZM welds. A sound weld zone and flash formation is observed in the
force gradient, and spindle deceleration. The correlation between spe-
polished sections. The etched cross-sections show the typical micro-
cific weld energy and upset for TZM is shown in Fig. 7. Analogous to
structure of friction welded materials with the transition from severe
Mo, low specific energy resulted in upsets < 4 mm and insufficient
plastic deformation in the contact zone to the unchanged base material.
bonding of the welds. Very high specific weld energies caused up-
The elongation of the grains exhibits the direction of plastic flow [2].
sets > 12 mm and the process became instable due to excessive plastic
Fig. 8 also shows a hardness profile across the weld for (a) Mo and (b)
deformation. The experiments with TZM show that higher friction
TZM. The hardness profile shows no significant differences between the
pressures are required compared to Mo. Similar to Mo, the specific weld
base material and the weld zone.
energy may be suitable to compare welds with identical forge condi-
Fig. 9a and b shows light optical micrographs of the welded samples
tions. The alteration of force gradient and deceleration influence the
near the weld interface of Mo and TZM, respectively. The contact zones
resulting upset independently from specific weld energy.
of Mo and TZM (Fig. 9c and d) exhibit a fine-grained microstructure
Fig. 8 shows light optical micrographs of representative Mo and
caused by severe plastic deformation and recrystallization. Fig. 9e and f
Fig. 2. Welding parameters of Mo welding trial, pre-heated to 400 °C/900 min−1: (a) axial pressure, (b) weld speed, and (c) upset.
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M. Stütz et al. International Journal of Refractory Metals & Hard Materials 73 (2018) 79–84
Fig. 4. Influence of the weld speed (91%, 95%, and 100%) of Ø12 mm Mo samples on the (a) specific weld power and (b) upset (2.7 mm, 3.9 mm, and 5.2 mm).
Fig. 5. Influence of the specific weld energy on the upset of Ø12 mm Mo rods. Sound Fig. 7. Influence of the specific weld energy on the upset of Ø9 mm TZM rods for different
joints were achieved with high spindle deceleration and low forge force gradient (solid weld parameters: low and high friction pressure, maximum forge force gradient, and
line) and partially with higher forge force gradients (dashed line). reduced braking gradient.
Fig. 6. Influence of the welding speed (91%, 95%, and 100%) of Ø9 mm TZM samples on the (a) specific weld power and (b) upset (3.9 mm, 5.4 mm, and 7.0 mm).
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M. Stütz et al. International Journal of Refractory Metals & Hard Materials 73 (2018) 79–84
(a) (b)
Fig. 8. Micrographs of friction welded (a) Mo (100% speed) and (b) TZM (100% speed). The left and right pictures show a polished and an etched cross-section, respectively. The position
of the hardness profiles is indicated by the white lines. The white boxes show the location of the details in Fig. 7 (see below).
exhibit grains oriented towards the direction of plastic flow. The mi- 3.3. Upset behavior of Mo and TZM
crostructure becomes coarser because strain and strain rate are lower
compared to the adjacent contact zone [2]. The laboratory experiments have shown that the process window
for sound welds is small for Mo and TZM. Particularly, Mo is sensitive to
high specific energies and high forge force gradients that cause high
(e)
(f)
(c)
(c)
(d
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
Fig. 9. Detail of the microstructure friction welded samples: Overview of (a) Mo and (b) TZM with details (c, d) of the contact zone with severe plastic deformation and (e, f) partly
deformed zone.
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M. Stütz et al. International Journal of Refractory Metals & Hard Materials 73 (2018) 79–84
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