A numerical model of friction stir welding developed by T. DebRoy, R. Nandan, and others has been optimized to fit experimental data of eleven welds of 304L stainless steel at various weld feed rates and spindle speeds. Optimization was used to determine the values of five difficult-to-measure model parameters. The optimal parameter values were then correlated to the weld machine inputs. The mechanical efficiency and the coefficient of friction were not correlated with feed rate, spindle speed, or axial pressure. Tool slip was positively correlated with feed rate, negatively correlated with spindle speed, and not correlated with axial pressure. The heat partition factor was positively correlated with feed rate, negatively correlated with spindle speed, and negatively correlated with axial pressure. The heat transfer coefficient at the bottom face was positively correlated with feed rate, not correlated with spindle speed, and positively correlated with axial pressure. The above welds were instrumented with thermocouples at the mid-plane of the workpiece. Recently acquired three-dimensional temperature data indicates that the two-dimensionally optimized model does not sufficiently capture the thermal profiles in all three directions. However, optimizing the model to fit the three-dimensional data does not yield acceptable results either. Several potential sources for model improvement are identified, primarily the modeling of heat transfer at the bottom surface. It is shown that using a spatially-variable thermal contact resistance approach is more theoretically justifiable and yields better temperature predictions.

Constitutive laws commonly used to model friction stir welding have been evaluated, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and a new application of a constitutive law which can be extended to materials commonly used in FSW is presented. Existing constitutive laws have been classified as path-dependent or path-independent. Path-independent laws have been further classified according to the physical phenomena they capture: strain hardening, strain rate hardening, and/or thermal softening. Path-dependent laws can track gradients in temperature and strain rate characteristic to friction stir welding; however, path-independent laws cannot. None of the path-independent constitutive laws evaluated has been validated over the full range of strain, strain rate, and temperature in friction stir welding. Holding all parameters other than constitutive law constant in a friction stir weld model resulted in temperature differences of up to 21%. Varying locations for maximum temperature difference indicate that the constitutive laws resulted in different temperature profiles. The Sheppard and Wright law is capable of capturing saturation but incapable of capturing strain hardening with errors as large as 57% near yield. The Johnson-Cook law is capable of capturing strain hardening; however, its inability to capture saturation causes over-predictions of stress at large strains with errors as large as 37% near saturation. The Kocks and Mecking model is capable of capturing strain hardening and saturation with errors less than 5% over the entire range of plastic strain. The Sheppard and Wright and Johnson-Cook laws are incapable of capturing transients characteristic of material behavior under interrupted temperature or strain rate. The use of a state variable in the Kocks and Mecking law allows it to predict such transients. Constants for the Kocks and Mecking model for AA 5083, AA 3004, and Inconel 600 were determined from Atlas of Formability data. Constants for AA 5083 and AA 3004 were determined with the traditional Kocks and Mecking model; however, constants for Inconel 600 could not be determined without modification to the model. The temperature and strain rate combinations for Inconel 600 fell into two hardening domains: low temperatures and high strain rates exhibited twinning while high temperatures and low strain rates exhibited slip. An additional master curve was added to the Kocks and Mecking model to account for two hardening mechanisms. The errors for the Kocks and Mecking model predictions are generally within 10% for all materials analyzed.

Tooling reliability is critical to welding success in friction stir welding, but tooling fatigue is not well understood because it occurs in conditions that are often unique to friction stir welding. A fatigue study was conducted on a commonly used tooling material, H13 tool steel, using constant stress loading at temperatures between 300°C and 600°C, and the results are presented. A model is proposed accounting for temperature and stress effects on fatigue life, utilizing a two-region Arrhenius temperature model. A transition in temperature effect on fatigue life is identified. Implications of the temperature effect for friction stir welding suggest that tooling fatigue life dramatically decreases above 500°C and accelerated testing should be conducted below 500°C.

Modeling of friction stir welding (FSW) is challenging, as there are large gradients in both strain rate and temperature that must be accounted for in the constitutive law of the material being joined. Constitutive laws are most often calibrated using flow stresses from hot compression or hot torsion testing, where strain rates are much lower than those of the FSW process. As such, the current work employed a recently developed method to measure flow stresses in AA 2219-T67 at the high strain rates typical of FSW. These data were used in the development of a finite element simulation of FSW to study the effect of the new flow stress data on temperature, torque, and load predictions, compared to standard material models calibrated with hot compression or hot torsion data. It was found that load predictions were significantly better with the new material law, reducing the error with respect to experimental measurements by approximately 79%. Because heat generation during FSW is primarily a function of friction between the rapidly spinning tool and the workpiece, the choice of friction law, and associated parameters, were also studied with respect to FE model predictions. It was found that the Norton (viscoplastic) friction law was the most appropriate for modeling FSW, because its predictions were more accurate for both the transient and steady-state phases of the FSW plunge experiment. The postulated reason for the superior performance of the Norton law was its ability to account for temperature and rate sensitivity of the workpiece material sheared by the tool, while the Tresca limited Coulomb law favored contact pressure, with essentially no temperature or rate dependence of local material properties. The combination of the new flow stress data and the optimized Norton friction law resulted in a 63% overall reduction in model error, compared to the use of a standard material law and boilerplate friction parameters. The overall error was calculated as an equally weighted comparison of temperatures, torques, and forces with experimentally measured values.

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The historical success of friction stir welding (FSW) on materials such as aluminum and magnesium alloys is associated with the absence of melting and solidification during the solid-state process. However, commercial adoption of FSW on steels and other non-ferrous high-strength, high-temperature materials such as nickel-base and titanium-base alloys is limited due to the high costs associated with the process. In this dissertation, the feasibility of using an FSW approach to fabricate certain structural components made of nitrogen containing austenitic stainless steels that go into the vacuum vessel and magnetic systems of tokamak devices was demonstrated. The FSW weldments possessed superior application-specific mechanical and functional properties when compared to fusion weldments reported in the technical literature. However, as stated earlier, the industrial adoption of FSW on high temperature materials such as the ferrous alloys used in the present study is greatly limited due to the high costs associated with the process. The cost is mainly dictated by the high temperature FSW tools used to accomplish the weldments. Commercially available high temperature FSW tools are exorbitantly priced and often have short lifetimes. To overcome the high-cost barrier, we have explored the use of integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) combined with experimental prototyping validation to design next-generation tool materials with high performance and relatively low cost. Cermet compositions with either tungsten carbide or niobium carbide as the hard phase bonded by high entropy alloy binders were processed via mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering. The feasibility and effectiveness of the newly developed cermet tool materials as potential next generation high temperature FSW tool materials was evaluated.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

A soldagem por fricção (Friction Stir Welding - FSW) é um processo eficiente de unir ligas de alumínio de alta resistência evitando defeitos que são usualmente criados quando técnicas convencionais de soldagem são utilizadas. A indústria aeronáutica tem mostrado grande interesse neste método de soldagem, tanto para a união de ligas similares como dissimilares. Entretanto, este processo causa modificações microestruturais dependentes das condições de tratamento térmico ou termomecânico. Contato elétrico entre zonas de microestruturas diferentes, por sua vez, pode resultar em acoplamento galvânico. No presente estudo, a soldagem por FSW foi usada para unir duas ligas de alumínio dissimilares, AA2024-T3 e AA7475-T651 e o efeito desta soldagem na resistência à corrosão das juntas soldadas e na microestrutura das ligas foi avaliada. Na investigação da resistência à corrosão foram utilizados ensaios eletroquímicos, especificamente, medidas de potencial de circuito aberto (OCP) em função do tempo de exposição ao meio corrosivo, ensaios de polarização e de espectroscopia de impedância eletroquímica, global (EIS) ou local (LEIS), em duas soluções, seja 0,1 M Na2SO4 ou 0,1 M Na2SO4 + 1 mM NaCl. Os ensaios eletroquímicos evidenciaram efeito de acoplamento galvânico nas juntas soldadas. A caracterização microestrutural foi realizada por microscopia ótica, microscopia eletrônica de varredura, microscopia eletrônica de transmissão e por calorimetria diferencial. As zonas afetadas pela solda tiveram importantes modificações na microestrutura indicadas pela precipitação e dissolução de precipitados que afetam a resistência à corrosão localizada. A resistência à corrosão intergranular e a resistência à esfoliação das juntas soldadas também foram avaliadas e comparadas com as das ligas AA2024-T3 e AA7475-T651 não soldadas. Os resultados mostraram aumento da suscetibilidade das juntas soldadas a estas formas de corrosão em comparação com as ligas não soldadas sendo observado ataque mais severo na liga AA7475-T651. A identificação das áreas anódicas e catódicas resultantes do acoplamento galvânico nas juntas soldadas foi realizada por teste que consistiu na deposição de camada de gel (ágar-ágar) com indicador universal na superfície das ligas soldadas. A liga AA2024-T3 atuou como cátodo, enquanto a AA7475-T651, como ânodo no par galvânico. Além disso, evolução de hidrogênio foi observada na região de interface entre a zona termomecanicamente afetada e a termicamente afetada da liga AA7475-T651 mostrando que reações catódicas também ocorreram localmente nesta última liga. Resultados de LEIS obtidos nas diferentes zonas das duas ligas soldadas por FSW mostraram acoplamento galvânico na interface entre elas para tempos curtos de ensaio e deslocamento da região mais ativa com o tempo de ensaio para a liga AA7475-T651, mais precisamente para a interface entre a zona termomecanicamente afetada e a térmicamente afetada desta liga. / Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is an efficient process of joining high strength aluminum alloys avoiding defects that are usually created when conventional welding techniques are used. The aircraft industry has shown great interest in this welding method, both for welding of similar or dissimilar alloys. However, this process causes microstructural changes that are dependent on the thermal or thermomechanical conditions applied. Electrical contact between zones of different microstructures, in turn, can result in galvanic coupling. In the present study, FSW was used to join two dissimilar aluminum alloys, AA2024-T3 and AA7475-T651 and the effect of this process on the corrosion resistance of the welded joints and on the microstructure of the alloys was evaluated. For corrosion resistance evaluation, electrochemical tests were used, specifically, open circuit potential measurements (OCP) as a function of time of exposure time to the corrosive environment, polarization tests, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, global (EIS) or local (LEIS), in two solutions, either 0.1 M Na2SO4 or 0.1M Na2SO4 + 1 mM NaCl. The electrochemical tests showed galvanic coupling effects in the welded joints. Microstructural characterization was carried out by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and differencial scanning calorimetry. The welded affected zones showed significant microstructural changes indicated by precipitation and dissolution of precipitates that affect the localized corrosion resistance. Intergranular and exfoliation corrosion resistance of the welded joints were also evaluated and compared to those of unwelded AA2024-T3 and AA7475-T651 alloys. The results showed increased susceptibility of welded joints to these forms of corrosion in comparison with the unwelded alloys with more severe attack associated to the AA7475-T651 alloy. Identification of anodic and cathodic areas due to galvanic coupling in the welded joints was evaluated by a test consisting in depositing a gel layer (ágar-ágar) with universal indicator on the surface of the welded alloys. The AA2024-T3 alloy worked as cathode, while the AA7475-T651 as anode in the galvanic coupling. Furthermore, hydrogen evolution was observed at the interface region between the thermomechanically affected zone and the heat affected alloy AA7475-T651 showing that cathodic reactions also occurred on this last alloy. LEIS results obtained in different zones of the two FSW welded alloys showed galvanic coupling at the interface between them for short test times and displacement of the most active region to the AA7475-T651 alloy, at longer periods of test, specifically to the interface between the thermomechanically affected and the heat affected zones of this last alloy.