The friction stir welding of steel has produced a hard zone in several different alloys. Despite its detrimental effects on weld toughness, the reasons behind neither its formation nor a method of reducing its size or effects have been explored. Recent advances in process control allow for direct heat input control, which combined with the use of backing plates of different thermal conductivity allows for an expansion of the process window. These control methods also affect the HAZ cooling rate by providing greater range (a 60% increase compared to a fixed backing plate) and control (five welds within 16 °C/s). This increased range produced microstructures consisting of various forms of ferrite at lower cooling rates and bainite at higher cooling rates. The hard zone was determined to be the result of the formation of the bainite at higher cooling rates and was avoided by keeping the cooling rate below 20 °C/s in HSLA-65.

In order to investigate the viability of friction stir welding for use in Naval construction, mode one elastic-plastic fracture toughness of friction stir processed HSLA-65 was determined using current ASTM 1820 and BS 7448 standards. Double-sided welds were used to achieve 12.7 mm thick samples. A constant feed rate of 100 mm/min was used for all welds. To explore the effect of weld parameters on toughness, welds were produced using two rotational speeds: 340 RPM and 490 RPM. The weld centerline, advancing side hardened region (ASHR), and TMAZ/HAZ regions were sampled, in addition to un-welded parent material. All elastic-plastic fracture toughness values were thickness dependent. For welds produced at 340 RPM, toughness ranged from 33% to 75% below parent material. By increasing the rotational speed to 490 RPM, weld toughness was likewise less than the parent material, but increased 12% to 50% relative to welds produced at 340 RPM. The lowest measured toughness was in the ASHR samples for both parameters. This region of the weld exhibited mixed mode stress-strain conditions and toughness 75% and 62% less than parent material. Toughness values for all samples failed to meet qualification requirements of both ASTM 1820 and BS 7448 due to non-uniform crack extension. Irregular crack extension was caused by the through thickness change in tensile properties due to welding and the affect this had on the plastic zone size compared to the thickness. Increased weld toughness from 340 RPM to 490 RPM was attributed to microstructural differences as a result of increased rotational speed. In addition, higher crack extensions were observed in the second weld pass relative to the first for both rotational speeds. This was attributed to weld tempering of the first pass by the second. The ASHR samples exhibited the highest crack extensions. In this location, the weld microstructure consisted of Widmanstatten ferrite, a microstructure known to be detrimental to toughness.

HSLA-65 steel (6.4 mm thick) was friction stir welded at various welding speeds and spindle speeds. Varying weld parameters provided a range of heat inputs. Impact toughness was evaluated as a function of the different weld parameters and corresponding weld heat inputs. Charpy V-Notch (CVN) tests were conducted in parent material and at both the weld nugget centerline and heat-affected zone (HAZ) locations. The upper shelf CVN impact energy of the weld nugget was above that of the base metal for all weld parameters. The upper shelf impact toughness in the HAZ was largely unaffected by changing weld parameters. The nil-ductility transition (NDT) temperature in the weld nugget increased with increasing heat input. The toughness, with respect to the ductile-to-brittle transition, was negatively affected by the increase in heat input. The NDT temperature in the HAZ did not correlate with heat input. The microstructures and microhardness data were examined. Aspects of variation in the impact energy results were identified as the inhomogeneity of the weld microstructure and the placement of the V-notch. Weld nugget microstructures were more inhomogeneous than base metal. Hardness results showed varying values of hardness from the weld crown to the root, transversely across the weld, and longitudinally along the length. Variation due primarily to the inhomogeneity of the weld microstructure is compounded by the location of the V-notch.

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