Rising demand for improved fuel economy and structural efficiency are the key factors for use of aluminum alloys for light weighting in aerospace industries. Precipitation strengthened 2XXX and 7XXX aluminum alloys are the key aluminum alloys used extensively in aerospace industry. Welding and joining is the critical step in manufacturing of integrated structures. Joining of precipitation strengthened aluminum alloys using conventional fusion welding techniques is difficult and rather undesirable in as it produces dendritic microstructure and porosities which can undermine the structural integrity of weldments. Friction stir welding, invented in 1991, is a solid state joining technique inherently benefitted to reduces the possibility of common defects associated with fusion based welding techniques. Weldability of various 2XXX and 7XXX aluminum alloys via friction stir welding was investigated. Microstructural and mechanical property evolution during welding and after post weld heat treatment was studied using experimental techniques such as transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, hardness testing, and tensile testing. Various factors such as peak welding temperature, cooling rate, external cooling methods (thermal management) which affects the strength of the weldment were studied. Post weld heat treatment of AL-Mg-Li alloy produced joint as strong as the parent material. Modified post weld heat treatment in case of welding of Al-Zn-Mg alloy also resulted in near 100% joint efficiency whereas the maximum weld strength achieved in case of welds of Al-Cu-Li alloys was around 80-85% of parent material strength. Low dislocation density and high nucleation barrier for the precipitates was observed to be responsible for relatively low strength recovery in Al-Cu-Li alloys as compared to Al-Mg-Li and Al-Zn-Mg alloys.

Yes / The performance of the modified friction stir clinched and friction stir spot welded joints of AA5754-O and AA2024-T3 Al alloy was improved by investigating the impact of material flow influencing parameters such as material positioning and tool rotational speed on the microstructure, mechanical and fracture behaviors of the joints. The results reveal that the positioning of a harder material (AA2024-T3) as the upper plate induces higher peak temperatures in the friction stir clinched (500 °C) and friction stir spot welded (475 °C) joints. This positioning favors inter-material mingling, grain coarsening with inherent higher dislocation density and tangles, and improved tensile failure loads in the AA2024-T3/AA5754-O joint than the AA5754-O/AA2024-T3 joint. The formation of partial weld-center defect declines in the AA2024-T3/AA5754-O at low tool rotational speed due to the better local heat build-up and geometric-differential flow effect in comparison with the AA5754-O/AA2024-T3 counterparts. The positioning of harder Al alloy on the top of a soft Al alloy is thus recommended for the improvement of modified friction stir clinched joints.

Out of the known aerospace metal and alloys, Aluminium (Al) and Titanium (Ti) are important due to their unique combination of properties, such as strength, ductility and corrosion resistance etc. For these reasons, welding of these two materials, especially in the butt and lap configuration, has a significant impact for structural applications. However, welding of Al to Ti is a challenge due to wide differences in their physical properties and properties of the brittle intermetallic that are formed. Such problems in Ti-Al weld can be minimized if the temperature of welding is reduced. Therefore, many solid-state welding processes have been introduced for this system in the past few decades. Amongst these processes, Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is among the most appropriate for dissimilar materials in the butt and lap configuration, as this process involves lower temperature of processing. The present thesis is an attempt to address the issues pertaining to the friction stir welding of commercially pure Al and Ti. Though these commercially pure materials are seldom used in actual applications, where alloys such as Ti-6Al-4V and Al 2219 (and their variants) are used, this work is done to get a fundamental understanding of the underlying mechanisms during Friction Stir Welding (FSW). The study has been extended to the effect of using a thin strip of other metallic materials between Al and Ti. These inserts are likely to play a role in the formation of intermetallic and control the after effects of the formation of these intermetallic. Two metals have been chosen for this purpose, namely Zinc (Zn) and Niobium (Nb). The thesis has 8 chapters that attempts to systematically understand the process of FSW of cp-Al to cp-Ti. In Chapter 1 of the thesis, the FSW process is introduced with an emphasis on important parameters that control the welding process. In addition, a brief introduction of Al-Ti binary system is also given. Literature related to conventional solid state welding processes and friction stir welding process is presented in Chapter 2. In this chapter, previous works on the FSW of various materials is reviewed, with more emphasis on welding of aluminium to titanium. At the end of the chapter the scope and motivation of the present investigation has been outlined Chapter 3 includes the experimental details involved in the present study. In addition to the details of the processes and various characterization techniques used in the present investigation, the basic principles involved in various techniques, names as X-ray tomography, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Electron Back-Scattered Diffraction (EBSD), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Electron Probe Micro-Analysis (EPMA) have also been given. Micro-hardness and tensile tests results are also reported in this chapter. A detailed study on FSW of Al and Ti is presented in chapter 4 of the thesis. The effect of process parameters on the evolution of microstructure and mechanical properties has been reported. A bottom-up approach on experimentally determining the “process window” is presented. The results emphasises on the distribution of titanium fragments and intermetallic particles in the nugget zone and their influence on mechanical properties of the weld. The microstructural evolution in the matrix is also detailed. The most noteworthy observation is substantial grain refinement in the nugget zone due to the presence of fine fragments of titanium and intermetallic. Cross-tensile tests of the samples welded under the optimised conditions fail in the retreating side of the aluminium material and has strength more than the parent material. The last section in this chapter deals with thermal stability of the microstructures. Chapter 5 deals with the use of Zn as interlayer between Al and Ti. The microstructural evolution and its effect on the mechanical properties have been examined. The investigations clearly show that FSW of Al and Ti with Zn interlayer has superior mechanical properties compared to Al-Ti welds without interlayer. The resulting microstructure has a better thermal stability. The use of Nb as interlayer has been studied in chapter 6. The microstructural investigation of the nugget zone reveals that Nb interlayer does not readily form solid solution with any of the base materials and Nb gets distributed more heterogeneously compared to Ti itself. This has led to a reduction in the strength of the weld, however, the ductility increases The thermal stability of the microstructure is poor compared to FSW of Al to Ti with Zn interlayer. In chapter 7, salient features of the different micro-mechanism operating during FSW of the investigated combinations has been discussed in detail. Finally, the outcome of the thesis has been summarized and scope for future investigation is outlined in chapter 8.

Magnesium alloys are the lightweight structural materials with high strength to weigh ratio that permits their application in fuel economy sensitive automobile industries. Among the several flavors of of Mg-alloys, precipitation hardenable Mg-rare earth (RE) based alloys have shown good potential due to their favorable creep resistance within a wide window of operating temperatures ranging from 150°C to 300°C. A key aspect of Mg-RE alloys is the presence of precipitate phases that leads to strengthening of such alloys. Several notable works, in literature, have been done to examine the formation of such precipitate phases. However, there are very few studies that evaluated the effect stress induced deformation on the precipitation in Mg-RE alloys. Therefore, the objective of this work is to examine influence of deformation on the precipitation of Mg-Nd based alloys. To address this problem, precipitation in two Mg-Nd based alloys, subjected to two different deformation conditions, and was examined via transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atom probe tomography (APT). In first deformation condition, Md-2.6wt%Nd alloy was subjected to creep deformation (90MPa / 177ºC) to failure. Effect of stress-induced deformation was examined by comparing and contrasting with precipitation in non-creep tested specimens subjected to isothermal annealing (at 177ºC). In second condition, Mg-4.0Y-3.0Nd-0.5Zr (wt %) or WE43 alloy (with comparable Nd content as model Mg-Nd system) was subjected to hot rolling deformation at a sub-solvus temperature.

Joining two dissimilar metals, specifically Mg and Al alloys, using conventional welding techniques is extraordinarily challenging. Even when these alloys are able to be joined, the weld is littered with defects such as cracks, cavities, and wormholes. The focus of this project was to use friction stir welding to create a defect-free joint between Al 2139 and Mg WE43. The stir tool used in this project, made of H13 tool steel, is of fixed design. The design included an 11 mm scrolled and concave shoulder in addition to a 6 mm length pin comprised of two tapering, threaded re-entrant flutes that promoted and amplified material flow. Upon completion of this project an improved experimental setup process was created as well as successful welds between the two alloys. These successful joints, albeit containing defects, lead to the conclusion that the tool used in project was ill fit to join the Al and Mg alloy plates. This was primarily due to its conical shaped pin instead of the more traditional cylindrical shaped pins. As a result of this aggressive pin design, there was a lack of heat generation towards the bottom of the pin even at higher (800-1000 rpm) rotation speeds. This lack of heat generation prohibited the material from reaching plastic deformation thus preventing the needed material flow to form the defect free joint.

The objective of the report is to investigate the feasibility and reliability of additive friction stir manufacturing of 7055 aluminum alloy. This is a technique in which multiple lap welds are performed to create a three-dimensional part out of relatively thin plate aluminum. To accomplish this, a four inch stack of 7055 aluminum alloy lap welds must be created. The solid weld nugget is then machined out of the center of the welded stack to create ASTM approved subsize tensile coupons. Rockwell hardness, yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and percent elongation information is gathered from the tensile coupons to investigate the effectiveness of the additive friction stir manufacturing process. The data shows that the additive manufactured material experiences a significant reduction in strength and percent elongation while not showing any significant response to heat treatment. Suggestions are made regarding possible changes to the weld schedule that could improve the material properties of the additive manufactured aluminum.

<p>Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a new technology which joins materials by using frictional heat. Inthe first part of this thesis, a profound literature study is performed. The basic principles, therobotic implementation and possibilities to use FSW for high strength titanium alloys areexamined. In the next phase, a FSW-tool is modelled and implemented on an industrial robot in arobot simulation program. Reachability tests are carried out on car body parts and jet engineparts. By using a simulation program with embedded collision detection, all possible weldinglocations are determined on the provided parts. Adaptations like a longer FSW-tool and amodified design are suggested in order to get a better reachability. In different case studies, thenumber of required robots and the reduction of weight and time are investigated and comparedto the current spot welding process.</p>

This dissertation presents the results of an investigation into the corrosion resistance of friction stir welding (FSW) for aerospace structures. Two of the most common aerospace aluminum alloys, 2024 and 7075, were investigated. In the as-welded condition, both alloys were found to be highly susceptible to exfoliation corrosion, and 7075 was found to be susceptible to stress corrosion cracking as well. The goal of this research was to identify proper initial temper selection and postweld aging treatments for enhancing the corrosion resistance of both 2024 and 7075 alloys, and their dissimilar joints. A large number of heat treatments were investigated for 7075 in the T6 and T73 tempers, including retrogression re-aging (RRA). Heat treatments were also investigated for 2024-T3 and 2024-T81. Samples were evaluated for resistance to exfoliation corrosion using optical microscopy. Microhardness, electrical conductivity, tension, and fatigue crack propagation tests were also performed on the samples. Beneficial heat treatments were found for both alloys as well as for their dissimilar joints. / "December 2005." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a new technology which joins materials by using frictional heat. Inthe first part of this thesis, a profound literature study is performed. The basic principles, therobotic implementation and possibilities to use FSW for high strength titanium alloys areexamined. In the next phase, a FSW-tool is modelled and implemented on an industrial robot in arobot simulation program. Reachability tests are carried out on car body parts and jet engineparts. By using a simulation program with embedded collision detection, all possible weldinglocations are determined on the provided parts. Adaptations like a longer FSW-tool and amodified design are suggested in order to get a better reachability. In different case studies, thenumber of required robots and the reduction of weight and time are investigated and comparedto the current spot welding process.

In this study, a novel technique was used to produce aluminum based in situ composites from powder mixtures of Al and CeO2. This technique has combined hot working nature of friction stir processing (FSP) and exothermic reaction between Al and oxide. Billet of powder mixtures was prepared by the use of conventional pressing and sintering route. The sintered billet was then subjected to multiple passages of friction stir processing (FSP). The microstructure was characterized by the use of TEM, SEM and XRD. The reinforcing phases were identified as Al11Ce3 and £_*-Al2O3. The Al2O3 particles with an average size of ~10 nm are uniformly distributed in the aluminum matrix, which has an average grain size about 390-500 nm. The analysis of TEM indicated that these Al2O3 particles exhibit crystallographic orientation relationship with the aluminum matrix, i.e., (223)£_*-Al2O3//(111)Al and [1-10]£_*-Al2O3 roughly parallel to [1-10]Al. The precipitates of Al2O3 exhibiting crystallographic orientation relationship with the aluminum clearly indicates that they were formed from solid state precipitation. Apparently, significant supersaturation of oxygen in aluminum had been created in FSP, and nanometric Al2O3 particles were then precipitated uniformly in the aluminum matrix. This study shows that both sintering temperature and the tool traversing speed used in FSP have significant influence on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the composite. The composites produced exhibit high strength both at ambient and elevated temperatures. For example, the composite produced by 833K sintering followed by FSP with tool traversing speed of 30 mm/min possesses enhanced modulus (E = 109 GPa) and strength (UTS = 488 MPa) as well as a tensile ductility of ~3%. The major contributions to the high strength of the composite are the submicrometer grain structure of aluminum matrix and the Orowan strengthening caused by the fine dispersion of nanometer size Al2O3 particles inside aluminum grains. In addition, the composite also exhibits high strength at elevated temperatures up to 773 K. The good thermal stability and high temperature strength of the composite may be attributed to the uniform dispersion of nanometric Al2O3 particles, which are very stable at elevated temperatures.