X.W. Yang

Microstructure and mechanical behaviour of pinless friction stir spot welded AA2198 joints

In this study, pinless friction stir spot welding of 1.8 mm thick 2198-T8 aluminium–lithium alloy plates was carried out. The change of the angle between the nugget edge and the surface, and the relationship between this angle and joint mechanical property were analysed. The results show that the angle increases rapidly initially and then approaches 45°, which is due to the extrusion of nugget material and its flow along the surrounding ‘cold’ metal during welding. The tensile strength is determined by the nugget edge angle and hook defect. Tensile loads reach a higher value when the nugget edge angle approaches 45° but have a slight decrease with the hook angle changing from obtuse to acute. The maximum tensile/shear strength could be 8.57 kN at the rotation speed of 1500 rev min− 1 and the dwell time of 12 s.

Study of process/structure/property relationships in probeless friction stir spot welded AA2198 Al-Li alloy

Probeless friction stir spot welding (probeless FSSW) is a useful variant of conventional friction stir spot welding (FSSW), where there is no probe at the end of the tool shoulder. In this study, AA2198-T8 aluminum-lithium alloy has been successfully welded by probeless FSSW. The variations of geometric features of probeless FSSWed joints: stir zone width, stir zone edge angle and hook angle, and their effects on the joint mechanical properties were studied quantitatively. Results show that the width of stir zone is constrained by shoulder diameter, and the ratio of the width to shoulder diameter approaches 0.9. With the increase of stir zone depth, the stir zone edge angle approaches 45° eventually during the welding process. Additionally, the hook defect can be found among all of the probeless FSSWed joints due to the upward material flow of the lower sheet. When the hook angle is around 90°, the tensile/shear strength reaches a relatively higher value. The fracture mode changes from shear fracture to plug fracture when hook angle transforms from obtuse to acute.

Impact of surface state in probeless friction stir spot welding of an Al–Li alloy

ABSTRACT Sheets of AA2198 alloy with various surface conditions were welded with probeless friction stir spot welding (P-FSSW). Results show that the oxide layer on the original lap-weld surface produces continuously distributed oxide impurities at the interface of the P-FSSWed joint with a large amount of voids. The visual flow at the interface provides a persuasive explanation of local preferential abrasion. Following surface grinding, local abrasion increases with surface roughness and results in the dispersion of voids and oxides, which contributes to the improvement of metallurgical connection. The corresponding mechanical strength of the P-FSSWed joints shows a relatively significant increase, while the fracture mode remains affected by the hook defect regardless of the surface state.

Flow Behavior and Dynamic Recrystallization of BT25y Titanium Alloy During Hot Deformation

Abstract The high-temperature plastic deformation and dynamic recrystallization behavior of BT25y alloy were investigated within the deformation temperatures of 1,213–1,293 K and strain rates of 0.001–1.0 s–1 on a Gleeble-1500 thermo-mechanical simulator. Results showed that the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) mechanism played an important role in the hot deformation of BT25y alloy. Based on the regression analysis of the true stress–strain data, the stress exponent and deformation activation energy of BT25y alloy were calculated to be 3.4912 and 288.0435 kJ/mol, respectively. The θ-σ and dθ/dσ–σ curves were plotted to further obtain the critical stress and critical strain for the occurrence of DRX. Based on the analysis results, the DRX kinetic model was established. The model was validated by the comparison between predicted and experimental volume fraction of DRX. As the DRX evolution was sensitive to deformation temperature and strain rate, quantities of dynamically recrystallized grains appeared at higher temperatures and lower strain rates.