High-speed friction stir butt welding of 25.4 mm thick 7175-T79 aluminum alloy
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
This presents the first experimental demonstration of friction stir butt welding of 25.4 mm thick high-strength, precipitate-strengthened 7XXX aluminum alloy at a welding speed above 500 mm/min and penetration depth greater than 10 mm. Tool pin threads that terminate away from the shoulder region, helped mitigate nearby stress concentration during tool traversing, enabling a higher welding speed while avoiding pin fracture near shoulder. Two kinds of welds—one-sided with full penetration of the plate thickness and double-sided with partial penetration of the plate thickness—were conducted. Significant grain refinement (grain size 1.3 ± 0.8 µm) was evident at the junction of double-sided friction stir welding (FSW) compared to other regions of weld-nugget or base material. Cross-weld tensile testing with digital image correlation revealed high local strains at the junction of double-sided FSW before macro-yield. This strain concentration impeded the typical early necking on advancing/retreating sides of FSW joints, improving the yield strength of as-welded double-sided FSW by 20–24% over slow- to medium-speed one-sided FSW. In conclusion, the joint efficiency of as-welded, double-sided high-speed FSW was about 76% with respect to the base material’s ultimate tensile strength.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830; 71971
- OSTI ID:
- 2229624
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-184859
- Journal Information:
- Manufacturing Letters, Vol. 38; ISSN 2213-8463
- Publisher:
- Society of Manufacturing Engineers, ElsevierCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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