Experimental investigation on mechanical and metallurgical properties of super duplex stainless steel joints using friction welding process

Friction welding is one of the most economical and highly practicable methods in joining similar and dissimilar metals. In this study, high-quality welds are produced in the super duplex stainless steel by continuous drive friction welding successfully. Design of experiment was done using central composite design of response surface methodology. In the present work, the microstructure and mechanical properties of friction welded super duplex stainless steel (UNS S32760) were examined. The base material has a microstructure consisting of the ferrite matrix with austenite islands. Ferrite content was analyzed through the phase analyzer software and found that it is in the range of 42–55% in all weld metals. The phases were further analyzed through X-ray diffraction method. All the weld metals have higher hardness than the base metals. Weld transverse tensile failures consistently occurred away from the weld zone and exhibit more hardness, yield and ultimate tensile strengths than the base material. The austenite content increases with nitrogen concentration. Nitrogen could enhance the yield stress and ultimately tensile strength of super duplex stainless steel. Secondary phase precipitation is not observed in the welded joint probably due to the shorter heating times.     

Efficient welding conditions in magnetic pulse welding process

This study investigates the experimental research of the appropriated conditions for the magnetic pulse welding of AA6060T6 tubular assembly. Some welding tests were performed with two process parameters: the charging voltage and the width of the air gap between the two parts to be welded. A torsion-shear test, associated with the material fracture surfaces observation, gives an insight about the appropriateness of the welding conditions. The failure mode of the destructive test gives a dimensional criterion of the weld that is used as weld quality. It appears that the voltage does not strongly affect the weld quality for a low gap. It is possible to find an optimal gap range giving a high weld length. When the gap is too small, it is necessary to increase the pressure on the flyer, and some cracks appear in the material. Similarly, when the gap is too large, the high impact energy damages the welded interface.     

In-Process Joint Strength Estimation in Pulsed Laser Spot Welding Using Artificial Neural Networks

Pulsed laser spot welding is used in the manufacture of many goods. Because weak joints can lead to product defects, it is important to monitor and control the joint strength precisely. This paper introduces a method to estimate the joint strength of spot welds during the welding process. A point infrared sensor is used to measure temporal radiation on the top face of the spot weld. Because variable measuring conditions affect the radiation power, a scale-free radiation feature is extracted from the measured radiation and used as a monitoring criterion. An artificial neural network (ANN) uses this feature to estimate joint strength. In experiments, significant welding parameters are varied within a controllable range, and 640 weld parts are used for ANN learning. The correlation coefficient between the estimated and measured strength is more than 0.98 for learned parts. Another 180 weld parts are used to appraise the efficiency of the learned ANN, and the mean square error of estimation is 0.78 kgf.     

Strength assessment using destructive testing on MIAB welded alloy steel tubes and subsequent techno-economical evaluation

In this study, an attempt is being made to determine the feasibility of Magnetically Impelled Arc Butt (MIAB) welding process for joining alloy steel tubes in pressure parts. In view of this, a specially made state of art MIAB welding unit (MD1) available at WRI, BHEL, Tiruchirappalli has been employed and adequate number of welding trials is conducted to weld alloy steel tubes of 6–7 mm thickness for boiler applications. The combination of a set of values provided as input is varied for each trial. The welding current and the welding time are divided into three and four stages respectively. For each trial, either the current in stage II is varied or the time for stage III is varied while maintaining the other input parameters constant. These trials are carried out mainly to develop an optimum window (working range) for the process parameters. Further, the strength of MIAB welded specimens are examined by subjecting the welded specimens to various destructive tests. It is observed that the weld region is stronger than the base metal in most of the cases.In the next part of the study, the characteristics of MIAB welded joints for T11 steel tubes are compared with those using flash butt welding and induction pressure welding that is presently employed for alloy steel tube joining in pressure parts. It is found that the manufacturing time and incurred cost per weld drastically reduces while simultaneously increasing the productivity. Hence, the feasibility of MIAB welding process for pressure part is established.     

Comparison of mechanical properties of pure copper welded using friction stir welding and tungsten inert gas welding

The objective of this research is to investigate the mechanical properties including bonding, tensile strength, and impact resistance of pure copper welded using friction stir welding (FSW) method and compare them with that of tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding. Micro-hardness tests are performed on pure copper, TIG welded copper and FSW welded copper to determine the effect of heat on the hardness of welded coppers. Tensile strength tests and notch tensile strength tests are performed to determine the mechanical properties of different weld process.In this experiment, it is found that the notch tensile strength and the notch strength ratio for FSW (212 MPa, 1.10) are significantly higher than those (190 MPa, 1.02) of TIG welding. For the impact tests, the weld zone and heat-affected zone energy absorption values for FSW (2.87 J, 2.25 J) are higher than those (1.32 J, 0 J) of TIG welding. XRD tests are performed to determine components of copper before and after welding process for TIG and FSW.     

Feasibility Study of 316L Stainless Steel for the Ultrasonic Consolidation Process

The viability of using 316L stainless steel in the ultrasonic consolidation process was examined in this work. Ultrasonic consolidation is an additive, free-form manufacturing process that employs ultrasonic welding and machining to form a part. The process ultrasonically joins layers of metal together by welding them one at a time. Once four layers of metal foil are welded together, welding is suspended and the system machines the part outline, and repeats this cycle until a component is completed. Experiments were conducted to determine the feasibility and processing parameters for ultrasonically welding stainless steel. Mechanical testing and optical microscopy were conducted. 316L stainless steel was successfully welded. Increasing welding amplitude and decreasing welding speed were the most effective way to increase weld peel strength. Unlike work in aluminum alloys, these experiments found no relationship between horn force and peel strength. Rough processing windows for ultrasonically welding 316L were identified.     

A method for double-sided friction stir spot welding

A rotating anvil similar to a pinless friction stir welding (FSW) tool can be applied to friction stir spot welding (FSSW) of thin metal plates. FSSW is a solid-state joining process that is currently being used by automotive manufacturers as an alternative to rivets and traditional resistance spot welding. The principal detractor of this process is the keyhole left by pin extraction, which can be detrimental to the weld strength. A pinless tool can be used to eliminate the keyhole. However, this approach is limited to joining thin sheet (≤1 mm). Using a rotating anvil with the FSSW process permits the joining of thicker cross sections, improves the mechanical strength of the spot weld and reduces the reaction forces on the spot welding frame. A numerical model of the process, tensile shear tests and macrosection analysis are used to evaluate the spot welds.Macrosection and numerical analysis reveals that the material flow between the pinless tool and rotating anvil is complex and unique to this process. It has been found that the use of a rotating anvil for FSSW is a viable means to create quality spot welds in thicker weldments.     

A comparative study on the effect of GTAW processes on the microstructure and mechanical properties of P91 steel weld joints

Modified 9Cr-1Mo (P91) steel is widely used in the construction of power plant components. In the present study, a comparative study on influence of activated flux tungsten inert gas (A-TIG), and gas tungsten arc (GTA) welding processes on the microstructure and the impact toughness of P91 steel welds was carried out. P91 steel welds require a minimum of 47 J during the hydrotesting of vessels as per the EN1557: 1997 specification. Toughness of P91 steel welds was found to be low in the as-weld condition. Hence post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) was carried out on weld with the objective of improving the toughness of weldments. Initially as per industrial practice, PWHT at 760 °C – 2 h was carried out in order to improve the toughness of welds. It has been found that after PWHT at 760 °C – 2 h, GTA weld (132 J) has higher toughness than the required toughness (47 J) as compared with A-TIG weld (20 J). The GTA weld has higher toughness due to enhanced tempering effects due to multipass welding, few microinclusion content and absence of δ-ferrite. The A-TIG weld requires prolonged PWHT (i.e. more than 2 h at 760 °C) than GTA weld to meet the required toughness of 47 J. This is due to harder martensite, few welding passes that introduces less tempering effects, presence of δ-ferrite (0.5%), and more alloy content. After PWHT at 760 °C – 3 h, the toughness of A-TIG weld was improved and higher than the required toughness of 47 J.     

铝锂合金焊缝大气腐蚀行为研究

目的研究铝锂合金搅拌摩擦焊焊缝在大气环境中的腐蚀行为。方法采用电化学极化法、质量增加法、扫描电子显微镜、三维体式显微镜几种不同的表征手段对铝锂合金搅拌摩擦焊焊缝在模拟海洋大气环境中的腐蚀行为进行研究。结果焊缝部位存在较为严重的应力腐蚀开裂现象,腐蚀电位比基体部位负移约0.05 V,腐蚀速率比一般基体部位明显增大。结论搅拌摩擦焊虽具有较多优点,在其他领域得到一定应用,但针对铝锂合金在海军飞机方向的应用存在缺陷,不能直接裸露使用。     

A tutorial on learning human welder's behavior: Sensing,modeling, and control

Human welder's experiences and skills are critical for producing quality welds in manual GTAW process. Learning human welder's behavior can help develop next generation intelligent welding machines and train welders faster. In this tutorial paper, various aspects of mechanizing the welder's intelligence are surveyed, including sensing of the weld pool, modeling of the welder's adjustments and this model-based control approach. Specifically, different sensing methods of the weld pool are reviewed and a novel 3D vision-based sensing system developed at University of Kentucky is introduced. Characterization of the weld pool is performed and human intelligent model is constructed, including an extensive survey on modeling human dynamics and neuro-fuzzy techniques. Closed-loop control experiment results are presented to illustrate the robustness of the model-based intelligent controller despite welding speed disturbance. A foundation is thus established to explore the mechanism and transformation of human welder's intelligence into robotic welding system. Finally future research directions in this field are presented.     

Metal-cored arc welding process for joining of modified 9Cr-1Mo (P91) steel

In the present work, metal-cored arc welding process was used for joining of modified 9Cr-1Mo (P91) steel. Metal-cored arc welding process is characterized by high productivity, slag-free process, defect-free weldments that can be produced with ease, and good weldability. Toughness is essential in welds of P91 steel during hydro-testing of vessels. There is a minimum required toughness of 47 J for welds that has to be met as per the EN1557:1997 specification. In the present study, welds were completed using two kinds of shielding gases, each composition being 80% Argon + 20% CO₂, and pure argon respectively. Microstructural characterization and toughness evaluation of welds were done in the as – weld, PWHT at 760 °C – 2 h and PWHT at 760 °C – 5 h conditions. The pure argon shielded welds (‘A2’ and ‘B2’) have higher toughness than 80% argon + 20% CO₂ shielded welds (‘A1’ and ‘B1’). Pure argon shielded welds show less microinclusion content with low volume fraction of δ-ferrite (<2%) phase. Themo-calc windows (TCW) was used for the prediction of equilibrium critical transformation points for the composition of the welds studied. With increase in post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) duration from 2 h to 5 h, there was increase in toughness of welds above 47 J. Using metal-cored arc welding process, it was possible to achieve the required toughness of more than 47 J after PWHT at 760 °C – 2 h in P91 steel welds.     

Geometry Regulation of Material Deposition in Near-Net Shape Manufacturing by Thermally Scanned Welding

This paper introduces a thermally scanned material deposition control method for near-net shape manufacturing of metal parts by welding. To eliminate thermal distortion and the required intermediate-layer milling steps, and to control the material structure, plasma arc scan welding under infrared pyrometry sensing regulates the temperature field by providing in-process heat treatment of the part. In laboratory tests, the material is simultaneously deposited by a gas metal arc welding torch, with monitoring of the weld profile by two laser stripe profilometers. These sensors provide measurements of the bead width for its feedback control by modulation of the wire feed. To compensate for measurement delays, real-time prediction by a deposition model is employed, with its parameters identified during the process. Preview of the geometric surface irregularities in front of the deposition is used as feedforward to ensure the desired layer deposition patterns in adjacent beads. The performance of this bead-size control scheme is assessed experimentally on a robotic laboratory station, and applications of the thermally scanned material deposition technique are explored in rapid manufacturing of customized metal products.     

Energy input during friction stir spot welding

Friction stir spot welding is performed on thin plates of an aluminum alloy. This paper presents the results on how the number of tool rotations affects the quality of the resulting spot weld. Different combinations of rotation rate and dwell time are investigated. A linear relationship was found to exist between the number of tool rotations completed during the spot weld and the resulting tensile shear strength. Spot welds that only completed 10 rotations were 177% stronger than those created at 50 tool rotations. The energy generated during the welding operation was quantified and also found to have a linear relationship with tensile shear strength. A modified open-loop position control system is proposed that monitors and limits the energy generated during friction stir spot welding by adjusting the dwell time.     

2219铝合金TIG焊缝激光冲击强化与腐蚀性能研究

目的 改善2219铝合金钨极氩弧焊焊缝的耐腐蚀性能。方法 采用激光冲击技术对焊缝进行强化处理,比较分析处理前后的表面残余应力、物相组成和元素状态,通过静态浸泡失重法和电化学试验测量腐蚀速率的变化。结果 经过激光冲击强化处理后,2219铝合金焊缝部位的元素状态没有改变,但焊缝区域的残余拉应力变为残余压应力。2219铝合金钨极氩弧焊接区域的自腐蚀电位明显下降,相比未经激光冲击处理的试件,焊核区和焊接过渡区的平均腐蚀电流分别减小了14%和12.7%,腐蚀速率分别减小了16.9%和12.9%。结论 激光冲击强化可以有效提升2219铝合金钨极氩弧焊焊缝区域的耐腐蚀性能,可以为提升特种装备安全性和轻量化提供技术参考。     

基于FAD的铝合金车体焊接缺陷安全性评价方法研究

目的确保高速列车运行安全,采用先进的方法和理论对焊接缺陷进行评定显得非常重要。方法采用断裂力学和有限元相结合的方法,建立车体全比例有限元模型。采用热弹塑性法对焊接残余应力进行有限元数值仿真。基于标准BS 7910提供的焊接缺陷评价方法,对焊接缺陷进行安全性评定。结果对车体带焊缝的有限元模型,依据BS EN12663标准施加车体所承受的载荷,获取焊缝关注点的应力转化所得到一次应力。根据关注点信息建立所在焊缝处的接头模型进行热弹塑性仿真模拟,从而获取该关注点残余应力数值及分布转化所得到二次应力。将焊接缺陷进行裂纹当量化,从而计算得到载荷比与应力强度因子比值,结合许用FAD曲线,对高速列车铝合金车体上焊缝关注点进行安全性评价。结论该方法对车体这种大型复杂焊接结构的安全性进行评价是可行的,并对焊接缺陷是否合于使用提出质量控制的建议。     

Analytical reconstruction of three-dimensional weld pool surface in GTAW

The reflective characteristic of mirror surfaces such as a liquid pool surface in arc welding makes many traditional 3D measurement/reconstruction methods fail. The authors proposed to intercept, image, and measure two points in each laser ray reflected from a mirror surface with two diffusive planes and cameras to analytically calculate the equation of the ray. The samples of the points on the mirror surface where the incident laser rays are reflected can thus be analytically calculated as the intersections of the reflection rays with the corresponding incident rays. In this paper, the proposed method is applied to reconstruct the samples on the specular three-dimensional weld pool surface in GTAW (gas tungsten arc welding). Since two diffusive planes are used and must be placed with considerable distance to assure the accuracy of the calculated equations of the reflected rays, focusing reflected laser rays on these two planes becomes an issue. A trade-off among the size of the projected laser pattern, the distances of the arc light with the two diffusive planes, the focus range of the laser rays and the quality of the reflected laser dot images on the diffusive planes has been made to resolve this issue successfully. Further, calibration errors in the locations of the diffusive planes directly affect the accuracy of the calculated equations of reflected rays and an accurate calibration appears to impractical. To resolve this issue, the authors found the least deformation principle and successfully applied it to minimize the calculation errors through calibration rectification. Several weld pool surfaces have been sampled and reconstructed and experimental results verified the effectiveness of the proposed analytical method.     

Numerical analysis of keyhole geometry and temperature profiles in plasma arc welding

In keyhole plasma arc welding (PAW), the formation of the keyhole involves complicated thermo-physical mechanism. The shape and dimensions of the keyhole directly determine the heat deposition along the thickness direction of the test plates, the penetration depth and the weld bead quality. Based on analysis of the forces acting on the weld pool, a keyhole model is established according to the force-balance condition on the keyhole wall. The shape and dimensions of quasi-steady state keyhole are numerically predicted. The keyhole shape and size are used to calibrate some distribution parameters of the combined volumetric heat source which takes into consideration the geometrical feature of welds with larger ratio of penetration depth to width and volumetric distribution characteristic of the plasma heat intensity along the plate thickness direction. The temperature fields on stainless steel plates are numerically simulated. The calculated fusion line at the transverse cross-section of PAW welds are compared with the experimental measurements. It is found that the predicted results are in agreement with the experimental data.     

油田用双金属机械复合管失效原因分析与对策

目的 分析研究双金属机械复合管的失效原因,并提出改进措施。方法 对比说明双金属机械复合管几种常见的典型制造方法及其优缺点,介绍应用中典型传统焊接工艺焊接的环焊缝腐蚀剌漏或穿孔、环焊缝开裂、内衬塌陷或鼓包以及爆管等常见的失效形式,利用现场应用的失效实例、统计数据和室内检测结果,分析这些失效类型的原因,并提出针对性建议或措施。结果 双金属机械复合管几种典型的制造方法各有优缺点,但其产品的内衬与基管的结合力均较小。造成其管材失效的主要原因有高压、高温、含CO2/Cl^–腐蚀介质、封焊结构、焊接工艺、外防腐层施工、应力腐蚀或电偶腐蚀等。根据现场应用实践,提出并应用了管端堆焊结构、环焊缝用镍基合金焊材、增加内衬厚度和小管径等防止失效的建议或措施,取得很好的防护效果。结论 造成此类管材失效的因素有腐蚀、封焊结构、焊接、外防腐施工及应力腐蚀或电偶腐蚀等,可采取堆焊结构、镍基合金焊材、厚衬层和小管径等措施。     

Metallurgical characterization of refrigeration tubing formed from plain carbon steel strip stock

Ball indentation hardness testing and metallography were used to investigate the metallurgical changes that occur during the manufacture and bending of plain carbon steel tubing for use in large-scale refrigeration equipment such as evaporative condensers and thermal storage coils. A significant increase in hardness occurred in going from flat strip starting material to creating the electrical resistance welded tubing that was subsequently bent to form coils. The weld region exhibited the greatest hardness. Metallographic examination revealed that the spheroidized ferritic microstructure of the flat strip was retained during welding. However, the accompanying heating did cause small grains to form and a significant rise in the number of carbide particles.