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Material Flow in Friction Stir Welds

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Abstract

Friction stir welding generates periodic features within the weld. These “onion ring” features are associated with variations in both texture and the orientation of that texture along the length of the weld. Analysis of an AA2195 friction stir weld reveals the presence of periodic oscillations between the dominant B and \( \overline{\text{B}} \) components of the ideal shear texture, suggesting a periodic reversal in the predominant shear orientation during welding that is inconsistent with current understandings of the friction stir welding process. Microstructural features present in the weld and machine force variations during welding indicate that these textures may arise from the oscillation of an off-centered tool. Such a tool oscillation can generate a periodic extrusion of material around the tool, giving rise to the observed flow features, machine force variations, and reversals of the local shear texture orientations. A new model of material flow during friction stir welding is proposed to explain the observed features.

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Acknowledgments

RWF, CRF, KEK, and DJR would like to acknowledge funding for this research from the Naval Research Laboratory under the auspices of the Office of Naval Research and from the Structural Metallics program of ONR. APR was partially supported by the NASA-Langley Research Center and the Center for Friction Stir Processing (an NSF I/UCRC). The authors would also like to acknowledge the valuable assistance of Leroy Levenberry, Helen Fonda, and Dr. Marie Cox.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Naval Research Laboratory, 4555 Overlook Ave., SW, Washington, DC, 20375, USA

    Richard Fonda (Section Head), C. R. Feng (Scientist), Keith Knipling (Scientist) & David Rowenhorst (Scientist)

  2. University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

    Anthony Reynolds (Professor)

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  1. Richard Fonda
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  2. Anthony Reynolds
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  3. C. R. Feng
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  4. Keith Knipling
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  5. David Rowenhorst
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Correspondence to Richard Fonda.

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Manuscript submitted May 23, 2012.

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Fonda, R., Reynolds, A., Feng, C.R. et al. Material Flow in Friction Stir Welds. Metall Mater Trans A 44, 337–344 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-012-1460-6

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