Initial Microstructural Evolution during Friction Stir Welding
Abstract
Friction stir welding (FSW) has become an important new technique for joining aluminum alloys. In FSW, a rotating tool is plunged into the solid metal, heating it sufficiently (without melting) that the surrounding metal can be "stirred" together into a solid joint. Despite the commercial success of this technique, many fundamental aspects of this welding process remain poorly understood. To address this lack of understanding, we have made the first-ever friction stir welds in a single crystal and quenched the end of the weld to "freeze-in" a static representation of the dynamic deformation field surrounding the tool. The single crystal starting material ensures that the FSW process is directly responsible for all the grain boundary generation and crystallographic texture evolution observed in the weld (except that from conventional recrystallization). Thus, this study is uniquely designed to reveal the initial stages of grain boundary development and texture evolution that occur during FSW.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA518320
Entities
People
- A. P. Reynolds
- J. A. Wert
- R. W. Fonda
- Wenjing Tang
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory