Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) is a solid-state joining process and a rapidly growing dissimilar material welding technology for joining metallic alloys in the automotive industry. Welding tool shape and process conditions must be appropriately controlled to obtain high bonding characteristics. In this study, FSSW is performed on dissimilar materials AA5052-H32 aluminum alloy sheet and SPRC440 steel sheet, and the influence of the shape of joining tool and tool insertion depth during joining is investigated. A new intermetallic compound is produced at the aluminum and steel sheets joint. When the insertion depth of the tool is insufficient, the intermetallic compound between the two sheets did not form uniformly. As the insertion depth increased, the intermetallic compound layer become uniform and continuous. The joint specimen shows higher values of tensile shear load as the diameter and insertion depth of the tool increase. This shows that the uniform formation of the intermetallic compound strengthens the bonding force between the joining specimens and increases the tensile shear load.

In this study, experiments and simulations were performed for fillet joint friction stir welding according to tool shape and welding conditions. Conventional butt friction stir welding has good weldability because heat is generated by friction with the bottom of the tool shoulder. However, in the case of fillet friction stir welding, the frictional heat is not sufficiently generated at the bottom of the tool shoulder due to the shape of the tool and the shape of the joint. Therefore, it is important to sufficiently generate frictional heat by slowing the welding speed as compared to butt welding. In this study, experiments and simulations were carried out on an aluminum battery housing made by friction stir welding an extruded material with a fillet joint. The temperature of the structure was measured using a thermocouple during welding, and the heat source was calculated through correlation analysis. Thermal elasto-plastic analysis of the structure was carried out using the calculated heat source and geometric boundary conditions. It is confirmed that the experimental results and the simulation results are well matched. Based on the results of the study, the deformation of the structure can be calculated through simulation even if the tool shape and welding process conditions change.

This study was carried out to investigate the optimum condition of a friction stir welding process for a joint of AA2219-T87 and AA2195-T8 dissimilar aluminum alloys. These alloys are known to have good cryogenic properties, and as such to be suitable for use in fuel tanks of space vehicles. The welding parameters include the travelling speed, rotation speed and rotation direction of the tool. The experiment was conducted under conditions in which the travelling speed of the tool was 120-300 mm/min and the rotation speed of the tool was 400-800 rpm. To investigate the effect of the rotation direction of the tool, the joining was performed by switching the positions of the two dissimilar alloys. After welding, the microstructure was observed and the micro-hardness were measured; non-destructive evaluation was carried out to perform tensile tests on defect-free specimens. The result was that the microstructure of the weld joint underwent dynamic recrystallization due to sufficient deformation and frictional heat. The travelling speed of the tool had little effect on the properties of the joint, but the properties of the joint varied with the rotation speed of the tool. The conditions for the best joining properties were 600 rpm and 180-240 mm/min when the AA2219-T8 alloy was on the retreating side(RS).

In this study, the curvature FSW experiments were performed with the 2 mm thickness of Al 5083-O using by the 5 axis(X/Y/Z/A/C) position control system. For the mechanical test of the butt joints, the tungsten heavy alloy as the tool material without necessary after finishing the heat treatment such as quenching was used. In particular, the insertion depth and the welding speed was changed at the constant rotation speed in order to select the optimum FSW condition. The test results were visually satisfactory for the approximate joint length of 300 mm. Sound joint was formed at the condition of 1.9 mm-1000 rpm-100 mm/min and its tensile strength of joint was the most high almost the same as that of the base material.

In this study, the cold rolled DP590 FSW joints were obtained by the position control type of the FSW machine and examined. The FSW weldability was investigated using the Si3N4 tool specially made by Cold Isostatic Press (CIP). Defect-free joints were formed at 180-300 mm/min at 800 rpm. However, a groove-like defect was observed along the joint line of the advancing side due to the insufficient material flow. In addition, the life of the Si3N4 tool was compared to that of the polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) tool for the durability. The SI3N4 tool that was broken in which tool reached a length of 5 m and around half of the performance level of the PCBN tool.

In this study, the weldability of ADC12 FSW joints obtained by the load control type of the FSW machine is examined. The higher the tool plunge downforce the wider the range of the optimum FSW conditions is obtained. However, there is a limit of optimum range with increasing the tool plunge downforces. The three different types of defects are formed in ADC12 FSW joints, depending on the welding conditions. One is a large mass of flash due to the excess heat input, another is a cavity or groove-like defects caused by insufficient heat input and the other is a cavity caused by the abnormal stirring. As for the abnormal stirring, it is very clearly seen that the shape of the top part on the advancing side in the stir zone is completely different. For this type of defect, the effect of the tool plunge downforce is not significant, though the size of the defect due to insufficient heat input significantly is decreased with the increasing downforce

A5J32-T4 and A5052-H32 dissimilar aluminum alloy plates with thickness of 1.6 and 1.5 mm were welded by friction stir lap welding (FSLW). The FSLW were studied using different probe length tool and various welding conditions which is rotation speed of 1000, 1500 rpm and welding speed of 100 to 600 mm/min and material arrangement, respectively. The effects of plunge depth of tool and welding conditions on tensile properties and weld nugget formation. The results showed that three type nugget shapes such as hooking, void, sound have been observed with revolutionary pitch. This plunge depth and material arrangement were found to effect on the void and hooking for- mation, which in turn significantly influenced the mechanical properties. The maximum joint efficiency of the FSLWed plates was about 90% compared to base metal, A5052-H32 when the A5052-H32 was positioned upper plate and plunge depth was positioned at near interface between upper and lower plates.

The microstructures and mechanical properties of friction stir welded lap joints of Inconel 600 and SS 400 were evaluated; friction stir welding was carried out at a tool rotation speed of 200 rpm and welding speed of 100 mm/min. Electron back-scattering diffraction and transmission electron microscopy were introduced to analyze the grain boundary characteristics and the precipitates, respectively. Application of friction stir welding was notably effective at reducing the grain size of the stir zone. As a result, the reduced average grain size of Inconel 600 ranged from 20μm in the base material to 8.5μm in the stir zone. The joint interface between Inconel 600 and SS 400 showed a sound weld without voids and cracks, and MC carbides with a size of around 50 nm were partially formed at the Inconel 600 area of lap joint interface. However, the intermetallic compounds that lead to mechanical property degradation of the welds were not formed at the joint interface. Also, a hook, along the Inconel 600 alloy from SS 400, was formed at the advancing side, which directly brought about an increase in the peel strength. In this study, we systematically discussed the evolution of microstructures and mechanical properties of the friction stir lap joint between Inconel 600 and SS 400.

This study was carried out to evaluate the microstructures and mechanical properties of a friction stir welded Ni based alloy. Inconel 600 (single phase type) alloy was selected as an experimental material. For this material, friction stir welding (FSW) was performed at a constant tool rotation speed of 400 rpm and a welding speed of 150~200 mm/min by a FSW machine, and argon shielding gas was utilized to prevent surface oxidation of the weld material. At all conditions, sound friction stir welds without any weld defects were obtained. The electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) method was used to analyze the grain boundary character distributions (GBCDs) of the welds. As a result, dynamic recrystallization was observed at all conditions. In addition, grain refinement was achieved in the stir zone, gradually accelerating from 19 μm in average grain size of the base material to 5.5 μm (150 mm/min) and 4.1 μm (200 mm/min) in the stir zone with increasing welding speed. Grain refinement also led to enhancement of the mechanical properties: the 200 mm/min friction stir welded zone showed 25% higher microhardness and 15% higher tensile strength relative to the base material.