Repair welding process of friction stir welding groove defect

LIU Hui-jie(߬Ӯᵄ), ZHANG Hui-jie(ᓴӮᵄ)

State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding Production Technology,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin150001, China
Received 17 June 2008; accepted 27 October 2008

Abstract: The groove defect formed in the friction stir welding dramatically deteriorates weld appearances and mechanical
properties of the joints owing to its larger size and penetration. Therefore, the friction stir repair welding was utilized to remove such
a groove defect, and the focus was placed on the mechanical properties and microstructural characteristics of the repair joints so as to
obtain an optimum repair welding process. The experimental results indicate that the groove defect can be removed by friction stir
repair welding, and the offset repair welding process is superior to the symmetrical repair welding process. In the symmetrical repair
welding process, a large number of fine cavity defects and an obvious aggregation of hard-brittle phase Al2Cu occur, accordingly the
mechanical properties of the repair joint are weakened, and the fracture feature of repair joint is partially brittle and partially plastic.
A good-quality repair joint can be obtained by the offset repair welding process, and the repair joint is fractured near the interface
between the weld nugget zone and thermal-mechanically affected zone.
Key words: friction stir welding; groove defect; repair welding process; mechanical properties

deteriorates weld appearances and mechanical properties

1 Introduction of the joints owing to its larger size than the others[11],
accordingly the groove defect is chosen as a study object
As a new and promising solid state welding process for repair welding in the present work, and FSW is still
developed in recent years[1í2], friction stir welding used as the repair welding process. The focus is placed
(FSW) is characterized by the high welding quality, low on the mechanical properties and microstructural
production cost and low welding distortion, and thus can characteristics of the repair joints in order to obtain an
be utilized to weld some materials that are difficult to optimum repair welding process and reveal the decisive
fusion weld[3í6]. However, in the fast development and factor for controlling the mechanical properties of repair
application of the FSW process, it has been known that joints.
welding defects may be formed during FSW when
improper welding parameters or technological conditions 2 Experimental
are used[7í10], and such defects as groove, cavity and
kissing bond have significant influence on the The base metal used in this study was a 2219
mechanical properties of the joints[11í13]. Therefore, aluminum alloy plate of 7.5 mm in thickness, whose
the repair welding process of defect-existent joints chemical compositions and mechanical properties are
attracts much attention, but the related research is lack. listed in Table 1. The plate was cut and machined into
In the two published papers, one is on the repair welding rectangular welding samples of 300 mm in length and
technology of the defect produced during friction stir 100 mm in width. After cleaned by acetone, the samples
welding owing to the rupture of pin tool[14], and the were longitudinally butt-welded and then repair-welded
other is on the friction stir processing technology of the using an FSW machine (FSWí3LMí003). The welding
crack formed in the aircraft wing structure[15]. Among tool pin was designated as a frustum contour and
the defects mentioned above, groove defect dramatically possessed right-handed threads.

Foundation item: Project supported by the Program of Excellent Team in Harbin Institute of Technology, China; Project(2006BAF04B09) supported by the
National Key Technology Research and Development Program of China
Corresponding author: LIU Hui-jie; Tel: +86-451-86413951; E-mail: [email protected]
DOI: 10.1016/S1003-6326(08)60313-1
564 LIU Hui-jie, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 19(2009) 563í567
Table 1 Chemical compositions and mechanical properties of 2219 aluminum alloy
Chemical composition (mass fraction)/% Mechanical properties
Ultimate Yield Elongation/
Al Cu Mn Fe Ti V Zn Si Zr
strength/MPa strength/MPa %
Bal. 6.48 0.32 0.23 0.06 0.08 0.04 0.49 0.20 432 315 11

For the convenience, we define that the joint or (Instroní1186), and the tensile properties of each joint
weld directly formed from the base metal is initial joint were evaluated using three tensile specimens cut from
or initial weld, while the joint or weld formed after repair the same joint. After tensile test, the fracture features of
welding of the initial joint or initial weld is repair joint or the joints were analyzed by OM and SEM mentioned
repair weld. With regard to repair welding, there were above.
two repair processes. One was symmetrical repair
welding process in which the centerline of the repair 3 Results and analyses
weld was consistent with that of the initial weld with
groove defect; the other was offset repair welding 3.1 Tensile properties of joints
process in which the centerline of the repair weld was Fig.1 shows the tensile test results of the initial
located in the groove position. In order to decrease the joints and corresponding repair joints. It can be seen that
difference of microstructures and mechanical properties the initial joint with groove defect has considerably low
on the advancing side (AS) and retreating side (RS) of mechanical properties, namely, the tensile strength of
the repair weld, the direction of repair welding was 152 MPa and the elongation of 1.6%. This implies that
considered to be opposite to that of the initial welding. the groove defect has resulted in an enormous
Based on the previous experimental results, the initial deterioration of the mechanical properties of the joints.
joints with groove defect and the good-quality repair
joints can be produced by using the technological
parameters listed in Table 2.

Table 2 Welding technological parameters for initial joints with

groove defect and good-quality repair joints
Rotation Welding
Pressure/ Tilt
Joint sort speed/ speed/
í1 í1 kN angle/(Û)
(r·min ) (mm·min )
Initial joints
with groove 1 000 200 4.6 2.5
defect

Good-quality
600 200 4.6 2.5
repair joints

After welding, all the joints were cross-sectioned

perpendicular to the welding direction for metallographic
analyses and tensile tests using an electrical-discharge
cutting machine (DKí7718BíCG). The cross-sections of
the metallographic specimens were polished with a
diamond paste, etched with Keller’s reagent (150 mL
water, 3 mL nitric acid, 6 mL hydrochloric acid and 6 mL
hydrofluoric acid), and analyzed by optical microscope
(OM, OlympusíMPG3) and scanning electron
microscope (SEM, HitachiíS4700) with an energy
dispersive spectrometer (EDS).
The configuration and size of the transverse tensile
specimens were prepared with reference to China Fig.1 Mechanical properties of initial joints and repair joints
National Standard (GB2625ü89). The room temperature (A—Initial joint with groove defect; B—Symmetrical repair
tensile test was carried out at a crosshead speed of joint; C—Offset repair joint; D—Good-quality initial joint):
1 mm/min using a computer-controlled testing machine (a) Tensile strength; (b) Elongation
 LIU Hui-jie, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 19(2009) 563í567 565
After the groove defect is removed by different repair
welding processes, the mechanical properties of the
joints are improved to different extents.
When the symmetrical repair welding process is
chosen, the tensile strength and elongation of the repair
joint are 308 MPa and 4.8%, respectively. However,
when the offset repair welding process is utilized, the
tensile strength of the repair joint is up to 335 MPa,
equivalent to 78% of that of the base metal, and the
elongation of the repair joint is up to 8.4%, equivalent to
77% of that of the base metal. Obviously, both repair
welding processes are able to improve the mechanical
properties of the joints with groove defect, but the offset
repair welding process is superior to the symmetrical one
and can produce good-quality repair joints that meet the
engineering requirements.

3.2 Microstructural characteristics of joints

Fig.2 shows typical cross-section photographs of the
initial joint with groove defect and corresponding repair
joints, in which the retreating side and the advancing side
are denoted by RS and AS, respectively. When unsuitable
FSW parameters are used (see Table 2), the plasticized
material cannot be refilled to the AS from the RS near
the back surface of tool pin, therefore, a continuously
distributing groove defect is formed on the AS (see
Fig.2(a)), thus resulting in a degradation of mechanical
properties. After repair welding, the groove defect
disappears in the repair joints, therefore, the mechanical
properties of the joints increase.
It can be seen from Fig.2 that the offset repair joint
has a relatively large weld zone because the new weld
nugget formed in the repair welding and the old one
formed in the initial welding are partially overlapped Fig.2 Cross sectional morphologies of initial joint with groove
(see Fig.2(b)), while the symmetrical repair joint has a defect and its repair joints: (a) Initial joint; (b) Offset repair
smaller weld zone than the offset one (see Fig.2(c)). joint; (c) Symmetrical repair joint
Moreover, there is a white curve band over the weld
nugget zone of the symmetrical repair joint (see occurs in the repair joint. Therefore, the white curve
Fig.2(c)), but no white curve band can be seen in the band is a weak location and weakens the mechanical
offset repair joint (see Fig.2(b)). properties of the symmetrical repair joint.
Fig.3 shows a further analytical result of the white
curve band. The white curve band is composed of white 3.3 Fracture features of joints
phases, and such white phases are almost continuously The initial joint with groove defect is fractured at
distributed in the white curve band and extend to the the defect location during the tensile test, and the repair
weld surface of the symmetrical repair joint. In the joints are fractured on the RS of the welds. However, the
meanwhile, a large number of fine cavities, 1í5 μm in specific fracture locations of the repair joints are
size, exist around the white curve band (see Fig.3(b)). different due to different repair welding processes, as
The EDS analysis reveals that the chemical composition shown in Fig.4. The fracture path of the offset repair
of the white phases is consistent with that of the joint is linearly inclined at a certain degree to the weld
precipitate phase Al2Cu in the 2219 aluminum alloy (see surface, and the fracture occurs near the interface
Fig.3(c)). That is to say, although the original groove between the weld nugget zone and thermal-mechanically
defect is removed by the symmetrical repair welding affected zone (see Fig.4(a)). The symmetrical repair joint
process, a large number of fine cavity defects are formed is fractured at the weld nugget zone on the RS of the
and an obvious aggregation of hard-brittle phase Al2Cu weld, and the fracture path is zigzag, composed of AB,
566 LIU Hui-jie, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 19(2009) 563í567

Fig.4 Fracture locations of repair joints: (a) Offset repair joint;

(b) Symmetrical repair joint

In order to further reveal the fracture features of the

two kinds of repair joints, the tensile fracture surfaces of
the repair joints are analyzed, as shown in Fig.5. It can
be seen that the offset repair joint and AB section of the
symmetrical joint have almost the same plastic fracture
features, i.e. larger dimples and embedded precipitates at
the bottom of the dimples (see Figs.5(a) and (b)),
indicating that an extensive plastic deformation has
occurred. In contrast to AB section, BC section is
Fig.3 Morphologies of white curve band and its EDS result of characterized by the small and shallow dimples,
symmetrical repair joint: (a) OM image of weld cross-section; implying that the plastic deformation resistance increases
(b) SEM image of white curve band; (c) EDS spectrum of and the ductility decreases. With regard to CD section,
white phase there is no dimple on the fracture surface and the fracture
is brittle, thus confirming that joint is fractured along the
BC and CD sections (see Fig.4(b)). It can be seen that white curve band.
AB section is consistent with the fracture path of the
offset repair joint, illustrating that AB section is the 4 Conclusions
intrinsic weak location in the friction stir welded joint.
Because the location of CD section is corresponding to 1) The groove defect that has a significant influence
that of the white curve band shown in Fig.2(c), it can be on the mechanical properties of the joints can be
deduced that the symmetrical repair joint is fractured removed by friction stir repair welding, but different
along the white curve band during the tensile test, further repair welding processes exhibit different repair results.
confirming that the white curve band is the weak location The offset repair welding process is superior to the
of the symmetrical repair joint, as mentioned above. BC symmetrical repair welding process, and the tensile
section is a transition one between AB section and CD strength of the offset repair joint is equivalent to that of
section, and its deformation and fracture are inevitable the good-quality initial joint and is up to 78% of that of
after AB and CD sections are first deformed and the base metal.
fractured. 2) In the symmetrical repair welding process, a
 LIU Hui-jie, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 19(2009) 563í567 567

Fig.5 Morphologies of fracture surfaces of repair joints: (a) Offset repair joint; (b), (c) and (d) AB, BC and CD sections of
symmetrical repair joint in Fig.4(b), respectively

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