CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Friction stir welding (FSW) technology has grown at exception rate since it was invented in
1991 at The Welding Institute of Cambridge, England. W.M. thomas first applied the
technique and then by the year 2000 its popularity rapidly increased, as the process and its
capabilities were better understood by the industry. FSW overcome the limitations of fusion
welding like incomplete mixing of the parent and filler materials, phase transformation Solid
– Liquid, Liquid - Gas and the formation of undesirable harmful phases. FSW is a solid state
joining technique basically used on low melting alloys. The demands for joining alloy like
aluminum, magnesium etc. having high hardness, toughness and impact resistance are
increasing. These alloys are very hard to weld by any other welding technique like fusion
welding etc. Hence, FSW is a suitable candidate for joining these materials.

1.2 Basic principle of FSW process

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a moderately new welding technique deserving much attention
due to its special characteristics. FSW uses a rotating non-consumable tool for joining the
materials. However, FSW utilizes a continuous axial pressure on the tool which pinning
effect causes the plastic deformation into the weld material. Basically FSW tool is made of
hard materials like tool steel, high carbon steel and tungsten etc. The rotating tool is
continuously moves in transverse direction with some speed.

Fig. 1.1: Schematic diagram of the basic principle of FSW process [19]
 In FSW tool heats the work piece and moves the material in stir zone to produce joint.
Resulting the movement of this material fine and equiaxed recrystallized grains generated.
Also FSW can be applied to various types of joints like Butt Weld joint, T-joint and lap joint
etc.

Table 1 Key benefits of FSW are summarized below

Sr.No. Metallurgical Mechanical Environmental
Characteristics
1 Solid phase process. Less distortion of the Consumable materials
joined parts saving.
2 Low distortion of work piece. Wear resistance Eliminate grinding wastes
3 No loss of alloying elements High weld strength and No surface cleaning
toughness. required.

4 Good dimensional stability & Corrosion resistance No radiations generated

repeatability like UV, Infrared etc
5 Absence of cracking No fumes generated
6 Fine microstructure No shielding gas required

As compare to traditional welding technique FSW is an energy proficient and versatile method of
joining metals, alloys and composite. FSW is widely used in aerospace industry and marine
industry etc. The difficulty of making high-strength, fatigue and fracture resistant welds in
aerospace aluminum alloys, such as highly alloyed 2XXX and 7XXX series, has long inhibited
the wide use of welding for joining aerospace structures and to join those materials.
Magnesium is a white colored silvery metal characterized by its reduced density in comparison
to all the other structural metals. Presently, Magnesium alloys are found to rapidly replace
copper, steel and aluminium in a variety of automotive and structural applications due to its low
density value (1.74 g/cm3), greater thermal conductivity, excellent damping property, sound
castability, high machinability, and improved electromagnetic interference shielding capabilities
Recently friction stir processing (FSP) was developed as a generic tool for micro-structural
modification based on the basic principles of FSW. In this present work alloy of magnesium
named as AZ91/AZ31/WE43 is used.

1.3 Friction stir processing and fabrication of surface composite using FSP
FSP has been evolved from the basic principles of friction stir welding and works as a sufficient
tool to modify the surface microstructure of metallic sheets. During FSP, the material surface is
modified by inserting a cylindrical rotating tool that contains a small pin at the end and plunged
along a desired length in traverse direction by applying a suitable load. Therefore, the material at
the stir zone undergoes intense plastic deformation and dynamic recrystallization is initiated
which lead to refinement of the microstructure. Secondary phase particles are included and
dispersed in a metal to fabricate the surface composites using FSP. Grain size refinement and
improvement in mechanical properties can be achieved.
1.4 Correlation between Process and Material
As compared to aluminum where the significant weight saving is required magnesium alloys are
generally having upper hand. Magnesium alloys have lesser formability; sheet material of
magnesium alloys is made commercially by casting or die casting processes except some
wrought alloys such as AZ31. It is usually difficult to weld these cast magnesium alloys due to
the porosity formation in the weld .Furthermore, relatively large coefficient of expansion of
magnesium alloy causes large deformation distortion of the weld. Therefore, solid-state welding
technique should be the optimum choice for joining cast magnesium alloy sheets. So in
connection with the same outcomes present work is focused around welding of
AZ91/AZ31/WE43.

Fig. 1.2: Schematic representation of surface composite fabrication by FSP [20]