Solid state welding(SSW)

◼ SSW is a group of welding process that produce coalescence

by the application of pressure without melting any of the
joint components
◼ Materials joining at temperatures below their melting points
◼ Advantages
◼ No melting means no headaches!
◼ Segregation, intermetallic formation, cracking, porosity, residual
stresses, distortion
◼ Narrow HAZs and lower HAZ peak temperatures (less HAZ
problems)
◼ Opportunities with dissimilar materials
◼ When dissimilar materials are joined, their thermal expansion
and conductivity are of less importance with SSW than with arc
welding
◼ Superior weld mechanical properties
◼ Post-weld heat treatments often not necessary
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 Need for solid state joining
• Reducing excess heat to Heat Affected Zone
and Joining of heat sensitive metals, HAZ

• Avoiding fusion state: Solidification

Cracking, Partially Melted Zone, and
Porosity
• Avoiding metallurgical interactions between
incompatible system e.g Ti-SS, Al-Ti, Cu-Al
 Solid state welding(SSW)
◼ Cold welding
◼ Friction stir welding
◼ Friction welding
◼ Ultrasonic welding
◼ Explosive welding
◼ Diffusion bonding
◼ Roll welding

◼ In all these processes, time, temp and pressure individually or in

combination produce coalescence of the base metal without
significant melting of the base metals
◼ In some processes the time element is short, up to a few seconds.
In other cases, the time is extremely several hours. As temp
increases, the time is usually reduced

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 Solid state welding(SSW)
◼ Limitations
◼ Restrictionson joint configuration
◼ Limited options for field application
◼ Expensive
◼ Where should we consider SSW?
◼ Difficult-to-weld
materials
◼ Demanding situations
◼ Wherever we see special reasons

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 Types of solid state welding processes

• Mechanical Heat
- Friction: USW, FSW
- Deformation: Cold Welding
• Electrical Pressure
- Induction : HF RW
- Contact resistance: RSW, Seam Welding

• Chemical
Controlled
- Heating : softening
Environment
- Explosion: deformation
 Friction stir welding(FSW)
◼ FSW is “a variation of friction welding that produces a weld
between two abutting work pieces by the friction heating
and plastic material displacement caused by a high-speed
rotating tool that traverses along the weld joint”.
◼ Invented at The Welding Institute (TWI) in 1991
◼ Considered to be the most significant development in metal
joining in a decade
◼ ‘‘green’’ technology due to its energy efficiency, environment
friendliness, and versatility
◼ No filler metal, No shielding gases and No flux is used
◼ Very low energy process compared to alternatives
◼ Requires little surface preparation prior to welding
◼ The disadvantage is that only ductile material can be welded
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 Friction stir welding(FSW) principle
➢ Parts to be joined are clamped
firmly.
◼ A non-consumable rotating tool
with a specially designed pin
and shoulder is inserted into the
abutting edges of sheets or
plates to be joined and
traversed along the line of joint.
◼ The tool serves two primary
functions: (a) heating of
workpiece, and (b) movement of
material to produce the joint.
◼ The heating is accomplished by
friction between the tool and
the workpiece and plastic
deformation of workpiece.
◼ The localized heating softens
the material around the pin and
combination of tool rotation
and translation leads to
movement of material from the
front of the pin to the back of
the pin. As a result of this
process a joint is produced in
‘solid state’. 9
 Friction Stir Welding

Clamping
force clamping
Step -1 Step -3
force

Step -4
Step -2
 Friction stir welding(FSW)

➢ heating – by friction
Between tool and the work
piece
➢ Additional heating
comes from the plastic
deformation of work
piece

➢ The rotation of tool results in stirring and mixing of material

around the rotating pin and the translation of tool moves the
stirred material from the front to the back of the pin and finishes
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welding process
Tool geometry

tool consists of a

•shoulder

•pin

tool has two primary functions:

(a) localized heating
(b) material flow (The second
function of the tool is to ‘stir’ and
‘move’ the material)
 Schematic drawing of the FSW tool

◼ In the initial stage of tool plunge, the heating results primarily from the friction
between pin and workpiece. Some additional heating results from deformation of
material.
◼ The tool is plunged till the shoulder touches the workpiece.
◼ The friction between the shoulder and workpiece results in the biggest
component of heating. From the heating aspect, the relative size of pin and
shoulder is important, and the other design features are not critical. The shoulder
also provides confinement for the heated volume of material.
◼ The second function of the tool is to ‘stir’ and ‘move’ the material.
◼ The uniformity of microstructure and properties as well as process loads are
governed by the tool design.
◼ Generally a concave shoulder and threaded cylindrical pins are used.
Welding parameters

•tool rotation rate (ω, rpm)

•tool traverse speed (ν, mm/min)

•angle of spindle or tool tilt

with respect to the workpiece surface

.
 Travel

❑ Governed by Tool geometry,

thermal conductivity and
thickness of the material
❑ High temperature surrounding
the tool must be maintained.
❑ Too fast travel speed results in
high flow stress --- cause the
tool to mechanical failure.
❑ Too slow travel speed results
in high temperature ---- cause
thermal damage to the tool and
unfavourable microstructure.
 Joint design
square butt
edge butt T butt joint

lap joint

fillet joint
multiple lap joint
T lap joint

➢ friction stir welding can be applied to various types of

joints like butt joints, lap joints, T butt joints, and fillet joints
Microstructural evolution

A. Unaffected material
B. Heat affected zone
C. Thermo-mechanically affected zone
D. Weld nugget (DXZ)
Microstructural evolution

7075-T651
 Nugget or Stir zone

Nugget or stir zone

During FSW process, the material undergoes intense plastic
deformation at elevated temperature, resulting in generation of
fine and equiaxed recrystallized grains. The fine microstructure in
friction stir welds produces good mechanical properties

•nugget zone contains

high density of
•sub-boundaries
•Sub grains
•dislocations
 Nugget or Stir zone

7075-T7651
(a) 350 rpm, 152 mm/min and (b) 400 rpm, 102 mm/min

grain size of nugget increases with

increasing the tool rotation rate
 grain size in different
locations of stir zone

• bottom 3.2 μm
• top 5.3 μm
• retreating side 3.5 μm
• advancing side 5.1 μm
Grain size differs in various locations of nugget
(7050)
 Thermo-mechanically affected zone(TMAZ)

TMAZ experiences both

•temperature
•deformation

TMAZ is characterized
by a highly deformed structure

Microstructure of thermo-mechanically affected zone (7075)

between the parent material and the nugget zone

 Heat affected zone(HAZ)

➢ Beyond the TMAZ

there is a heat-affected zone (HAZ)

➢ This zone experiences a thermal cycle,

but does not undergo any plastic deformation

➢ HAZ is a zone experiencing a temperature rise

above 250 °C for a heat-treatable aluminum alloy.

➢ coarsening of the strengthening precipitates and

the precipitate-free zone (PFZ) increases by a factor
of 5
Residual stresses
1. residual stresses quite low
compared to those generated
during fusion welding

2.attributed to the lower heat input

and accommodation of stresses by
recrystallization
 Key benefits of friction stir welding

Metallurgical benefits Environmental benefits Energy benefits

Improved materials use
Fine microstructure (e.g., joining different
No shielding gas required
thickness) allows
reduction in weight
No loss of alloying
Only 2.5% of the energy
elements No surface cleaning required
needed for a laser weld

Decreased fuel
consumption in light
Absence of cracking,
Eliminate grinding wastes weight aircraft,
Porosity,segregation
automotive and ship
applications
Eliminate solvents required
No filler for degreasing
Low distortion of
workpiece
Replace multiple
parts joined by
fasteners