SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

Conventional and bobbin friction stir welding

of 12% chromium alloy steel using composite
refractory tool materials
W. M. Thomas*, C. S. Wiesner, D. J. Marks and D. G. Staines
The use of matching tapers to provide a hot friction drive coupling for composite refractory tools
for conventional and bobbin friction stir welding of 12% chromium alloy steel is described. The
feasibility of using self-reacting (Bobbin) friction stir welding for steel has been demonstrated and
the resulting microstructures have been evaluated.
Keywords: Friction stir welding, Bobbin, Self-reacting stir welding, 12% chromium steel

Introduction
Friction stir technology is a continuous hot shear
process involving a non-consumable rotating tool of
harder material than the workpiece itself. The probe
portion of the tool is entered into the workpiece creating
a plasticised region around the immersed probe and the
contacting part of the shoulder. There is a volumetric
contribution to heat generation from adiabatic heating
due to deformation within a third body region that
surrounds the probe and part of the shoulder. The
shoulder region of the tool provides an additional
friction treatment to the workpiece top surface and
prevents plasticised joint material from being expelled.
Essentially, the shoulder and probe thermomechanically
soften and then separate the material being processed by
the passage of the probe through the material. The
material flows around the probe and is then forge
welded together at the trailing edge of the probe. This
separation and welding together occur continuously by
backfilling from the probe and compaction/containment
from the shoulder. This transient separation/rewelding
operation happens during and before the trailing edge of
the shoulder moves away from the processed/weld track.
The transient plasticised region immediately coalesces
and forms a solid phase bond as the tool moves away.
The friction stir welding (FSW) process was patented
by TWI in December 1991, and this patent also included
the first example of a self-reacting (bobbin) stir weld in
aluminium.
Previous work on FSW of steel
A growing number of papers cover the FSW of steel, but
only limited work has been reported on bobbin stir
welding of steel. The following investigation describes
recent work at TWI on welding steel using both
conventional and bobbin stir welding techniques. The
basic principle of bobbin stir welding is shown in Fig. 1.
TWI Ltd, Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridge CB21 6AL, UK
*Corresponding author, email wayne.thomas@twi.co.uk
Objectives
To determine the feasibility of conventional and bobbin
FSW of 8 mm and 12 mm thick 12%Cr steel and to
establish the weld properties and microstructures
produced.
To determine the practicability and the effect of
composite tools, comprising different shoulder and
probe refractory materials, on welding performance.
Experimental
Composite tool designs for conventional and
bobbin FSW
Composite tools comprising of two different refractory
metal alloys were used. The material for the shoulder
was selected to produce a smooth surface finish and the
material for the probe was selected to have high strength
and to achieve good coupling to the steel at the welding
temperature. The tool was made using a ‘Morse taper’
principle, which is an ideal arrangement for securing the
two materials under extremely hot welding conditions
(Fig. 2).
The matching tapered coupling allows for the secure
and efficient combination of different refractory materi-
als and provides a unique hot friction drive. The conical
probe part compresses the tapered bore of the shoulder
to produce hoop stresses within the shoulder. These
hoop stresses can be accommodated easily by increasing
the thickness and/or diameter of the shoulder.
Frictional contact across the entire conical surface
area of the interface between inner and outer matching
tapers is sufficient to provide a large amount of torque
transmission. Therefore, splines, bolts or keys and
keyways and similar stress raisers are not required.
Bobbin FSW has been shown to be effective for
joining hollow extrusions and lap joints. Essentially,
there are two types of bobbin, or self-reacting techni-
ques: technique of a fixed gap, between the shoulders1–3
and one that allows the gap between the shoulders to
adapt during the welding operation.4–9 Published
investigations have confirmed the practicability of the
self-reacting technique.1–9 The self-reacting principle of

ß 2009 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute
Received 1 December 2008; accepted 27 January 2009
DOI 10.1179/136217109X415893 Science and Technology of Welding and Joining 2009 VOL 14 NO 3 247

a bobbin tool showing two shoulders separated by pre-
set fixed length; b bobbin tool showing self-contained
reactive forces
1 Salient features of self-reacting (bobbin) stir welding:
15workpiece; 25top shoulder; 35probe; 45bottom
shoulder; 55reactive forces
all bobbin techniques means that the normal down force
required by conventional FSW is essentially eliminated.
The reactive forces within the weld are contained
between the bobbin shoulders (Fig. 1b).
Material
All welding trials were carried out on 12% chromium
alloy steel supplied to DIN 1?4003. For conventional
FSW, 12 mm thick and 1000 mm long plates were
supplied and used in the hot rolled condition, which
exhibited a microstructure that consists of tempered
martensite, without any significant fraction of delta
ferrite. For bobbin trials, 8 mm thick and 500 mm long
test specimens were machined from 12 mm thick plate.
Welding procedure
The steel workpiece plates were secured with work
holding fixtures onto the machine traverse table. For
conventional FSW, a pilot hole of smaller diameter than
the probe was drilled between the abutting plates at the
start of the weld seam. For bobbin stir welding, an
interference slot with a width similar to the probe
diameter was machined between abutting plates at the
start of each butt weld, to allow most of the contact face
from both shoulders to engage before the probe made
full contact. Touchdown conditions were set to minimise
the stress on the tool. Traversing was initiated after
sufficient time to plasticise the workpiece material in
contact with the shoulder and probe. The FSW opera-
tion was carried out at ambient temperature, and no
auxiliary preheat or interpass heating of the workpiece
was used. Friction stir welds were produced with
the welding direction parallel to the rolling direction
of the plate. To prevent the friction stir welded work-
piece material adhering, an oxidised carbon steel anvil
support plate was used. However, this was not success-
ful in preventing carbon steel pick-up. Therefore, sacri-
ficial, nominally 1 mm thick strips of similar material
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Thomas et al. Conventional and bobbin FSW of 12%Cr alloy steel
a conventional FSW tool with single tapered coupling
design; b bobbin stir welding tool showing friction
tapered coupling designed for refractory material
shoulders, refractory material probe and hot work tool
steel body
2 Composite refractory tools: securing different refrac-
tory materials by tapered friction coupling design
composition (316L stainless steel) were placed under the
weld region to protect the anvil and the root region of
the weld from metal pick-up. Equal thickness plates
were placed underneath the remaining workpiece to
maintain flatness.
Weld and metallurgical assessment
All welds were visually examined for surface roughness,
the presence of surface breaking defects and side flash. A
number of welds were tensile and bend tested, together
with metallurgical examination. All sections were pre-
pared in the direction looking towards the start of the
weld, and for clarity, all macrographs are marked
‘advancing side’ and ‘retreating side’. Sections from
the 12% chromium alloy were polished to a 1 mm finish
and etched in an ethanol solution containing 2?5% picric
acid and 2?5% hydrochloric acid.
Results
Welding trials
For conventional FSW, 1 m long test specimens were
produced using composite tools (with a tapered probe
and three flats) at rotational speed 584 rev min21,
traverse rate 2?5 mm s21 and axial force of 32 kN.
Bobbin stir welds were made using, initially parallel, and
then tapered probes with three flats at rotational speed
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a conventional FSW tool showing taper probe with three
flats; b bobbin tool showing parallel probe with three
flats (later improved versions were made with tapered
probe and smaller bottom shoulder)
3 Typical composite refractory tools
a conventional FSW; b top surface bobbin tool; c bottom surface bobbin tool; d detail of surface appearance
4 Typical surface appearance of friction stir welded 12%Cr alloy steel plate using composite tools
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Thomas et al. Conventional and bobbin FSW of 12%Cr alloy steel
584 rev min21 and traverse rate 1?25 mm s21. No axial
force was required.
Trials with composite tools
Figure 3 shows both conventional FSW and bobbin
tools that comprise two refractory materials, the probe
manufactured from a refractory alloy with high tungsten
content and the shoulders manufactured from refractory
alloy with a low tungsten content. The shoulders and
probe of the bobbin tool are attached to a hot work tool
steel body.
Surface appearance
The surface of the steel welds exhibited a uniform
surface ripple (caused by the final sweep of the trailing
edge of the rotating tool). The FSW weld was essentially
smooth and flush with the surface (Fig. 4). No pro-
tective gas was used to shield the workpiece from
atmospheric contamination during welding. However, a
cooling blast of air was applied to the top and bottom
shoulders of the bobbin tool.
Start and stop regions
Unless run-on and run-off plates are used, then start and
stop regions may need to be discarded. Figure 5,
however, shows that for conventional FSW, reasonable
backfilling of a predrilled pilot hole can be achieved
providing that the pilot hole was drilled slightly smaller
than the probe. The use of a larger diameter pilot hole
than the probe diameter leads to incomplete backfilling
(Fig. 5b).
For conventional FSW, a stop and restart can if
necessary be accommodated anywhere along the seam.
However, a disadvantage of the fixed gap bobbin
technique is that to exit the tool needs either:
(i) to complete an open ended joint
(ii) to break out of the work piece
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 Thomas et al. Conventional and bobbin FSW of 12%Cr alloy steel

a complete backfilling of pilot hole with hole smaller a root region; b detail of root region
than probe diameter; b partial backfilling of pilot hole 6 Carbon steel pick-up from anvil support shims
made with hole slightly larger than probe diameter
5 Macrosections of backfilled pilot holes
friction stir welds, although these may be further
subdivided for certain materials. These regions are:
(iii) to reverse back the same way that it entered (a (i) unaffected parent material
double welding operation). (ii) material that has been affected by heat, but not
mechanically deformed. This is defined as the
Mechanical properties
heat affected zone (HAZ)
All tensile tests samples showed failure outside the weld (iii) material that has been affected by heat and
region, at parent material strength levels (average UTS: mechanically deformed. This is defined as the
511?5 N mm22). Face, root and side bends achieved thermomechanically affected zone (TMAZ).
180u. With respect to aluminium friction stir welds, the
thermomechanically and dynamically recrystallised
Sacrificial anvil support plates and carbon
regions can normally be differentiated within the weld.
pick-up The 12%Cr steel used in this work exhibits a crystal-
Unlike bobbin stir welding, conventional FSW needs an lographic transformation on cooling, which obscures
anvil support plate of a higher melting point material any evidence of thermomechanical recrystallisation.
than the workpiece material being welded. For conve- Therefore, in the context of this report, the TMAZ
nience, oxidised sacrificial shims are used to prevent will also encompass the central weld region, which
adhesion with the anvil. However, if these sacrificial
shim plates are made from dissimilar steel such as
carbon steel, then significant material pick-up can occur.
Figure 6 shows carbon steel friction stirred into the
12%Cr steel. Such carbon steel contamination within the
12% chromium steel weld can have serious implications
for localised corrosion resistance.
Carbon steel contamination from the support plates
can be avoided using a ceramic anvil material, compa-
tible sacrificial shims plates or bobbin stir welding. A
typical macrosection of a sound weld using a stainless
steel (grade 316L) sacrificial shim plate is shown in
Fig. 7.

Microstructural assessment of 12% chromium

alloy steel friction stir welds
Studies of a number of materials indicate that there are 7 Conventional FSW butt weld in 12 mm thick 12%Cr
three primary microstructural regions to consider in alloy steel with shim plate

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8 Plasticity induced grain flow at boundary between
TMAZ and HAZ on advancing side
cannot be differentiated as a result of crystallographic
transformation.
Therefore, the microstructures of the steels studied in
this work has been categorised in this way.
Conventional friction stir weld
Microexamination of the TMAZ revealed a fairly
equiaxed microstructure, indicating that recrystallisation
had occurred. Recrystallisation within the TMAZ has
also led to an increased ferrite grain size (of the order of
100–150 mm compared with the parent material). The
untempered martensite content, which varied over the
depth of the weld, was visually assessed to lie between 15
and 40% within the TMAZ.
An abrupt change in structure was observed at the
edge of the TMAZ where a plastically deformed zone
a etched cross-section through friction stir bobbin weld in 12%Cr steel; b higher magnification view of fine grained ferrite
banding; c higher magnification view of fully ferritic band; d representative microstructure on TMAZ/HAZ boundary on
retreating side of weld
9 Bobbin stir weld
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Thomas et al. Conventional and bobbin FSW of 12%Cr alloy steel
(Fig. 8) defined the TMAZ/HAZ boundary, separating
the comparatively large grains observed in the centre of
the weld from the finer grained structure associated with
the HAZ.
Immediately beside the TMAZ/HAZ boundary, a
‘transformed’ HAZ was observed, where untempered
martensite had formed following transformation from
austenite during cooling (visual assessment indicated
ferrite levels up to y40%). Further, away from the
TMAZ, beside the parent metal, a visibly different
‘untransformed’ HAZ was observed, characterised by
the formation of carbides around the original tempered
martensite. It was clear that this ‘untransformed’ HAZ
had not been sufficiently hot to exceed the austenite
transformation temperature, resulting in a similar,
although visibly different microstructure to that of the
parent steel, presumably resulting from some growth of
carbides. The HAZ/parent steel boundary was defined as
the point at which carbide precipitation and grain
coarsening stops.
The large delta ferrite grains and reduced martensite
fraction present within the TMAZ would be expected to
reduce the toughness exhibited by the welded joint
(compared with the parent steel). Improvement in
toughness could be achieved by the use of steel with a
lower ferrite factor and possibly by modification of the
welding parameters.
Microstructural assessment of 12% chromium
alloy steel bobbin friction stir welds
Figure 9a highlights the macroscopic appearance of an
etched section taken through the bobbin weld. The main
features observed were the TMAZ and HAZ present on
either side of the weld. The presence of a distinct banded
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zone can be observed at the right hand side of the image
(the advancing side of the weld), where a much finer
grained ferritic–martensitic structure could be observed
(Fig. 9b). The presence of a band of fully ferritic
material was also observed towards the centre of the
weld (Fig. 9c).
Microexamination of the sample revealed an apparent
similarity in ferrite grain size (estimated to be about
100–200 mm diameter) and untempered martensite con-
tent (y20%) for both the top and bottom of the weld.
This suggested that the level of heat input was similar for
both sides of the weld. This would be expected for a
bobbin weld, as the locations where the shoulders of the
tool contact both top and bottom surfaces of the plate
will generate heat, resulting in higher temperatures at the
surfaces and coarsening of the delta ferrite grains.
The TMAZ/HAZ region of the weld is illustrated in
Fig. 9d, where a transition from the comparatively large
grained ferrite and untempered martensite structure of
the TMAZ to the fine grained of the parent material can
be observed. Beside the TMAZ/HAZ boundary, the
transition is characterised by a reduction in ferrite grain
size to that of the parent material. The HAZ itself
consisted of fine grained ferrite, of a similar grain size to
the parent material; however, it appeared that the struc-
ture of the untempered martensite was better defined
within the HAZ, illustrating that some transformation
had occurred, although no grain growth was observed.
This is a similar result to that observed previously for
the ‘conventional’ friction stir weld of 12%Cr steel.
The origin of the fine grained microstructural banding
on the advancing side of the weld is not clear. There
appear to be alternating bands of martensite and ferrite
within this part of the sample; the untempered marten-
site volume fraction is much higher, around 50%, on this
side of the joint, which is attributable to either dif-
ferences in composition, deformation (and hence degree
of recrystallisation) or temperature. Significant variation
in composition seems unlikely. Given that it is present
on the advancing side of the weld, it would seem likely
that differences in deformation of the material during
welding have resulted in differing degrees of recrystalli-
sation, or that a temperature gradient existed across the
weld. The differing phase balance on the two sides
suggests that different peak temperatures were attained
and hence supports the concept of a temperature
gradient across the weld.
The previous work conducted on a conventional
friction stir weld highlighted a small fully ferritic band
within the TMAZ. Therefore, it is possible that the
geometry of the bobbin is altering both the material flow
(a possible bifurcated flow), and heat input, in a manner
that is conducive to the formation of this banded
structure.
Discussion
Friction stir weldability trials
The work reported is encouraging as it demonstrates
that FSW can be applied successfully to steel plate. FSW
has produced sound single sided welds in 12 mm thick
12%Cr steel plate at a welding travel speed of
2?5 mm s21. Preliminary bobbin stir trials also show
promise with 8 mm thick 12% chromium alloy steel
plate welded at 1?25 mm s21.
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Thomas et al. Conventional and bobbin FSW of 12%Cr alloy steel
Refractory metal FSW tools
Initial trials on the FSW of steel were carried out at TWI
Ltd in 1997. These were conducted with pure tungsten
FSW tool. Because this material is brittle at room
temperature, the tool was preheated by an oxyacetylene
flame to about 400–500uC, and the 12%Cr steel was
heated, mainly from close proximity when heating the
tool. This preheat was designed to start the welding at a
temperature above the ductile–brittle transition tem-
perature of the tungsten. However, the ductile–brittle
transition temperature of tungsten can be decreased
below room temperature by the addition of other
elements such as rhenium or lanthanum oxide. All welds
made during the trial were carried out without any
preheat. The investigation has demonstrated that dif-
ferent types of refractory materials are easily secured by
a matching taper under extremely hot welding condi-
tions while subject to high torsional loads. Used in
combination, refractory materials can achieve smoother
weld surfaces while still providing good coupling with
extremely hot plasticised weld metal.
Self-reacting bobbin FSW
Bobbin tools are similar to conventional FSW tools that
are driven from one side in that the tool behaves as a
rotating cantilever; nevertheless, they differ in certain
aspects as follows.
There are a number of features that make bobbin stir
welding of steel attractive. Two shoulders provide
sufficient heat generation from both sides of the work-
piece without any heat loss through the anvil support
plate. Containment of reactive forces within the tool
itself means that compressive deformation (squashing)
of the probe does not occur. The probe of a conven-
tional FSW tool is subjected to multiaxial forces
comprising torsion, bending and compression. The
probe of a single sided bobbin tool is also subjected to
multiaxial forces comprising of comparatively higher
levels of torsion and bending, but only tensile forces
rather than compressive forces are applied through the
probe.
The use of a tapered probe for both conventional and
bobbin stir welding provides for a more uniformly
stressed tool, which displaces substantially less material
during welding than a cylindrical pin type probe.
Furthermore, the use of a tapered probe for the bobbin
tool enables a proportional reduction in the diameter of
the lower shoulder of the bobbin tool.
Reduction in the lower shoulder diameter results in
lower frictional contact and resistance, therefore less
torque and bending moment on the tool. The additional
frictional contact provided by the lower shoulder and
the absence of a backing anvil, which acts as a heat sink,
means that the operating temperature will be higher
than that of similar conventional welds. Tool design and
process conditions will need to be adjusted to allow the
welding travel speed to be increased benefiting from this
additional heat generation. Both adaptive and fixed gap
self-reacting techniques will need to be developed to
meet the challenges of ferrous base materials.
Bobbin welds essentially eliminate partial penetration,
lack of penetration or root defects. Preliminary trials
have also shown that lap welds produced by the bobbin
technique have fewer problems with the adverse
orientation of the notch at the edge of the weld.
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Conclusions
Based on the results and discussions given above, the
following conclusions can be made:
1. Successful friction stir welds have been produced
in 12 mm and 8 mm thick 12% chromium alloy steel.
2. The feasibility of using self-reacting (bobbin) FSW
for 12% chromium alloy steel has been demonstrated
and the resulting microstructures have been evaluated.
3. The use of a matching taper drive coupling to
provide secure combinations of different refractory
materials for composite tools has been demonstrated
for conventional and self-reacting FSW tools.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful for the support and contribu-
tions provided by Dr P. Woollin, Dr I. M. Norris and
Mr C. E. D. Rowe (Cedar Metals Ltd).
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Thomas et al. Conventional and bobbin FSW of 12%Cr alloy steel
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