Welding in the World (2019) 63:1761–1769

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-019-00773-6

RESEARCH PAPER

Welding parameter selection and short fatigue crack growth

of dissimilar aluminum alloy friction stir welded joint
Guo-Qin Sun 1 & Guo-Sheng Xu 1 & De-Guang Shang 1 & Shu-Jun Chen 1

Received: 29 June 2018 / Accepted: 8 July 2019 / Published online: 20 July 2019
# International Institute of Welding 2019

Abstract
The welding process parameters of dissimilar 2024-T4 and 7075-T6 aluminum alloy friction stir welded (FSWy) joints are
selected by the metallographic microstructure, the mechanical properties, and the hardness distribution. The joints with rotational
speed of 900 rpm and advancing speed of 100 mm/min that have the highest tensile strength are used to carry out the experimental
fatigue research. The short crack growth behavior of dissimilar FSW joints is analyzed through the replica technique. The stage of
the crack initiation and stable growth accounts for about 60~80% of total fatigue life. The short crack grows rapidly once it
reaches the crack size of approximately 350~450 μm. The cracks are prone to initiate at the defects of subsurface in the weld
nugget zone and propagate in a quasi-cleavage fracture mode.

Keywords Friction stir welding . Dissimilar joints . Mechanical property . Short crack

Nomenclature σmin Minimum stress

Q Heat input per unit length Δσ Stress range
α Heat input efficiency
q Heat input
v Traverse speed
μ Friction coefficient
1 Introduction
P Pressure
Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining process and
R Shoulder radius
has been successfully applied on the joining of aluminum
ω Rotation speed
alloys [1–3]. Mechanical strength in dissimilar Al–Mg alloy
ΔN Increment of cycle numbers
FSW is promoted by the mechanical interlocking through the
Δa Increment of crack length
formation of complex weld interfaces [4]. The heat input has a
Ni Cycle numbers
significant impact on the formation of brittle intermetallics at
Nf Cycle numbers of total fatigue life
the interface and mechanical properties [5]. An increase in
a Surface crack length
welding heat input results in the change of tensile residual
ai Surface crack length at Ni cycles
stress [6]. The welding parameters of tool rotation speed of
ΔK Stress intensity factor range
1000 rpm and welding speed of 254 mm/min were recom-
area Projected area of the crack
mended for dissimilar 2024 and 7075 alloy friction stir
σmax Maximum stress
welding in terms of tensile strength [7]. The high tensile
strength was obtained for the dissimilar joint of 2024 and
Recommended for publication by Commission XIII - Fatigue of Welded
Components and Structures
7075 aluminum alloys when 2024 alloy plates were located
at the advancing side [8, 9]. Fatigue behavior of dissimilar
* Guo-Qin Sun 6082-2024 FSW joints is also influenced by the material on
sguoq@bjut.edu.cn the advancing side [10].
It is important to study the fatigue crack initiation and
1
College of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Electronics
propagation since it affects the fatigue behavior and lives for
Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, the dissimilar FSW joints. More than 70–80% of total fatigue
China life may be spent in the crack initiation and short crack growth
1762
phases [11]. The fatigue crack initiation is affected by the
material property, microstructure, and stress level [12, 13].
The crack of dissimilar 6061-7050 FSW joints initiated at
the HAZ/TMAZ region where the secondary intermetallic
particles and voids exist [14]. The intermetallic particles and
grain boundary influence the short crack growth rate [15]. The
interaction of the propagating crack with a grain boundary has
an important effect on fatigue life and fatigue strength [16].
The welding parameters of dissimilar 2024-7075 alumi-
num alloy FSW joints are selected by the mechanical proper-
ties and the microstructure. The behavior of fatigue crack ini-
tiation and growth for the dissimilar FSW joints with the op-
timized welding parameters are analyzed in this paper.
2 Materials and experimental
Three-millimeter-thick rolled plates of 2024-T4 and 7075-
T651 aluminum alloys with the dimensions of 300 mm long
and 150 mm wide were used to produce the dissimilar FSW
butt joints. The stir tool is composed of a 10-mm diameter
shoulder and a tapered cylinder pin of 4 mm, 3.5 mm in top
diameter, and 2.85 mm in length. The welding direction was
perpendicular to the rolling direction of the 2024 and 7075
alloy plates with the 2024 plate on the advancing side. The
nominal chemical composition and mechanical properties of
the two alloys are listed in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. The
joint specimens for tensile and fatigue tests were cut with a
wire-cut machine. The transverse section of the joints was
ground with carbide abrasive papers of grit sizes from 240 to
3000. The welding parameters and tensile results are listed in
Table 3.
The metallographic morphologies of the specimens were
observed after they were etched using Keller’s reagent (2.5 ml
HNO3, 1.5 ml HCL, 1 ml HF, and 95 ml H2O). The Vickers
hardness was measured in the transverse sections of the joints
with 0.5-mm spacing between the indentations using the in-
denter with 200 gf load for 15 s.
The tensile tests were performed using electro-hydraulic
servo universal testing machine MTS858 with a displacement
rate of 0.6 mm/min. The fatigue tests were carried out on tester
MTS858 under stress-controlled sine wave loading mode at a
stress ratio of 0.1 and frequency of 10 Hz. The traces of short
cracks were obtained with cellulose acetate film replica tech-
nique. The fatigue tests were temporarily paused after a certain
Table 1 Chemical composition of 2024-T4 and 7075-T651 Al alloys
(wt%)
Material Si Fe Cu Mn Mg Cr Zn Al
2024-T4 0.40 0.27 4.58 0.56 1.36 0.001 0.02 Bal.
7075-T6 0.225 0.20 1.49 0.10 2.40 0.23 5.59 Bal.
Weld World (2019) 63:1761–1769
Table 2 Mechanical properties of base metals
Material UTS (MPa) YS (MPa) Elongation (%)
2024-T4 458 280 11
7075-T651 543 444 6
cycle interval, and the tensile load of 80% maximum stress
was kept in order to make the fatigue crack in an open position
when the cellulose acetate membrane was pasted on the joint
surface. The cellulose acetate membranes were pasted on four
surfaces of the specimen at each cycle interval since the crack
initiation and propagation could happen in any side. The cel-
lulose acetate membranes were carefully pulled away from the
joint surface after they completely dried. The surface crack
traces were permanently recorded in the cellulose acetate
membranes. Approximately 25–30 dried membranes should
be obtained for each surface of the joint during the whole
fatigue life in order to ensure the effectiveness of the data.
The cracks were observed by optical microscope and their
length was measured by a image software. The fracture mor-
phologies were observed with a JEOLJSM 6500F scanning
electron microscope (SEM).
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Parameter selection
3.1.1 Metallurgical analysis
Figure 1 shows the cross-sectional metallographical morphol-
ogy of dissimilar 2024-7075 aluminum alloy FSW joint with
the welding parameter of rotating speed of 900 rpm and tra-
verse speed of 100 mm/min. The joint is divided into the
following six areas: heat-affected zone of advancing side (A-
HAZ), thermo-mechanically affected zone of advancing side
(A-TMAZ), weld nugget zone near advancing side (A-WZ),
weld nugget zone near retreating side (R-WZ), thermo-
mechanically affected zone of retreating side (R-TMAZ),
and heat-affected zone of retreating side (R-HAZ).
The metallographical morphologies of the joints with most
welding parameters are shown in Fig. 2a. Welding defects of
cavities and block materials that are not being mixed evenly
are found in the A-WZ. The cavity defects in Fig.2b–d appear
in some joints. Block materials in Fig.2 are found in all the
joints except the joints with welding parameters of ω =
900 rpm and v = 100 mm/min and ω = 900 rpm and v =
120 mm/min. The joint defects are close to the interface of
the A-TMAZ and the A-WZ. All such cases can be attributed
to frictional heat and the extrusion of metal flow during the
welding process.
Weld World (2019) 63:1761–1769 1763

Table 3 Welding parameters and

tensile results No. Rotating speed Traverse speed v Welding Tensile strength Elongation Fracture
ω (rpm) (mm/min) ratio ω/v (MPa) (%) location

3-1 1000 120 8.3 358 2.5 A-WZ

3-2 1100 120 9.1 344 2.1 A-TMAZ
3-3 900 120 7.5 421 6.3 A-TMAZ
5-4 900 100 9.0 437 7.1 A-TMAZ
4-1 1000 150 6.7 317 1.5 A-TMAZ
4-2 1000 180 5.5 313 1.6 A-WZ
4-3 1100 150 7.3 335 2.0 A-WZ
4-4 1100 180 6.1 321 1.7 A-TMAZ
5-1 1200 120 10.0 349 2.5 A-WZ
5-2 1200 180 6.7 289 1.3 A-WZ
5-3 1200 150 8.0 209 0.9 A-WZ

The heat input per unit can be calculated with Eq. (1) as
follows [17]:
aq 4 2 ω ω
Q¼ ¼ π aμPR3 ¼ β ð1Þ
v 3 v v
where Q is the heat input per unit length, α is the heat input
efficiency, q is the heat input, v is the traverse speed, μ is the
friction coefficient, P is the pressure, R is the shoulder radius,
and ω is the rotation speed. α, μ, P, and R are assumed to be
the constants if the welding process is fixed, and they can be
put together to be the coefficient β. So, only ω and v are
variables.
The factors affecting the welding heat input contain the
rotating and the traverse speed. The magnitude of heat input
can be qualitatively expressed by the value of ω/v. Therefore,
the variation in microstructure caused by heat input is attrib-
uted to the different values of ω/v. It is observed that the ratio
of tool rotating speed to traverse speed (ω/v) plays a leading
role in forming defects. It is observed from Fig. 2b, c that the
size of the cavity defect gradually becomes larger when the
rotation speed increases from 1000 to 1100 rpm under the
constant traverse speed of 150 mm/min, while the correspond-
ing value of ω/v is from 6.7 to 7.3. It is considered that the high
rotation speed results in the excessive plastic deformation,
which leads to the appearance of void defect [18]. As the
traverse speed increases from 150 to 180 mm/min under the
constant rotating speed of 1000 rpm, the corresponding value
of ω/v decreases from 6.7 to 5.5. The cavity defects become
larger, as shown in Fig. 2b, d. The insufficient material defor-
mation caused by low heat input failed to form a fully consol-
idated weld. A joint with free defects and good quality needs
an appropriate heat input. The joint microstructure without the
defects shows the teeth-shaped interface of different materials
and the alternate lamella material flow pattern, as shown in
Fig. 2e.
3.1.2 Mechanical properties
Tensile results of the joints are listed in Table 3. Tensile
strength values of the joints range from 209 to 437 MPa,
which account for 45–95% those of 2024 alloy. The tensile
fracture mainly occurred in the A-WZ and the A-TMAZ. The
boundary area of the A-WZ and the A-TMAZ is considered
the weakest zone of the dissimilar FSW joints for the tensile
specimen, where the defects and the minimum hardness are
prone to appear. The joints with the welding parameters of
traverse speed 100 mm/min and rotation speed 900 rpm have
the best ultimate strength.
3.1.3 Microhardness distribution
Microhardness profiles of the dissimilar FSW joints in Fig. 3
can reflect the mechanical properties of the joints in a certain
cross section. The profiles along the centerline of the cross
section show typical characteristic of “W” curves. The joints
of no. 3-3 and no. 5-4 with free defect have the higher

Fig. 1 Metallographical
morphology in cross section of
the joint
1764 Weld World (2019) 63:1761–1769

Fig. 2 Cross-sectional
morphology and metallographic
microstructure of FSW joints with
different process parameters. a
ω = 1100 r/min, v = 120 mm/min.
b ω = 1000 r/min, v = 150 mm/
min. c ω = 1100 r/min, v =
150 mm/min. d ω = 1000 r/min,
v = 180 mm/min. e ω = 900 r/min,
v = 120 mm/min

hardness values than others. The lowest hardness occurred at WZ on the whole. So the joints with the welding parameter of
the boundary areas of the A-WZ and the A-TMAZ. The hard- rotating speed of 900 rpm and traverse speed of 100 mm/min
ness of no. 5-4 is greater than that of no. 3-3 in the TMAZ and are selected to perform the fatigue tests.

Fig. 3 Hardness distribution of 170 No. 3-2

joints with different welding
parameters in the cross section 160 No. 3-3
No. 5-1
150 No. 5-4
Shoulder diameter
140
Microhardness, Hv

130 Pin Probe diameter

120
110
100 Advancing side
Retreating side
90 2024-T4 7075-T651
80
70
Hardness test line
60
-14-12-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Distance from weld centre, mm
Weld World (2019) 63:1761–1769 1765

Table 4 Fatigue condition and

results Specimen Maximum stress (MPa) Fatigue life (cycles) Fracture location Test condition

1 288 19641 A-TMAZ Non-replica

2 288 19519 A-WZ Non-replica
3 260 13183 A-WZ Non-replica
4 260 27296 R-TMAZ Non-replica
5 240 65065 Weld center Non-replica
6 240 31884 A-TMAZ Non-replica
7 240 41820 A-WZ Non-replica
8 220 99385 A-WZ Non-replica
9 220 89951 2024 BM Non-replica
10 220 42789 A-WZ Non-replica
11 200 361317 2024 BM Non-replica
12 190 258742 2024 BM Non-replica
13 220 210000 A-WZ Replica
14 260 37900 A-WZ Replica

3.2 Fatigue result analysis
3.2.1 Fatigue crack initiation
Fatigue results under different stress levels at a stress ratio of
0.1 are listed in Table 4. More than 80% of fatigue crack
sources appeared in the WZ and others appeared in the base
material of 2024. The crack mainly initiated in the A-WZ and
it did not happen at a fixed surface. It is found that the stage of
fatigue short crack initiation takes up about 3% of total fatigue
life with the replica technology, which means the fatigue pro-
cess of dissimilar FSW joint is mainly a crack propagation
process.
The fatigue endurance curves of the 2024-7075 FSW joints
and base materials are shown in Fig. 4. As expected, welding
of dissimilar materials causes a significant drop of the fatigue
lives of the materials.
Some short cracks initiated around the inclusion particles
of WZ, as shown in Fig. 5. The short crack is winding near the
inclusion particle. The weak bonding force between inclusion
particles and surrounding grains causes the crack initiation
and propagation. The crack propagates straightforward after
passing the inclusion particle. The possibility of causing
cracks is more when the inclusion particle size is higher,
which causes the higher stress concentration by the greater
particles. The crack initiation preferentially occurs at particles

Fig. 4 S-N curve of dissimilar Dissimilar FSW 2024-7075

FSW specimens 450 Base material 7075-T6 Ref [19]
Base material 2024-T351 Ref [20]
400 Linear Fit of 7075-T6
Linear Fit of 2024-T351
Maximum stress Smax, [MPa]

Linear Fit of FSW 2024-7075

350

300

250

200

150
4 5 6
10 10 10
Number of cycles to failure, Nf
1766
Fig. 5 Crack initiation around the inclusion particle
in ultra-fine-grained materials [21, 22]. The fine-grain micro-
structure and the high ratio of inclusion size to grain size
should be the cause of the fatigue crack nucleation around
the inclusion particle in the WZ of dissimilar FSW joint.
3.2.2 Short crack growth
The complete crack propagation process of the specimen from
its initiation to the rupture is obtained with the replica tech-
nology, as shown in Fig. 6. Several short discontinuous cracks
were observed at 800 cycles, as shown in Fig.6a. Three coa-
lescence phenomena of adjacent cracks happened during the
overall propagation process, which were observed at the cy-
cles of 3800, 12600, and 23000. The deflection of short crack
propagation path might be caused by the inclusion particles
and the microstructures of dissimilar FSW joints, where there
is a stress and strain concentration.
Fig. 6 Short crack growth process under maximum stress of 260 MPa. a 800 cycles. b 3800 cycles. c 12600 cycles. d 23000 cycles
Weld World (2019) 63:1761–1769
The surface crack length, a, versus the cycle ratio N/Nf
under different stress levels is shown in Fig. 7. N is the fatigue
cycle numbers. Nf is total fatigue life. Some short cracks pro-
duced along with the cycle numbers increased under 260-MPa
stress level. However, the secondary cracks were not found
under 220-MPa stress level. The crack length grew exponen-
tially after the crack length reached approximately
350~450 μm. Once the surface crack length reached beyond
this size, the crack propagated rapidly and the specimen rup-
tured soon. The stage of crack initiation and stable growth
takes up about 60~80% of total fatigue life.
A simple point-to-point method is employed for the calcu-
lation of the crack growth rate:
da Δa aiþ1 −ai
¼ ¼ ð2Þ
dN ΔN N iþ1 −N i
where ΔN and Δa denote the increment of cyclic numbers
and crack length respectively, and ai is the surface crack length
at Ni cycles.
Figure 8 shows the variation of crack growth rate along
with the crack length under a stress level of 260 MPa. The
acceleration and deceleration characteristics of crack growth
rate before and after the coalescence of two adjacent cracks are
observed. When the cycle numbers reached 12,600, as shown
in Fig. 6c, the main crack 5 formed by the coalescence of two
adjacent cracks; meanwhile, a length of 29.3-μm short crack 6
initiated. As the cycle numbers reached 23,000, the combined
crack 7 formed through the coalescence of adjacent crack 5 of
462-μm lengths and crack 6 of 188-μm lengths. Although the
fluctuation of crack growth rate is observed, there is a general
increasing trend in the crack growth rate along with the crack
length increase. The deceleration of the crack growth rate is
observed in crack 5 and crack 6 before the coalescence of the
Weld World (2019) 63:1761–1769 1767

(a) 2550
3.2.3 Effects of stress intensity factor on short crack growth
2400 Crack 1
2250 Crack 2 rate
2100 Crack 4
1950 Crack 5
1800 Crack 7 The calculation of the stress intensity factor range (ΔK) for
Crack length (µ m)

1650
Crack 3
1500 short cracks is calculated by Eq. (2) [25].
1350 Crack 6
Crack 8 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1200 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1050 ΔK ¼ 0:65Δσ π area
900  ð3Þ
750 σmax ðσmin ≤ 0Þ
600 Δσ ¼
450 σmax −σmin ðσmin > 0Þ
300
150
0 where area is the projected area of the crack, σmax is the max-
-150 imum stress, and σmin is the minimum stress.
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Life ratio (N/Nf) Figure 9 shows the relation of short fatigue crack
growth rate versus stress intensity factor. The curve un-
(b) 3000
der a maximum stress level of 260 MPa shows a more
2500
intense fluctuation because at least three combined
cracks formed during the growth. The higher the stress
level, the higher the growth rate at the same ΔK in the
Crack length (µ m)

2000
beginning stage. The curves of two different stress
1500 levels are close at a larger growth rate in the late stage
of crack propagation. A low propagation rate appears at
pffiffiffiffi
1000 2.6 and 2.9 MPa m of the ΔK under a stress level of
220 MPa and 260 MPa. Short crack growth rates pre-
500
sented a trend of first falling and then rising, as shown
in Fig. 9.
0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
Life ratio (N/Nf)

Fig. 7 Relationship between crack length and life cycle ratio at different
stress levels. a 260 MPa. b 220 MPa
two cracks, as shown in Fig. 8. The observed acceleration and
retardation in the process of short cracks are considered as a
result of the crack coalescence or the cracks propagating
through the inclusion particles [23, 24].
0
10
da/dN (µ m/cycle)
3.3 Fracture surface morphologies
The fracture surface morphologies of WZ for the FSW
dissimilar joint under a stress level of 220 MPa were
observed by JEOLJSM 6500F SEM. Figure 10a shows
that the fatigue crack source locates in the subsurface.
The tearing ridge in Fig. 10a and the secondary cracks
and microvoids in Fig. 10b show a quasi-cleavage frac-
ture. The transgranular propagation is the main mode in
Crack 5
Crack 6
New combined crack 7

-1
10

-2
10

-3
10
2 3
10 10
Crack length (µm)
Fig. 8 Variation of crack growth rate along with cycles under stress level
of 260 MPa Fig. 9 Short fatigue crack growth rate versus stress intensity factor range
1768 Weld World (2019) 63:1761–1769

Fig. 10 SEM fractographs. a

Crack initiation region. b Crack
propagation region. c Transient
fracture region

the process of the crack propagation. The dimple and References

inclusion particles are found in the transient fracture
region of Fig. 10c. The morphology shows an uneven 1.
deformation in this area and a poor plasticity of the
material.
2.
3.
4 Conclusions
1. The dissimilar FSW joints of 2024 and 7075 aluminum
4.
alloys with a rotational speed of 900 rpm and advancing
speed of 100 mm/min are selected to perform the fatigue
experiment for good quality of free defects, high strength, 5.
and good hardness distribution in the joints.
2. Most specimens fractured in the WZ in the fatigue tests.
6.
Some fatigue crack initiation is affected by large inclusion
particles. The stage of the initiation and stable growth of
short crack accounts for approximately 60–80% of total 7.
fatigue life. The fatigue life of crack initiation for the
dissimilar FSW joints is very short and can be ignored.
3. Some acceleration and retardation in the process of short 8.
cracks are considered as a result of the coalescence of two
or more cracks, and the short crack grows rapidly once it
9.
reaches the crack size of approximately 350~450 μm. The
fracture surface shows a quasi-cleavage fracture mode.
10.
Funding information This work is financially supported by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11672010, 51535001,
51575012).
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