Materials Chemistry and Physics 81 (2003) 289–292

TEM analysis of a friction stir-welded butt joint of Al–Si–Mg alloys

M. Cabibbo∗ , E. Meccia, E. Evangelista
INFM/Department of Mechanics, University of Ancona, Via Brecce Bianche, I-60131 Ancona, Italy

Abstract
The microstructure evolution of a joint of Al–Si–Mg alloys A6056-T4 and A6056-T6 has been characterized by transmission electron
microscopy (TEM). Metallurgical investigations, hardness and mechanical tests were also performed to correlate the TEM investigations
to the mechanical properties of the produced friction stir-welded butt joint. After friction stir-welding thermal treatment has been carried
out at 530 ◦ C followed by ageing at 160 ◦ C (T6). The base material (T4) and the heat-treated one (T6) were put in comparison showing a
remarkable ductility reduction of the joint after T6 treatment.
© 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Al–Si–Mg alloy; Friction stir-welding; Microstructure; TEM

1. Introduction
Light-weight aluminium alloys are widely used to obtain
components for aerospace applications with high specific
strength [1]. Indeed, recent studies focused on the possi-
bility of using Al alloys in widespread range of activities
[2]. In particular welded components reduce up to 30% the
involved costs compared to mechanical fastening and nu-
merical control machining, and a weight reduction of 10%
respect to the weight components produced by mechanical
fastening. On the other hand, traditional welding processes,
when applied to several Al alloys, present a series of disad-
vantages that have sometimes discouraged the use of such a
kind of welded materials.
Friction stir-welding (FSW) is a recent method of joining
materials, patented by the welding institute (TWI) in 1991
[3]. This process constitutes a development of the classical
friction welding methods. In the FSW process no melt of the
joining parts occurs and the weld forms through solid-state
plastic flow at elevated temperature. FSW assures the ab-
sence of porosity, distortion and residual stresses which are
typical defects of the fusion processes. Moreover, it assures
the possibility to operate in all positions with no protective
gas. Alloys difficult to weld as 2000 and 7000 series have
been successfully welded by FSW [4–12]. The process uses
a shouldered rotating tool with a profiled pin, that penetrates
the parts to join, firmly clamped, till the desired pressure;
then the tool starts to move along the joint line. The resulting
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-71-220-4794; fax: +39-71-220-4799.
E-mail address: marcello.cabibbo@unian.it (M. Cabibbo).
heat, produced during the friction, softens the alloy, and the
pin stirs the material of the joint, until the sheets are joined.
The weld structure consists of a continuous consolidated
nugget of forged material with a refined grain size. The FSW
metal, solution heat-treated and artificially aged, can exhibit
almost the same strength of the fully heat-treated parent
material. The relationship between process parameters and
final microstructure is very relevant to obtain a deep com-
prehension of the process. To reach this goal, a great deal
of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations
has been recently performed on several friction stir-welded
alloys, in particular on 2000 and 6000 series. The FSW join-
ing process produces a thermally altered region where the
grain morphology withstands deep structural changes.
The microstructure studies aimed at characterization of
either the shape and dimension of the grains across the joint
for different kinds of Al alloys, the distribution and size of
precipitates, the dislocation density of the 6063 material and
the types of orientation referred to the pin surfaces. Sato
et al. [4,6,9] have found on joint a complex distribution of
precipitates on the transverse section: needle-shaped ones
diffused in unaffected material and rod-shaped ones closer
to the join line. The variation of micro-hardness is also as-
sociated with the kind and shape of precipitates. Within the
welded heat-affected zone, the density of strengthening pre-
cipitates changed considerably and influenced the mechan-
ical properties of the joined materials.
Liu et al. [10] focused their studies on the complex pre-
cipitation phenomena, especially in the transition zone, and
underlined the reduction of dislocation density in the cen-
tre of the weld. In the case of a 6061 T651 joint [12],
it was found that the stir zone was basically constituted

0254-0584/03/$ – see front matter © 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0254-0584(02)00604-1
290 M. Cabibbo et al. / Materials Chemistry and Physics 81 (2003) 289–292

of small grains separated by high-angle grain boundaries.

A great deal of dislocations characterize the cell–subgrain
interior and, therefore, a strain gradient exists across the
cell/subgrain boundaries. The subgrain structure transforms
into a fine grain structure, promoted by lattice rotation asso-
ciated to boundary sliding and subgrain growth. This kind
of dynamic microstructure transformation is fully consistent
to a continuous dynamic recrystallization process.
The aim of the present paper is to analyse the microstruc-
ture of friction stir-welded butt joint of the A6056 material
by TEM and to compare the results of T4 and T6 treatment.

2. Experimental Fig. 1. Base material before the FSW process. Light microscopy.

The examined joined sheets had dimensions of 200 mm ×
470 mm × 4 mm and they were produced by Alenia
Italia Aerospatial Section. The material, a 6056-T4 (i.e.,
as-welded) alloy, had the following chemical composition
(wt.%): 0.65 Si, 0.15 Mn, 1.1 Mg, 0.23 Cr, Al bal.
Tensile tests have been made on specimens of different
dimensions and kept in different positions, to measure the
mechanical properties of base, as-welded and T6-treated ma-
terial. The post-weld heat treatment (i.e., T6) consisted in
solutioning at 530 ◦ C for 4 h, water quenching, and ageing
at 160 ◦ C for 0.5–48 h. The base material was preliminary
aged for different times at 160◦ C to identify the peak ageing
condition. This preliminary study suggested the ageing time
to be of 12 h (i.e., the hardness peak condition); the tensile
tests and microstructure investigations on T6 material were
carried out for the peak-ageing condition.
For TEM investigations, thin foils were prepared by
means of double jet electro-polishing, using a solution of
20% HNO3 in methanol (18 V and −35 ◦ C). A Philips
CM200 was used.
due to the dynamic recrystallization occurred during the
welding.
Fig. 3 shows a TEM image of the microstructure of the
heat-affected zone. The elongated grain region is compared
to the recrystallized one; a relevant absence of dislocations
and pinning mechanism of precipitates within the grains
in the recrystallized region appeared. The elongated grains,
containing an almost uniform dislocation distribution in their
interior, are pinned by the hardening precipitates and a pre-
ferred direction is clearly visible. Evidently, the preferred
dislocation orientation is parallel to the grain boundaries in
this zone.
During FSW, the original grains and subgrains of the base
material seemed to be replaced with finer, equiaxed grains
formed by a recrystallization mechanism typical of subgrain

3. Results and discussion

A statistic evaluation of the grain size has been carried

out either in the not-welded material and in the welded one.
Fig. 1 shows the microstructure of the as-received material;
the mean grain size has been calculated by means of statistic
evaluations over different specimen areas. The mean grain
size was 65 ␮m and clearly preferentially oriented along the
rolling direction.
Fig. 2 shows the macrostructure of the transverse surface
across the welding zone. The cross-section has the typical
aspect of friction stir-welded zone, where the “weld-nugget
zone” (part of thermo-mechanically affected zone) is char-
acterized by the presence of equiaxed grains finer than the
parent material (whose mean dimension was 11 ␮m). Three
different grain morphologies are recognizable: equiaxed
grains of the base material far away from the welded zone,
elongated grains, and fine recrystallized grains within the Fig. 2. Transverse section of the welded joint: (a) elongated grain region;
welding zone. The presence of the recrystallized grains is (b) fine recrystallized grain region.
 M. Cabibbo et al. / Materials Chemistry and Physics 81 (2003) 289–292 291

Fig. 4. Histogram showing the mechanical response of the FSW ma-

terial. Base material: R = 342 MPa, Rp0.2 = 225 MPa, A = 22.4%;
base T6: R = 360 MPa, Rp0.2 = 330 MPa, A = 12.5%; weld material:
R = 332 MPa, Rp0.2 = 226 MPa, A = 10.0%; weld T6: R = 348 MPa,
Rp0.2 = 340 MPa, A = 1.8%.

Fig. 3. Microstructure of T4-FSW material. (a) Elongated grain zone of

the heat-affected region; (b) dynamically recrystallized grains. T4 and T6
microstructure after FSW; dynamically recrystallized zone of T4 (c) and
T6 (d). TEM.

formation during hot rolling (Fig. 3b). Fig. 3c and d illus-

trates the major microstructure differences between the T4
and T6 materials. The T6 grains look wider than the T4
ones. This is evidently due to the high internal energy intro-
Fig. 5. (a) Recrystallized grain showing the presence of second-phase
duced during the solution treatment and responsible for the particles and (b) elongated grain microstructure. T6 material.
widening of the grains. A higher number of fine and little
hardening Mg2 Si precipitates in T6, compared to the ones
the large transverse samples was thus lower than the one of
in T4, is also evident. The solution treatment (carried out
the parent material, and it was due to the poor ductility of the
at 530 ◦ C for 4 h) dissolved the particles, and the following
joint. The yield and ultimate tensile strength, compared with
ageing (at 160 ◦ C for 12 h) formed a supersaturated solid
the T4 joint, were improved by the T6 treatment. In fact,
solution, forerunning the Mg2 Si particles following precip-
the mechanical response of the welded sheets is 80–90% of
itation. Thus, the T6 treatment allowed an overall lowering
that for the parent material. Fig. 4 summarizes the averaged
of the mean dimension of the hardening particles present
tensile test results.
inside the grains and along the grain boundaries. The parti-
cles number per unit of volume appeared to be higher in T6
compared to the T4 material. The dimension and number of 4. Conclusions
the fine precipitates, in the case of T6, seemed to account for
the relevant decrease in the ductility response of the A6056 FSW of A6056 material induced a dynamic recrystalliza-
butt joint (Fig. 4). tion of the grains within the heat-affected zone. The elon-
Fig. 5 illustrates a detail of the inner part of a recrystal- gated grain structure was also formed with a high dislocation
lized grain (Fig. 5a) and of an elongated grain (Fig. 5b). concentration inside the deformed grains. A post-FSW T6
The presence of dislocations and their pinning effect by the treatment produced a considerable increase in the yield and
second-phase particles is evident in the case of recrystallized ultimate tensile strength of the joint. A remarkable decrease
grains. The mean dimension of the particles seemed to be of the ductility response of the T6 material was basically due
alike in the two cases (both figures show the microstructure to a higher concentration of fine hardening Mg2 Si particles
of T6 sample). formed during the ageing treatment.
Very relevant results have been obtained by stress–strain
curves: the parent material was very ductile even in the T6
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