Comparative study on conventional and

underwater friction stir welding of copper

plates
Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 2128, 030003 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5117946
Published Online: 23 July 2019

N. Ethiraj, T. Sivabalan, S. Meikeerthy, Kanthi Leela Venkata Ravi Kumar, Guvvala Chaithanya, and
Guddeti Praveen Kumar Reddy

AIP Conference Proceedings 2128, 030003 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5117946 2128, 030003

© 2019 Author(s).
 Comparative Study on Conventional and Underwater
Friction Stir Welding of Copper Plates
N.Ethiraj1,a), T Sivabalan1, S.Meikeerthy1, Kanthi Leela Venkata Ravi Kumar1,
Guvvala Chaithanya1, Guddeti Praveen Kumar Reddy1
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr.M.G.R Educational and Research Institute, Maduravoyal, Chennai-
600095, Tamilnadu, India.
a)
Corresponding author email: ethiraj.mech@drmgrdu.ac.in

Abstract. Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid state welding in which the material is joined without melting but
plasticized and stirred by the rotating tool. Underwater friction stir welding (UWFSW) is performed under the water
against the conventional FSW where the process is carried out in air at room temperature. This paper deals with the
investigation on the joints made by conventional and underwater FSW of copper sheet of thickness 2.0 mm. The
experiments were carried out in computer numerically controlled vertical milling machine using the high speed steel tool
with a rotational speed of 600,800,1000,1200 and 1300 rpm keeping the tool traversing speed of 50 mm/min and tool
tilting angle of 0o as constant parameters. The investigation on the mechanical and microstructural properties of the joints
made in both conditions are carried out and compared. The joint made at tool rotational speed 1200rpm has shown the
maximum tensile strength of 91.5% & 66.6% to that of the base material in both conventional and underwater FSW
respectively. Also, the maximum tensile strength achieved in underwater FSW at 1200rpm is approximately 27% less
than the conventional FSW within the experimented parameters. Due to the presence of water, the heat generated by the
rotating tool is not sufficient enough to plasticize the material compared to conventional process, the tensile strength of
the welded joint is lower than the conventional FSW. Study of microscopic images reveals that the grains are so finer in
underwater condition when compared with the conventional FSW.

Keywords: Underwater Friction Stir Welding, Copper Plates, Tool Rotational Speed, Tool Traverse speed.

INTRODUCTION
Friction stir welding (FSW) is one of the latest welding techniques used as a green manufacturing process for
joining similar or dissimilar metals or polymers. This process utilizes the heat generated due to friction by the
traversing movement of the rotating tool over the surface to be welded. Underwater friction stir welding (UWFSW)
is the advancement of FSW, wherein, the process is carried out under the water. This welding technique does not use
any electrode and hence no smoke or any harm to the operator. FSW finds its applications in automobile,
aeronautics and aerospace industries. In the past, it was experimented with aluminium [1, 2], magnesium [3] and
steel [4 - 6]. The use of FSW now has been extended to many materials like copper [7-14], brass [15], polymer [16]
etc. due to its advantages. Researchers have investigated the effect of process parameters on microstructural
properties [7, 8] and mechanical, thermal and microstructural properties [10, 11] of the welded joints of copper
made by FSW. Galvão et al. [10] have concluded that the increase in hardness and mechanical strength of the joints
made with the scrolled shoulder is due to the grain refinement.
Heidarzadeh and Saeid [9] have established a functional relationship between operating variables to the different
mechanical properties using response surface methodology and found that increase in the tool rotational speed
increases the ultimate tensile strength, tensile elongation. The fracture behavior of friction stir welded joint under

International Conference on Materials, Manufacturing and Machining 2019

AIP Conf. Proc. 2128, 030003-1–030003-8; https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5117946
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1870-7/$30.00

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cyclic loading was investigated by Salahi and Yapici [12]. They have observed that the material undergoes softening
at low strain amplitudes whereas at higher strain amplitudes the cyclic hardening occurred.
Some of the researchers have attempted FSW under water to produce the welded joints with different sheet materials
like aluminium [17-20], aluminium and magnesium alloy [21, 22], steel [23, 24] and copper [25]. During UWFSW
of aluminium, Zhang et al. [17] have ascertained that a partial recovery existed in the thermo-mechanical affected
zone and continuous dynamic recrystallization was observed in the weld nugget zone. Rui-dong Fu et al. [18] have
performed FSW in air, cold water and hot water and have achieved higher mechanical properties in hot water
condition among the three ambient conditions. Hossein Papahn et al. [20] have noticed that the axial and
translational applied forces are greater in UWFSW than FSW in air. A smoother interface and less intermixing in the
stir zone was noticed by Mohammad Ammar Mofid et al. [21] during underwater welding and under liquid nitrogen
welding when compared to air welded specimen.
From the literature review, it is observed that a lot of research has been done on FSW of different materials in air
and a very few researchers have attempted submerged FSW. A need for exploration of more information regarding
UWFSW is required due to the extensive use of different materials under the water. So, the objective of this paper is
to investigate the effect of process parameters on the welded joints made by UWFSW of pure copper and compare
with those made by conventional FSW.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Workpiece Material
The present experimental study deals with the pure copper (Cu) plates as a base material with dimensions 100 X
75 X 2 mm were butt joined by FSW and UWFSW with a rotating welding tool. Table.1 shows the important
mechanical properties of pure copper.

TABLE 1. Important Mechanical Properties of Pure Copper

S.No. Property Value

1 Yield strength(MPa) 170.22
2 Tensile strength (MPa) 237.81
3 % Elongation 39

Tool

The FSW tool is made of high speed steel (HSS) of length and shoulder diameter of 145mm and 12mm
respectively. The pin is conical shaped with major diameter 6mm, minor diameter 4mm and length of 1.8mm. The
tool is heat treated to the hardness of 45-48 HRC. Fig 1 shows the used HSS tool with a conical pin for both under
water and air friction stir welding process.

FIGURE 1. Tool Used for FSW and UWFSW

Experimental Setup

The conventional FSW was carried out by fixing the copper plates in the specially made fixture which is fitted on
to the VML-800 computer numerically controlled (CNC) vertical milling machine table. The specifications of the
machine are as follows: Table size 800 X 500mm and maximum speed and feed rate of 8000 rpm and 1000 mm/min
respectively. Specially designed and fabricated tank of 380 X 280 X 140 mm size was used for performing

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UWFSW. The base of the tank is made of mild steel with acrylic side walls to view the process. The copper plates,
which are to be welded, are clamped firmly on the fixture which is attached inside with the base of the tank. The
plain water at room temperature is filled in the fabricated tank so that the fixture with workpiece material, tool tip
and certain portion of the tool shoulder are immersed inside the water and FSW process is carried out under
Submerged condition. The fig 2, Shows the fabricated setup for UWFSW.

FIGURE 2. Fabricated Setup for UWFSW

Process Parameter

Initially, UWFSW was performed with rotational speeds of 100,200 rpm etc., with constant traverse speed of 50
mm/min but the welds were too weak and the welded joints was broken by hand force itself. The experiments were
continued until the successful joint was made. Based on this, the tool rotational speeds of 600,800,1000,1200,1300
rpm were chosen for further investigation at the same constant traversing speed. The tool tilting angle is 0 0. The
same process parameters were used for conventional FSW also to compare with UWFSW.

Evaluation Procedure

For testing, the welded Samples of pure copper were cut into dog bone shape according to ASTM E-8 by SODICK
wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM). The tensile testing was carried out in FINE SPAVY universal tensile
testing machine and microstructure images were taken using VEGA3 TESCAN scanning electron microscope
(SEM) as well as CARL ZEISS optical electron microscope. The etchant used for microscopic study was 10% of
ammonium sulfate. Each five samples made with the same process parameters were used for tensile testing and the
average value is computed in both FSW and UWFSW.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Mechanical properties of the dry and wet FSW joints

The FSW of copper plates were successfully made in air and under water conditions at tool rotational speeds of
1000, 1200 and 1300 rpm keeping all other process parameters as constant. The welded joints made at 600 and 800
rpm in UWFSW have shown very much lower strength and are fractured by little hand force itself. In conventional
FSW, the joint made at 600 and 800 rpm has a tensile strength of 25.5% and 58% of the base metal respectively and
the joint made in under water condition was very poor and fractured during the preparation of the specimen for
tensile testing in the wire EDM process. This may be due to the fact that the insufficient heat input is available
during lower tool rotational speed for plasticizing the material during welding under water and causes very poor
welded joints. This is similar to the result obtained by Farrokhi et al. [25].

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 250 217.56

Tensile Strength (MPa)

200 158.32 164.68
149.8
137.86 136.73
150 112.38
100 60.67
50
0 0
0
600 800 1000 1200 1300
Tool Rotational Speed (rpm)
WET DRY

FIGURE 3. Observed Tensile Strength of the welded joints at different tool rotational speed

3.5
3.06 2.97
3 2.49
2.5 2.4
2.03
% Elongation

2 1.71 1.66
1.5
1
1
0.5 0 0
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Tool Rotational Speed (rpm)
WET DRY

FIGURE 4. Observed % Elongation of the welded joints at different tool rotational speed

From the fig 3 & 4, it is observed that the tensile strength increases when the tool rotational speed changes from
1000 to 1200 rpm and then decrease at 1300 rpm in both conventional and UWFSW. These results are similar to the
one obtained by Heidarzadeh and Saeid [9], but the peak value was observed at different tool speed. This may be
attributed to the reason that in case of FSW the increase in the rotational speed created sufficient heat to bring the
material to the plasticized condition and the pin stirred the material properly to make the good welded joint. But, in
UWFSW, the presence of water caused lesser heat input than conventional FSW and hence the tensile strength value
is lesser than those obtained in FSW at all the experimented tool rotational speeds. Since the water is stagnant inside
the experimental tank, it gets heated due to the transfer of heat, which is generated by the rotating tool, from the tool
and workpiece. As the time pass on, the temperature of the water increases further which causes slow cooling of the
welded joints when compared with the cooling effect observed during FSW in air . This causes the annealing effect
in the welded zone and hence the % elongation is more in UWFSW than FSW.
The above results are contrary to the one reported in their comparison of tensile strength of the welded joints
made in FSW and SFSW by Farrokhi et al. [25]. This may be due to the combined effect of more heat generation
and higher cooling rate. The increase in the heat generation decreases the tensile strength whereas the higher cooling
rate increases the tensile strength due to the high hardness. Also, the heating of water due to the heat transfer from
the tool and workpiece decreases the cooling rate and in combination with high heat generation due to friction may
have reduced the tensile strength. Further increase in the tool rotational speed from 1200 to 1300 rpm, reduces the
tensile strength in both dry and wet condition. This may be due to the lesser contact time between the tool and the
workpiece which creates lesser friction when compared with the heat generation in 1000 & 1200 rpm speeds. Also,
increase in the heat generation due to rise in the rotational speed from 1200 to 1300 rpm reduces the yield strength.
This resulted in reduction of tensile strength in both cases. Further, the fracture occurred in the center or close to the
center of the weld NZ in all cases.

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 Microstructure properties of dry and wet FSW joint

The microstructure of the copper seen under the optical electron microscope is shown in the fig.5. It is observed
that the microstructure consists of mixture of fine and coarse grains.

FIGURE 5. Microstructure of copper

Fig. 6 & 7 shows the SEM image of the weld line and Optical microscopic image of the weld region during (a)
conventional FSW and (b) the underwater FSW at tool rotational speed 1200 rpm. Thorough mixing of materials by
the stirring action of the pin in the welded line is observed in the SEM images of both conditions. Also, no welding
defects and flashes are observed in the nugget region in both conventional and underwater FSW.

(a) (b)
FIGURE 6. SEM image of weld line (a) Dry (b) Submerged condition at tool rotational speed of 1200rpm

(a) (b)
FIGURE 7. Optical microscopic image of weld line (a) Dry (b) Submerged condition at rotational speed of 1200rpm

From the Fig. 7, it is seen that the grains are broken by the stirring action of the tool and becomes fine when the
tool rotational speed is increased in both conditions. Also, the grains are so finer in underwater condition when
compared with the conventional one. Similar, fine grained microstructure was observed by Farrokhi et al. [25] in
case of UFSW. It may be attributed to the fact that the increase in the tool rotational speed increases the heat
generated by friction and increase in peak temperature increases the grain size. Since the heat generated in
underwater condition is lower than the conventional method due to the presence of water which causes the grains to

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be finer and thus the tensile strength of the joint is lower than the conventional FSW. The formation of finer grains
may be attributed to the following facts; 1.If the operating temperature is below the recrystallization temperature of
the copper material, then the submerged friction stir welding behave like cold working process; 2. If the temperature
is above the recrystallization temperature, the localized temperature at the welding region remains at this
temperature for a very short period of time not allowing the crystals to grow and 3.the stirring action of the rotating
tool pin.
Fig. 8 & 9 shows the SEM image of the weld line and Optical microscopic image of the weld region during (a)
conventional FSW and (b) the underwater FSW at tool rotational speed 1300 rpm.

(a) (b)
FIGURE 8. SEM image of weld line (a) Dry (b) Submerged condition at tool rotational speed of 1300rpm

(a) (b)
FIGURE 9. Optical microscopic image of weld line (a) Dry (b) Submerged condition at rotational speed of 1300rpm

Similar SEM image and microstructure images are observed at 1300rpm also as shown in Fig. 8 & 9. But the
increase in the tool rotational speed increases the heat generated due to friction causes tensile strength to decrease .

CONCLUSION
The FSW of copper plates are performed to make butt joint in both conventional and underwater method. The
following conclusions are arrived at:
¾ The welding of butt joints copper plates are made successfully in both conditions.
¾ The joints made at tool rotational speed 600 & 800rpm are very weak and fractured either by hand force or
while performing the wire EDM operation for tensile test specimen preparation.
¾ The joint made at tool rotational speed 1200rpm has the maximum tensile strength of 91.5% & 66.6% to
that of the base material in both conventional and underwater FSW respectively within the experimented
parameters.
¾ Further increase in the tool rotational speed from 1200 to 1300 rpm, reduces the tensile strength to 69.2%
& 57.5% to that of the base material in both conventional and underwater FSW.
¾ The maximum tensile strength achieved in underwater FSW at 1200rpm is approximately 27% less than the
conventional FSW within the experimented parameters.
¾ Also, the Microstructure study reveals that the grains are so finer in underwater condition when compared
with the conventional FSW.

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