Subshoulder formation during friction stir welding of steel using tungsten alloy tool

Abstract

A study was carried out on the friction stir welding of low alloy steel plates, to understand the influence of the tool profile on the tool wear rate, using a tungsten alloy tool. Three tool profiles were used for the wear study, namely, tool A with a concave shoulder and tapered pin of 2·8 mm, tool B with a flat shoulder and tapered pin of 2·6 mm and tool C with a concave shoulder and tapered pin of 2·6 mm. The tool wear characteristic was analysed by three methods, namely, the profile projector, weight loss and the image processing technique, and it was found that tool C gave reduced tool wear, when compared to the other tool profiles. In tool C, an impression of a step-like formation was generated automatically in the pin during welding and named as a subshoulder, which proved to be the optimised design.

Keywords:

• Tool wear
• Tungsten alloy
• Pin profile
• Subshoulder

The authors would like to acknowledge the unanimous reviewers for their valuable comments and sincerely thank Navel Research Board, New Delhi, India, for funding the project entitled ‘Friction stir welding of high-strength materials’ (project no. NRB-165/MAT08-09).