The Application of Automatic Welding in Mechanical Welding

With the development of science and technology, automation technology has begun to be applied to various fields. Automatic welding technology is increasingly used in the welding industry in the area. The introduction of automatic welding technology not only improve the quality and production efficiency, but also reduce production costs, the production environment in which the staff has also been improved. This paper discusses the current situation of automatic welding technology, mechanical industry, the demand for automatic welding, automatic welding technology advantages and development trends.

Interfacial Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Al/Mg Butt Joints Made by MIG Welding Process with Zn-Cd Alloy as Interlayer

Butt joints between Mg alloy AZ31 B and pure Al 1 060 sheets were produced via metal inert gas welding process with Zn-Cd alloy foil. Crack-free Al/Mg butt joints between AZ31 B Mg alloy and pure Al 1060 sheets were obtained. Intermetallic compound layer 1 and layer 2 had formed in fusion zone/Mg alloy and the average thickness of the layer 1 was about 50 μm. The intermetallic compound layer 1 consisted of Al12Mg17 and Mg2Si phases while layer 2 consisted of Al12Mg17, Mg2Si and Mg Zn2 phases. The crack started from the IMC layer at the bottom of the joint and propagated along the brittle IMC layer, then expanded into weld metal during the SEM in situ tensile test. The highest tensile strength of the dissimilar metal butt joints could reach 46.8 MPa and the effect ofinterfacial IMC layer on mechanical property of the joint was discussed in detail in the present study.

Effects of different friction stir welding conditions on the microstructure and mechanical properties of copper plates

Friction stir welding is a new and innovative welding method used to fuse materials. In this welding method, the heat generated by friction and plastic flow causes significant changes in the microstructure of the material, which leads to local changes in the mechanical properties of the weld. In this study, the effects of various welding parameters such as the rotational and traverse speeds of the tool on the microstructural and mechanical properties of copper plates were investigated; additionally, Charpy tests were performed on copper plates for the first time. Also, the effect of the number of welding passes on the aforementioned properties has not been investigated in previous studies. The results indicated that better welds with superior properties are produced when less heat is transferred to the workpiece during the welding process. It was also found that although the properties of the stir zone improved with an increasing number of weld passes, the properties of its weakest zone, the heat-affected zone, deteriorated.

Welding characteristics in different laser-TIG hybrid manners

An experiment for determining the laser-TIG hybrid welding characteristics was carried out in three kinds of hybrid methods: CO_2 laser-TIG coaxial hybrid, CO_2 laser-TIG paraxial hybrid and Nd: YAG laser-TIG paraxial hybrid. The experimental results indicate that hybrid welding has two welding mechanisms in CO_2 laser-TIG hybrid welding: deep penetration welding and heat conduction welding. As the effect of the laser-induced keyhole, the arc root is condensed, the current density and penetration depth increase significantly, the welding characteristic is apt to deep penetration welding. When current increases to some degree, the keyhole induced by laser disappears, which produces a shallow penetration and wide bead. The weld exhibits heat conduction welding characteristics. Furthermore, the arc images and weld bead cross-sections of three kinds of hybrid manners were also compared and analyzed at different welding currents, which established the foundation for understanding the welding characteristics of laser-TIG hybrid welding comprehensively.

The control of welding wire feed self-adaptive mechanism based on fuzzy PID

The welding wire feed mechanism is an important component of welding equipment, both reliability and stabilization are the premise that the welding quality can be ensured. The PID is currently adapted to control the welding wire feed mechanism, although the fuzzy PID has advantage of fast response and adaptation, the precision of fuzzy PID is lower. Accordingly, the fuzzy self-adaptive PID controller was proposed through changing fuzzy input variables and output variables based on variable universe, simple furwtion is adopted as scaling factor, the fuzzy PID controller parameters are adjusted to improve the precision and adjustment range. Simulation results show that control effects of fuzzy self-adaptive PID adopted by the welding wire feed mechanism have good adaptive ability and robustness based on variable universe, the welding experiments indicate that the welding quality met the requirements actually.

Welding technique studies on the “West-East” pipeline project

This paper described the work of welding process design for the ＂ West-East＂ pipeline project, which is high pressure, large diameter and heavy wall thickness. According to the different geographical situation, climate, culture and the flexibility of the welding methods, this work recommended the semi-automatic process at the east and middle sections and automatic process at the west section of the pipeline project. The manual process is recommended on the tie-in joints and repairs. The double joint pipe and the 3 joint pipe are recommended at the water net place and some in-ditch welding place to reduce the welding volume. Also the special redesigned bevels are recommended for the automatic process and the semiautomatic process. Through all destructive tests, the results shows the welds are meet the requirements of related standards, specifications and design documents.

Constitutive Model of Friction Stir Weld with Consideration of its Inhomogeneous Mechanical Properties

In practical engineering, finite element（FE） modeling for weld seam is commonly simplified by neglecting its inhomogeneous mechanical properties. This will cause a significant loss in accuracy of FE forming analysis, in particular, for friction stir welded（FSW） blanks due to the large width and good formability of its weld seam. The inhomogeneous mechanical properties across weld seam need to be well characterized for an accurate FE analysis. Based on a similar AA5182 FSW blank, the metallographic observation and micro-Vickers hardness analysis upon the weld cross-section are performed to identify the interfaces of different sub-zones, i.e., heat affected zone（HAZ）, thermal-mechanically affected zone（TMAZ） and weld nugget（WN）. Based on the rule of mixture and hardness distribution, a constitutive model is established for each sub-zone to characterize the inhomogeneous mechanical properties across the weld seam. Uniaxial tensile tests of the AA5182 FSW blank are performed with the aid of digital image correlation（DIC） techniques. Experimental local stress-strain curves are obtained for different weld sub-zones. The experimental results show good agreement with those derived from the constitutive models, which demonstrates the feasibility and accuracy of these models. The proposed research gives an accurate characterization of inhomogeneous mechanical properties across the weld seam produced by FSW, which provides solutions for improving the FE simulation accuracy of FSW sheet forming.

Activated flux tungsten inert gas welding of 8 mm-thick AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel

AISI 304 stainless steel plates were welded with activated flux tungsten inert gas(A-TIG) method by utilizing self-developed activated flux. It is indicated from the experimental results that for 8 mm-thick AISI 304 stainless steel plate, weld joint of full penetration and one-side welding with good weld appearance can be obtained in a single pass without groove preparation by utilizing A-TIG welding. Moreover, activated flux powders do not cause significant effect on the microstructure of TIG weld and the mechanical properties of A-TIG weld joints are also superior to those of C-TIG(conventional TIG) welding.

Effect of Post-weld Heat Treatment on Mechanical Characteristics of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy Welded Joints

Tungsten inert gas（TIG） welding was performed on 2.7 mm thick commercial extruded AZ31 B magnesium alloy plates. We investigated the effect of post-weld heat treatment（PWHT） on the microstructure, mechanical properties and precipitated phase of the weld joints. The results showed that during the annealing treatment（200 ℃-1 h, 250 ℃-1 h, 300 ℃-1 h, 350 ℃-1 h, 400 ℃-1 h, and 450 ℃-1 h）, the average grain size in the weld seam was the minimum after annealing at 400 ℃ for 1 hour, and then abnormally grew up after annealing at 450 ℃ for 1 hour. The mechanical properties enhanced when the joints were processed from 200 ℃-1 h to 400 ℃-1 h but sharply decreased with increasing annealing temperature. In contrast to the annealing treatment, solution treatment（250 ℃-10 h, 300 ℃-10 h, 350 ℃-10 h, 400 ℃-10 h, and 450 ℃-10 h） exhibited a better ductility but a slight deterioration in tensile strength. Especially speaking, no eutectic compounds（such as Mg17 Al12） were observed in the weld seam. The supersaturated Al atoms were precipitated in a coarse spherical shape dispersed in the weld seam. The precipitated Al atoms dissolved in the matrix substances at the condition（400 ℃-1 h） or（250 ℃-10 h）. The solution treatment caused grain coarsening and precipitated Al atoms dissolved in the weld seam substantially, which resulted in a drop in micro-hardness at the weld seam compared to the area of the annealed joints.

Analytical-Numerical Modeling Approach for Calculation of the Structural Distortions after Welding and Thermal Straightening

The analytic-numerical hybrid model for calculating welding distortions in large welded structures is presented. Objective of the analytical model is the calculation of the plastic strains and their distribution after welding and thermal straightening process. The consideration of the essential physical relations is put into discussion. Afterwards the obtained plastic strains by the analytical calculation are loaded on an elastic FE-model of the structure and the distortions of the whole structure are predicted. The consideration of welding and thermal straightening scenarios and the assembling stages is done by taking into account the intermediate variation of the strain state at every processing step. The model is intended to be used for solving industrial tasks, i.e. intending acceptable precision and calculation time as well as low simulation costs. The application of the model is demonstrated on structures with many welds and straightening spots.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Galvanized Steel/AA6061 Joints by Laser Fusion Brazing Welding

Laser fusion brazing welding was proposed.Galvanized steel/AA6061 lapped joint was obtained by laser fusion brazing welding technique using the laser-induced aluminium molten pool spreading and wetting the solid steel surface.Wide joint interface was formed using the rectangular laser beam coupled with the synchronous powder feeding.The result showed that the tiny structure with the composition of a-Al and Al–Si eutectic was formed in the weld close to the Al side.And close to the steel side,a layer of compact Fe–Al–Si intermetallics,including the Al-rich FeAl3,Fe2Al5 phases and Al–Fe–Si s1 phase,was generated with the thickness of about 10–20 lm.Transverse tensile shows the brittlefractured characteristic along to the seam/steel interface with the maximum yield strength of 152.5 MPa due to the existence of hardening phases s1 and Al–Fe intermetallics.

Microstructural formation and mechanical performance of friction stir double-riveting welded Al-Cu joints

A novel friction stir double-riveting welding(FSDRW) technology was proposed in order to realize the high-quality joining of upper aluminum(Al) and lower copper(Cu) plates,and this technology employed a Cu column as a rivet and a specially designed welding tool with a large concave-angle shoulder. The formations, interfacial characteristics, mechanical properties and fracture features of Al/Cu FSDRW joints under different rotational velocities and dwell times were investigated. The results showed that the well-formed FSDRW joint was successfully obtained.The cylindrical Cu column was transformed into a double riveting heads structure with a Cu anchor at the top and an Al anchor at the bottom, thereby providing an excellent mechanical interlocking.The defect-free Cu/Cu interface was formed at the lap interface due to the sufficient metallurgical bonding between the Cu column and the Cu plate, thereby effectively inhibiting the propagation of crack from the intermetallic compound layer at the lap interface between the Al and Cu plates. The tensile shear load of joint was increased first and then decreased when the rotational velocity and dwell time of welding tool increased, and the maximum value was 5.52 k N. The FSDRW joint presented a mixed mode of ductile and brittle fractures.

Development and application of software packages in welding engineering

The weldabiUty of some material is analyzed with simple calculating program in this paper, and weldability testing data are shared through database system. The welding procedures are designed with help of expert systems, and the knowledge is shared among welding engineers. Not only the preparing progress of the welding documents is completed with database systems but also the complex decision on the necessity of the qualification test according to the present procedure qualification records （PQRs） and manufacture codes is made. Moreover, the artificial neural network （ANN） technique is proven to be one of the effective ways to predict mechanical properties of welded joints when there are enough tested data to train the models. Finally, the achievements in modeling microstructure of welded joints are introduced, especially in solid transformation and grain growth in both heat-affected zone （HAZ） and welded molten pool.

Fabrication of large-bulk ultrafine grained 6061 aluminum alloy by rolling and low-heat-input friction stir welding

In this study, the ultrafine grained （UFG） 6061 Al alloys fabricated by cold rolling were friction stir welded （FSW） with different rotation rates under both air cooling and rapid cooling in water. Low-heat-input parameters of 400 rpm rotation rate in water （400-Water） could effectively inhibit the coarsening of recrystallized grains, reduce the precipitation rate, and retain more dislocations of the UFG 6061 Al parent metal. 400-Water joint showed high lowest-hardness value, narrow low-hardness zone, and high tensile strength, attributing to the effect of dislocation, grain boundary, solid-solution, and precipitation hardening. This work provides an effective strategy to fabricate large-sized bulk UFG AI alloy by cold rolling with large deformation and low-heat-input FSW.

Microstructure and properties in dissimilar/similar weld joints between DP780 and DP980 steels processed by fiber laser welding

The microstructure and mechanical properties（strength, fatigue and formability） of dissimilar/similar weld joints between DP780 and DP980 steels were studied. The microstructure in fusion zone（FZ） was lath martensite（LM）, and alloying elements in the FZ were uniformly distributed. The hardness in the FZ of dissimilar weld joint was similar to the average value（375 HV） of the two similar weld joints. The microstructural evolution in heat affected zone（HAZ） of dissimilar/similar weld joints was as follows：LM（coarse-grained HAZ） →finer LM（fine-grained HAZ） →M-A constituent and ferrite（intercritically HAZ） →tempered martensite（TM） and ferrite（sub-critical HAZ）. Lower hardness in intercritically HAZ and sub-critical HAZ（softening zones） was observed compared to base metal（BM） in dissimilar/similar weld joints. The size of softening zone was 0.2-0.3 mm and reduction in hardness was ~7.6%-12.7% of BM in all the weld joints, which did not influence the tensile properties of weld joints such that fracture location was in BM. Formability of dissimilar weld joints was inferior compared to similar weld joints because of the softening zone, non-uniform microstructure and hardness on the two sides of FZ. The effect of microstructure on fatigue life was not influenced due to the presence of welding concavity.

Inhomogeneity of microstructure and mechanical properties in the nugget of friction stir welded thick 7075 aluminum alloy joints

In this study, 20 mm thick AA7075-T6 alloy plates were joined by friction stir welding. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the nugget zone along the thickness direction from the top to the bottom was investigated. The results showed that the microstructure including the grain size, the degree of dynamic recrystallization, the misorientation angle distribution and the precipitation phase containing its size, type and content exhibited a gradient distribution along the thickness direction. The testing results of mechanical properties of the slices showed that the nugget was gradually weakened along the depth from the top to the bottom. The maximum ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and elongation of the slice in the nugget top-middle are obtained, which are 415 MPa, 255 MPa and 8.1%, respectively.

Correlation between microstructures and mechanical properties of high-speed friction stir welded aluminum hollow extrusions subjected to axial forces

The AA6005A-T6 aluminum hollow extrusions were friction stir welded at a high welding speed of 2000mm/min and various axial forces. The results show that the nugget zone （NZ） is characterized by fine equiaxed grains, in which a low density of equilibrium phase β is observed. The grains in the thermo-mechanically affected zone （TMAZ） are elongated, and the highest density of dislocations and a low density of β precipitates can be found in grains. The heat affected zone （HAZ） only experiences a low thermal cycle, and a high density of β precipitates and a low density of β precipitates remain in the coarsened grains. The microhardness evolutions in the NZ, TMAZ and HAZ are governed by the grain refinement and dislocation strengthening, the dislocation and precipitation strengthening, and the precipitation and solid solution strengthening, respectively. When increasing the axial force, the changing trend of one strengthening mechanism is contrary to the other in each zone, and the microhardness increases in different zones. As a result, the tensile strength roughly increases with raising the axial force, and all joints show good tensile properties as the high welding speed inhibits the coarsening and dissolution of strengthening precipitates significantly.

Comparative study on local and global mechanical properties of bobbin tool and conventional friction stir welded 7085-T7452 aluminum thick plate

7085-T7452 plates with a thickness of 12 mm were welded by conventional single side and bobbin tool friction stir welding （SS-FSW and BB-FSW, respectively） at different welding parameters. The temperature distribution, microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of joints along the thickness direction were investigated, and digital image correlation （DIC） was utilized to evaluate quantitatively the deformation of different zones during tensile tests. The results indicated that heat-affected zone （HAZ）, the local softening region, was responsible for the early plastic deformation and also the fracture location for SS-FSW samples, while a rapid fracture was observed in weld nugget zone （WNZ） before yield behavior for all BB-FSW specimens. The ultimate tensile strength （UTS） of SS-FSW joints presented the highest value of 410 MPa, 82% of the base material, at a rotational speed of 300 rpm and welding speed of 60 mm/min, much higher than that of BB-FSW joints, with a joint efficiency of only 47%. This should be attributed to the Lazy S defect produced by a larger extent of heat input during the BB-FSW process, The whole joint exhibited a much higher elongation than the slices. Scanning electron microscopic （SEM） analysis of the fracture morphologies showed that joints failed through ductile fracture for SS-FSW and brittle fracture for BB-FSW.

Local melting mechanism and its effects on mechanical properties of friction spot welded joint for Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy

Local melting and the eutectic film and liquation crack formation mechanisms during friction spot weld- ing （FSpW） of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy were studied by both experiment and finite element simulation. Their effects on mechanical properties of the joint were examined. When the welding heat input was high, the peak temperature in the stir zone was higher than the incipient melting temperature of the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy. This resulted in local melting along the grain boundaries in this zone. In the retreating stage of the welding process, the formed liquid phase was driven by the flowing plastic material and redistributed as a ＂U-shaped＂ line in the stir zone. In the following cooling stage, this liquid phase transformed into eutectic films and liquation cracks. As a result, a new characteristic of＂U＂ line that consisted of eutectic films and liquation cracks is formed in the FSpWjoin. This ＂U＂ line was located in the high stress region when the FSpW joint was loaded, thus it was adverse to the mechanical properties of the FSpW joint. During tensile shear tests, the ＂U＂ line became a preferred crack propagation path, resulting in the occurrence of brittle fracture.

Influence of a non-rotating shoulder on heat generation,microstructure and mechanical properties of dissimilar AA2024/AA7050 FSW joints

Friction stir welding （FSW） and stationary shoulder friction stir welding （SSFSW） were carried out for the butt joining of dissimilar AA2024-T3 and AA7050-T7651 aluminium alloys with thicknesses of 2 mm. A comparison between the two processes was performed by varying the welding speed while keeping the rotational speed constant, Through the analysis of the force and torque produced during welding and a simple analytical model, it was possible to show that in SSFSW there is more effective coupling with the tool and the heat produced is more efficiently distributed. This process decreases both the welding area and the diffusion at the interface of the two alloys compared with FSW. The minimum microhardness occurred at the advancing side （AS） at the interface between the thermo-mechanically affected zone （TMAZ） and the stir zone （SZ） in both processes, although the decrease was more gradual in SSFSW. This interface is also where all specimens failed for both welding technologies. An increase in tensile strength was measured in SSFSW compared with standard FSW. Furthermore, it was possible to establish the mechanical performance of the material in the fracture zone using digital image correlation.