Search Results (33)

Currently, the quartz glass–TC4 dissimilar joint has been applied in fields such as radiation environment testing, reactor engineering, and other areas. However, the high brittleness of the quartz glass and thermal mismatch during the welding process limit require further development. Thus, a femtosecond laser was employed to perform the direct joining of these materials under non-optical contact conditions, with the aid of a well-designed clamp and optimized process, and the effect of pulse energy on the microstructure and mechanical properties was analyzed. It was revealed that a lot of welding zones form at the interface through the diffusion of Si, O, and Ti and, thus, consist of a stable joint. Element distribution is related to pulse energy, which can affect the composition of secondary phases in the weld zones. The maximum shear strength of joints was 10.4 MPa with laser pulses of 0.3 mJ, while a further increase in the pulse energy led to more defects and stress unevenness. These findings provide valuable insights into enhancing the reliability of metal–glass welding joints and the promotion of femtosecond laser technology. Full article

This paper investigates Ring Beam Modulation-assisted Laser (RBML) welding as a novel approach for joining dissimilar materials, specifically aluminum and copper, which are essential in high-performance applications such as electric vehicle batteries and aerospace components. The study aims to address challenges such as thermal mismatches, brittle intermetallic compounds, and structural defects that hinder traditional welding methods. The research combines experimental and computational analyses to evaluate the impact of heat input distributions and laser modulation parameters on weld quality and strength. Three welding cases are compared: fixed center beam with variable ring beam outputs, variable center beam with fixed ring outputs, and a wobble-mode beam to enhance interfacial bonding. Computational modeling supports the optimization process by simulating heat flows and material responses, exploring various shape factors, and guiding parameter selection. Key findings include a nonlinear relationship between heat input and welding strength across the cases. Case 1 demonstrates improved weld strength with higher ring beam input, while Case 2 achieves excellent reliability with relatively lower inputs. Case 3 introduces wobble welding, yielding superior resolution and consistent weld quality. These results confirm that precise ring beam modulation enhances weld reliability, minimizes thermal distortions, and optimizes energy consumption. The manuscript advances the state of knowledge in laser welding technology by demonstrating a scalable, energy-efficient method for joining dissimilar materials. This contribution supports the fabrication of lightweight, high-reliability assemblies, paving the way for innovative applications in the automotive, medical, aerospace, and shipbuilding industries. Full article

Dissimilar steel welded structures are commonly used in the marine engineering field. Owing to the scarcity of in-depth investigation into the intricate pattern of residual stress distribution in welding within 316L/Q345 dissimilar steel welded joints and methods for reducing this stress, a platform-based vibratory stress relief (VSR) experimental system was established to comprehensively study the effects of VSR on the mechanical properties and microstructure of 316L/Q345 welded structures. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to examine the fracture morphology and explore the intrinsic mechanisms by which VSR enhances the mechanical properties of welded joints. The findings suggest that VSR is capable of significantly homogenizing and diminishing the welding residual stress within the heat-affected area of 316L/Q345 mismatched steel welded specimens. The significant reduction in residual stress after VSR can primarily be attributed to the combination of alternating stress applied by the VSR platform and the welding residual stress, which exceeded the yield limit of the metal materials. Furthermore, the significant reduction in residual stress, refinement of second-phase particles, and changes in fracture mechanisms are the main reasons for the increased strength observed after VSR. This study has significant engineering application value, providing a theoretical basis for the use of VSR treatment to enhance the reliability of the safe operation of marine engineering equipment. Full article

Numerical simulation of fatigue crack growth in welded joints is not well represented in the literature, especially from the point of view of material heterogeneity in a welded joint. Thus, several case studies are presented here, including some focusing on fracture, presented by two case studies of mismatched high-strength low-alloyed (HSLA) steel welded joints, with cracks in the heat affected zone (HAZ) or in weld metal (WM). For fatigue crack growth, the extended finite element method FEM (XFEM) was used, built in ABAQUS and ANSYS R19.2, as presented by four case studies, two of them without modelling different properties of the welded joint (WJ). In the first one, fatigue crack growth (FCG) in integral (welded) wing spar was simulated by XFEM to show that its path is partly along welded joints and provides a significantly longer fatigue life than riveted spars of the same geometry. In the second one, an integral skin-stringer panel, produced by means of laser beam welding (LBW), was analysed by XFEM in its usual form with stringers and additional welded clips. It was shown that the effect of the welded joint is not significant. In the remaining two papers, different zones in welded joints (base metal—BM, WM, and HAZ) were represented by different coefficients of the Paris law to simulate different resistances to FCG in the two cases; one welded joint was made of high-strength low-alloyed steel (P460NL1) and the other one of armour steel (Protac 500). Since neither ABAQUS nor ANSYS provide an option for defining different fatigue properties in different zones of the WJ, an innovative procedure was introduced and applied to simulate fatigue crack growth through different zones of the WJ and evaluate fatigue life more precisely than if the WJ is treated as a homogeneous material. Full article

Dissimilar joining through solid-state welding is an important engineering tool to address the transportation industry’s sustainable goals. The dissimilar friction stir lap welding (FSLW) of two different aluminium alloys (AA5182 and AA5052 with two different thicknesses) to steels AISI1010 and DP1000 was performed in this work, in order to analyse the effect of the mismatch in base material properties and plate thickness on the joint strength and fracture location. The mechanical behaviour and the strength of the welds were assessed using transverse tensile–shear testing and hardness measurements. Strain data acquisition through Digital Image Correlation (DIC) was used. The differences in fracture location registered for the different joints are explained based on the alloy’s plastic properties and on the mismatch in thickness between the plates. Local stress–strain curves were plotted, using the strain data acquired through DIC, to highlight the mechanisms resulting in the differences in tensile behaviour among the joints. It is concluded that despite the differences in failure location and tensile behaviour, the strength of the joints was very similar, irrespective of the base material combinations. Full article

With the development of the pressure vessel industry, high-energy wire welding has a great future. However, this means higher demands on the weldability of pressure vessel steels. Controlling inclusions via oxidative metallurgy is a reliable method of improving the weldability of pressure vessel steels. Hence, in this paper, experimental steels with different Mg element mass fractions were prepared using vacuum metallurgy. Simulated welding for high-heat input welding was carried out using the Gleeble-2000 welding thermal simulation test machine. The inclusions in the welding heat-affected zone (HAZ) in the experimental steels were observed using an optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The compositions of the inclusions were analyzed using an energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The research results indicated that the addition of Mg could increase the number density of the inclusions in the welding HAZ. With the addition of Mg from 0 to 5 wt.%, the total number density of the inclusions increased from 133 to 687 pieces/mm^2, and the number density of the inclusions with a size of 0–5 μm² increased from 122 to 579 pieces/mm². The inclusions in the experimental steel welding HAZ with Mg elements were mainly elliptical composite inclusions composed of (Mg-Zr-O) + MnS. Moreover, MnS precipitated on the surface of the Mg-containing inclusions in the welding HAZ. Intragranular acicular ferrite (IAF) nucleation was primarily induced via the minimum lattice mismatch mechanism, supplemented with stress-strain energy and inert interface energy mechanisms. Full article

The formation and evolution of microstructures at the Ni/Fe interface in dissimilar metal weld (DMW) between ferritic steel and austenitic stainless steel were investigated. Layered martensitic structures were noted at the nickel-based weld metal/12Cr2MoWVTiB steel interface after welding and post-weld heat treatment (PWHT). The formation of the interfacial martensite layer during welding was clarified and its evolution during PWHT was discussed by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), focused ion beam (FIB), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), transmission kikuchi diffraction (TKD), phase diagrams, and theoretical analysis. In as-welded DMW, the Ni/Fe interface structures consisted of the BCC quenched martensite layer and the FCC partially mixed zone (PMZ), which was the result of inhomogeneous solid phase transformation due to the chemical composition gradient. During the PWHT process, the BCC interfacial microstructure further evolved to a double-layered structure of tempered martensite and quenched martensite newly formed by local re-austenitization and austenite–martensite transformation. These types of martensitic structures induced inhomogeneous hardness distribution near the Ni/Fe interface, aggravating the mismatch of interfacial mechanical properties, which was a potential factor contributing to the degradation and failure of DMW. Full article

Crack size and undermatching effects on fracture behavior of undermatched welded joints are presented and analyzed. Experimental and numerical analysis of the fracture behavior of high-strength low-alloyed (HSLA) steel welded joints with so-called small and large crack in undermatched weld metal and the base metal was performed, as a part of more extensive research previously conducted. J integral was determined by direct measurement using special instrumentation including strain gauges and a CMOD measuring device. Numerical analysis was performed by 3D finite element method (FEM) with different tensile properties in BM and WM. Results of J-CMOD curves evaluation for SUMITEN SM 80P HSLA steel and its weld metal (WM) are presented and analyzed for small and large cracks in tensile panels. This paper is focused on some new numerical results and observations on crack tip fields and constraint effects of undermatching and crack size keeping in mind previously performed experiments on the full-scale prototype. In this way, a unique combined approach of experimental investigation on the full-scale proto-type and tensile panels, as well as numerical investigation on mismatching and crack size effects, is achieved. Full article

A TIG surface alloying process was applied to modify the surface of ductile cast iron samples. Using this process, in-situ metal matrix composite (MMC) layers were produced on samples to improve their wear resistance. These layers were made by melting substrate surface and powders as additional material into this melt pool. The efficiency of preheating of the samples to prevent cold cracks during solidification was verified. Moreover, a buffer layer produced in situ to decrease the mismatches between the chemical and physical properties of the materials was also tested. Post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) was used to increase the tribological characteristics of the layers and eliminate adverse effects of the heat-affected zone (HAZ) created by the fusion of the substrate surface. The results showed that, in the samples without preheating, the formation of cold cracks occurred. Additionally, layers produced without a buffer layer showed defects, such as shrinkage and porosity. However, using both preheating and a buffer layer prevented cold cracks, discontinuities, shrinkage, and porosity defects in the layers. Furthermore, PWHT allowed for the transformation of brittle martensite into tempered martensite at the HAZ. MMC layers presented high hardness of up to 1230 HV and wear resistance up to 5.8 times greater compared to the substrate samples without layers. Full article

The failure of resistance spot welds through the fusion zone along the sheet/sheet interface (i.e., interfacial failure) is critical for automotive crashworthiness. This paper investigates the effect of fusion zone hardness on the interfacial failure behavior of resistance spot welds during the tensile–shear test. AISI 1040 medium carbon steel, producing a high level of hardness mismatch during resistance spot welding, was selected as the base metal. By ex situ tempering heat treatment, various levels of fusion zone hardness are achieved in the welds with constant fusion zone size. It is shown that the interfacial failure of the spot welds is a competition between ductile shear failure and rapid crack propagation. It is found that there is a critical fusion zone hardness beyond which the interfacial failure mechanism transitions from ductile shear failure to rapid crack propagation. In welds with high fusion zone hardness, the mechanism of interfacial failure is rapid crack growth, and fusion zone fracture toughness is the governing factor for the interfacial failure load. Conversely, in welds with low FZ hardness, the mechanism of interfacial failure is a ductile shear failure, and fusion zone hardness would be the governing factor for the interfacial failure load. Full article

The root cause of post-weld baking on the mechanical performance of Al-steel dissimilar resistance spot welds (RSWs) has been determined by machine learning (ML) and finite element modeling (FEM) in this study. A deep neural network (DNN) model was constructed to associate the spot weld performance with the joint attributes, stacking materials, and other conditions, using a comprehensive experimental dataset. The DNN model positively identified that the post-weld baking reduces the joint performance, and the extent of degradation depends on the thickness of stacking materials. A three-dimensional finite element (FE) model was then used to investigate the root cause and the mechanism of the baking effect. It revealed that the formation of high thermal stresses during baking, from the mismatch of thermal expansion between steel and Al alloy, causes damage and cracking of the brittle intermetallic compound (IMC) formed at the interface of the weld nugget during welding. This in turn reduces the joint performance by promoting undesirable interfacial fracture when the welds were subjected to externally applied loads. The FEM model further revealed that increase in structural stiffness, because of increase in steel sheet thickness, reduces the thermal stresses at the interface caused by the thermal expansion mismatch and consequently lessens the detrimental effect of post-weld baking on the joint performance. Full article

Fillet welded joints are commonly used in steel structures for various engineering applications such as buildings, bridges, railways, ships, and marine structures. Fillet welded joints are generally subjected to static and fatigue loading, resulting in failures of such welded joints. A number of experimental and numerical investigations on the strength and failure behaviour of fillet welded joints have been published. This paper presents a comprehensive review of research results on the static strength, fatigue life, and thermal performance of fillet welded joints. The review covers the various influential factors, such as loading direction, weld geometry, grades of steel, filler materials, welding process, weld penetration, strength mismatch of weld metal, and post-welded treatment. In total, 100 papers were critically reviewed, which were published from 1970 till date. The key findings and research developments on fillet welded joints are summarised. It was found that the transverse fillet welded joints have a higher static strength than the longitudinal fillet welded joints. Filler materials, post-welded treatment, and penetration of weld metal can offer significant strength enhancements in terms of their static and fatigue strength. Lastly, research gaps have been found in the existing body of knowledge, which will help guide future research. Full article

Motivated by the loss of tensile strength in 9%Ni steel arc-welded joints performed using commercially available Ni-based austenitic filler metals, the viability of retaining tensile strength using an experimentally produced matching ferritic filler metal was confirmed. Compared to the austenitic Ni-based filler metal (685 MPa), higher tensile strength in gas metal arc (GMA) welded joints was achieved using a ferritic filler metal (749 MPa) due to its microstructure being similar to the base metal (645 MPa). The microstructure of hard martensite resulted in an impact energy of 71 J (−196 °C), which was two times higher than the specified minimum value of ≥34 J. The tensile and impact strength of the welded joint is affected not only by its microstructure, but also by the degree of its mechanical mismatch depending on the type of filler metal. Welds with a harder microstructure and less mechanical mismatch are important for achieving an adequate combination of tensile strength and notched impact strength. This is achievable with the cost-effective ferritic filler metal. A more desirable combination of mechanical properties is guaranteed by applying low preheating temperature (200 °C), which is a more practicable and economical solution compared to the high post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) temperature (580 °C) suggested by other research. Full article

As an important component of strain-based design, the tensile strain capacity (TSC) concept has been extensively used for pipelines that experience expectable plastic strain for both installation and service. However, some stress-based designed pipelines have experienced unforeseen plastic strain in the past decade that resulted in failure. It seems that the tensile strain capacity has gradually become an important requirement for geohazard risk management and pipeline maintenance of stress-based design pipelines. The tensile strain capacity of an X80 pipeline is investigated. The assessment in this work was based on the fracture initiation–control-based limit state. This limit state corresponds to the onset of stable tearing and generally provides a reasonably conservative estimate. Besides that, factors such as wall thickness, material’s strain hardening capacity, toughness, weld strength mismatch, HAZ (heat-affected zone) softening, pipe wall thickness, high–low misalignment, and internal pressure were also investigated to construct a prediction model of the X80 vintage pipeline. Full article

The mechanical properties of dissimilar metal-welded joint materials are heterogeneous, which is an obstacle to the safety evaluation of key welded structures. The variation of stress–strain conditions at the crack tip caused by mismatch of material mechanical properties in dissimilar metal-welded joints is an important factor affecting crack propagation behavior. To understand the influence of uneven distribution of ultimate strength of the base metal and the welded metal on the crack propagation path, fracture toughness, as well as the mechanical field at the crack tip in the small-scale yield range, the user-defined field variable subroutine method is used to express continuous variation characteristics of welded joint ultimate strength in finite element software. In addition, the J-integral during crack propagation is calculated, and the effect of the ultimate strength on the J-integral and the stress field at the crack tip are analyzed. The results show that as the crack propagation direction is perpendicular to the direction of ultimate strength, the gradient of ultimate strength increases from |G_y|= 50 to |G_y|= 100 MPa/mm, the crack deflection angle increases by 0.018%, and the crack length increases by 1.46%. The fracture toughness of the material decreased slightly during crack propagation. Under the condition that the crack propagation direction is the same as the direction of ultimate strength, the crack propagation path is a straight line. As the gradient of ultimate strength increases from G_x = 50 to G_x = 100 MPa/mm, the crack propagation length decreases by 5.17%, and the slope of fracture toughness curve increases by 51.63%. On the contrary, as the crack propagates to the low ultimate strength side, the crack propagation resistance decreases, the ultimate strength gradient increases from G_x = −100 to G_x = −50 MPa/mm, and the slope of the fracture toughness curve decreases by 51.01%. It is suggested to consider the relationship between crack growth behavior and ultimate strength when designing and evaluating the structural integrity of cracks at the material interface of dissimilar metal-welded joints. Full article