Showing papers by "Tracy W. Nelson published in 2013"

Microstructure and mechanical properties of hard zone in friction stir welded X80 pipeline steel relative to different heat input

Abstract: The study was conducted to investigate the microstructure and mechanical properties of the hard zone in friction stir welded X80 pipeline steel at different heat inputs. Microstructural analysis of the welds was carried out using optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and microhardness. Heat input during friction stir welding process had a significant influence on the microstructure and mechanical properties in the hard zone along the advancing side of the weld nugget. Based on the results, the linear relationships between heat input and post-weld microstructures and mechanical properties in the hard zone of friction stir welded X80 steels were established. It can be concluded that with decrease in heat input the bainitic structure in the hard zone becomes finer and so hard zone strength increases.

On the selection of constitutive laws used in modeling friction stir welding

Abstract: Discrepancies in friction stir welding model predictions for temperature, strain, and strain rate may be due to material, process parameters, boundary conditions, heat transfer properties, or constitutive laws. The focus of this work is to investigate the effect of the constitutive law on friction stir welding model predictions. This paper provides a description of constitutive laws with their uses and limitations to facilitate the selection of an appropriate constitutive law for a given modeling objective. None of the path-independent constitutive laws evaluated in this paper has been validated over the full range of strain, strain rate, and temperature in friction stir welding. Holding all parameters other than constitutive law constant in a friction stir weld model for AA 5083 resulted in temperature differences of up to 21%. Varying locations for maximum temperature difference indicate that the constitutive laws resulted in different temperature profiles. Peak strains and strain rates predicted vary by up to 130% and 166%, respectively. Predicted flow stress profiles are also affected by the choice of constitutive law.

Analysis of variant selection in friction‐stir‐processed high‐strength low‐alloy steels

Abstract: Variant selection in friction-stir-welded high-strength low-alloy steels has been studied using the electron backscatter diffraction and prior austenite (PA) reconstruction techniques described in previous papers. A hypothesis for variant selection has been proposed based on grain-boundary interfacial energy and misorientation. This study focuses on austenite 〈111〉 boundaries with a two-dimensional approach. Results indicate that variant selection is strongly dependent on misorientation. Certain PA misorientations produce combinations of variants that minimize the interfacial energies between a ferrite nucleus and a neighboring austenite grain, and between adjoining ferrite nuclei along the boundary between two PA grains. PA grains that exhibit a 60° 〈111〉 misorientation between them satisfy both these conditions for a combination of variants. These PA boundaries exhibit strong variant selection. As a result, the density of these boundary types influences the overall variant selection. Additionally, variant selection is more prevalent in small PA grains (<150 µm), which is probably a result of limited intragranular nucleation. Nearly all variants are present in larger PA grains.

Material Flow during Friction Stir Welding of HSLA 65 Steel

Abstract: Material flow during friction stir welding of HSLA-65 steel was investigated by crystallographic texture analysis. During the welding process, the steel deforms primarily by local shear deformation in the austenite phase and then transforms upon cooling. Texture data from three weld specimens were compared to theoretical textures calculated using ideal Euler angles for shear in face centered cubic (FCC) structures transformed by the Kurdjumov–Sacks (KS) relationship. These theoretical textures show similarities to the experimental textures. Texture data from the weld specimens revealed a rotation of the shear direction corresponding to the tangent of the weld tool on both the area directly under the weld tool shoulder and weld cross sections. In addition, texture data showed that while the shear plane of the area under the weld tool shoulder remained constant, the shear plane of the weld cross sections is influenced by the weld tool pin.