There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a relatively new solid-state joining process. This joining technique is energy efficient, environment friendly, and versatile. In particular, it can be used to join high-strength aerospace aluminum alloys and other metallic alloys that are hard to weld by conventional fusion welding. FSW is considered to be the most significant development in metal joining in a decade. Recently, friction stir processing (FSP) was developed for microstructural modification of metallic materials. In this review article, the current state of understanding and development of the FSW and FSP are addressed. Particular emphasis has been given to: (a) mechanisms responsible for the formation of welds and microstructural refinement, and (b) effects of FSW/FSP parameters on resultant microstructure and final mechanical properties. While the bulk of the information is related to aluminum alloys, important results are now available for other metals and alloys. At this stage, the technology diffusion has significantly outpaced the fundamental understanding of microstructural evolution and microstructure–property relationships.

/pdf/friction-stir-welding-and-processing-3hu3ejo7ub.pdf

Friction Stir Welding and Processing

[Lu, K.; Lu, L.] Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Met Res, Shenyang Natl Lab Mat Sci, Shenyang 110016, Peoples R China. [Lu, L.; Suresh, S.] MIT, Sch Engn, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA.;Lu, K (reprint author), Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Met Res, Shenyang Natl Lab Mat Sci, Shenyang 110016, Peoples R China;lu@imr.ac.cn ssuresh@mit.edu

/pdf/strengthening-materials-by-engineering-coherent-internal-4fkjmv3btq.pdf

Strengthening Materials by Engineering Coherent Internal Boundaries at the Nanoscale

Recent advances in friction-stir welding : Process, weldment structure and properties

This article presents an overview of the developments in stainless steels made since the 1990s. Some of the new applications that involve the use of stainless steel are also introduced. A brief introduction to the various classes of stainless steels, their precipitate phases and the status quo of their production around the globe is given first. The advances in a variety of subject areas that have been made recently will then be presented. These recent advances include (1) new findings on the various precipitate phases (the new J phase, new orientation relationships, new phase diagram for the Fe–Cr system, etc.); (2) new suggestions for the prevention/mitigation of the different problems and new methods for their detection/measurement and (3) new techniques for surface/bulk property enhancement (such as laser shot peening, grain boundary engineering and grain refinement). Recent developments in topics like phase prediction, stacking fault energy, superplasticity, metadynamic recrystallisation and the calculation of mechanical properties are introduced, too. In the end of this article, several new applications that involve the use of stainless steels are presented. Some of these are the use of austenitic stainless steels for signature authentication (magnetic recording), the utilisation of the cryogenic magnetic transition of the sigma phase for hot spot detection (the Sigmaplugs), the new Pt-enhanced radiopaque stainless steel (PERSS) coronary stents and stainless steel stents that may be used for magnetic drug targeting. Besides recent developments in conventional stainless steels, those in the high-nitrogen, low-Ni (or Ni-free) varieties are also introduced. These recent developments include new methods for attaining very high nitrogen contents, new guidelines for alloy design, the merits/demerits associated with high nitrogen contents, etc.

Recent developments in stainless steels

In situ EBSD observation of grain boundary character distribution evolution during thermomechanical process used for grain boundary engineering of 304 austenitic stainless steel

Friction stir spot welding of single-crystal austenitic stainless steel

The microstructural evolution of pure copper during friction-stir welding was found to be principally influenced by welding temperature. At temperatures below ~0.5 Tm (where Tm is melting point), the microstructure was shown to be essentially determined by continuous recrystallization, leading to significant grain refinement and related material strengthening in the stir zone. In contrast, grain structure development at temperatures above ~0.5 Tm was dominated by discontinuous recrystallization producing a relatively coarse grain structure in the stir zone and giving rise to material softening.

Microstructural evolution of pure copper during friction-stir welding

High-strain-rate deformation in ultrasonic additive manufacturing

In this study, FSSW of DP590 steel was performed using both bare and TiC/TiN coated Si3N4 tool with Ar shielding, and effect of contamination on the microstructure during FSSW was examined. Defect free welds were successfully obtained at all welding conditions. Si, N and O contaminations were clearly found in the weld when bare Si3N4 tool was used without Ar shielding, but the coated tool and Ar shielding could suppress the contaminations. The contaminations caused higher hardness in the vicinity of the pin hole and reduced the weld strength. The present study showed that the prevention of the contaminations could improve the weld strength, especially the cross-tension strength, in FSSW of DP590 steel using Si3N4 tool.

Yutaka S. Sato

Papers

In situ EBSD observation of grain boundary character distribution evolution during thermomechanical process used for grain boundary engineering of 304 austenitic stainless steel

Friction stir spot welding of single-crystal austenitic stainless steel

Microstructural evolution of pure copper during friction-stir welding

High-strain-rate deformation in ultrasonic additive manufacturing

Effect of contamination on microstructure in friction stir spot welded DP590 steel