International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 46 (2006) 588–594

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmactool

Mechanical and microstructural behaviour of 2024–7075 aluminium

alloy sheets joined by friction stir welding
P. Cavalierea, R. Nobilea, F.W. Panellaa,*, A. Squillaceb
a
Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Innovazione, Università di Lecce, Via per Arnesano, I-73100 Lecce, Italy
b
Dipartimento di Ingegneria dei Materiali e della Produzione, Università di Napoli Federico II, Italy
Received 4 April 2005; accepted 7 July 2005
Available online 21 September 2005

Abstract
The aim of the present work is to investigate on the mechanical and microstructural properties of dissimilar 2024 and 7075 aluminium
sheets joined by friction stir welding (FSW). The two sheets, aligned with perpendicular rolling directions, have been successfully welded;
successively, the welded sheets have been tested under tension at room temperature in order to analyse the mechanical response with respect
to the parent materials. The fatigue endurance (S–N) curves of the welded joints have been achieved, since the fatigue behaviour of light
welded sheets is the best performance indicator for a large part of industrial applications; a resonant electro-mechanical testing machine load
and a constant load ratio RZsmin/smax Z0.1 have been used at a load frequency of about 75 Hz. The resulted microstructure due to the FSW
process has been studied by employing optical and scanning electron microscopy either on ‘as welded’ specimens and on tested specimen
after rupture occurred.
q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Friction stir welding; Dissimilar materials; Microstructure analysis; Fatigue tests; Mechanical properties.

1. Introduction In the FSW process, a special tool mounted on a rotating

probe travels down through the length of the base metal
The Friction stir welding (FSW) technology is being plates in face-to-face contact; the interference between the
widely considered by the modern aerospace and automotive welding tool and the metal to be welded generates the
industry for high-performance structural demanding appli- plastically deformed zone through the associated stirring
cations [1]. Such joining process is demonstrated to avoid action. At the same time, the thermo-mechanical plasticized
severe distortions and the generated residual stresses are zone is produced by friction between the tool shoulder and
proved particularly low, compared to the traditional welding the top plate surface and by contact of the neighbour
processes [2–4]. The FS Welded material produces three material with the tool edges, inducing plastic deformation
different areas: the weld nugget, the thermo-mechanically [8]. The probe is slightly shorter than the thickness of the
affected zone and the external heat affected zone. The workpiece and its diameter is typically equal to the
microstructural grain structure in the weld nugget is usually workpiece thickness [9]. This advanced technology is
very fine and equiaxed, ensuring elevated mechanical capable to weld aluminium alloys difficult to be welded
strength and ductility [5,6]. In fact, some authors showed with traditional fusion techniques (the 2XXX series alloys
the microstructure in the weld nugget zone to undergo a show limited weldability, whilst 7XXX series largely
continuous dynamic recrystallization process [7], leading to employed in aerospace applications are also claimed to be
elevated mechanical properties. not easily welded). Dendrite structure occurs in the fusion
zone due to conventional TIG and laser welding, leading to
a drastic decrease of the mechanical behaviour [10]. The
* Corresponding author. Tel.: C39 0832 297278; fax: C39 0832 297279. FSW process is a solid-state process, therefore the
E-mail address: [email protected] (F.W. Panella). solidification micro-structure is absent in the welded metal
0890-6955/$ - see front matter q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. and the presence of brittle inter-dendritic and eutectic
doi:10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2005.07.010 phases is avoided [11].
 P. Cavaliere et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 46 (2006) 588–594 589

In addition, such technology allows joining 2. Experimental procedure

with good results aluminium based metal matrix
composites, since the problems related to reinforcing Dissimilar 2024 and 7075 Al welded alloy sheets,
particles debonding are avoided and the welded respectively in the T3 and T6 conditions, have been
material leads to a recrystallized microstructure with produced by Friction Stir Welding. Both the sheets
elevated mechanical properties with respect to the parent measured 2.5 mm thickness. The longitudinal direction of
material [12]. the FSW line was perpendicular to the rolling direction of
Some aluminium alloys can be welded with electrical the 2024 alloy and parallel to the rolling direction of the
resistance techniques, provided that an extensive surface 7075 alloy; this joint choice has been selected to simulate
preparation and the oxide formation is controlled. On the the most severe mechanical combination with respect to the
contrary, FSW can be used with success to weld most of Al conventional reference welding trials found in literature, in
alloys considering that superficial oxide generation is not which both the sheets are welded with the same extrusion
deterrent for the process and no particular cleaning direction. The welding speed was set to 2.67 mm/s,
operations are needed before welding. according to optimised weldings parameters determined so
Other crucial aspects are the brittle solidification phases far; the welding tool was fixed to the rotating axle in the
presence and the porosity formation subsequent to fusion clockwise direction while the parts, fixed at the backside,
welding; these problems are generally overcome by the have been translated. The tool nib was 6 mm diameter and
FSW technique. More in detail, during FS Welding 2.5 mm long; a 20 mm diameter shoulder has been
the workpiece does not reach the melting point and the machined perpendicular to the tool axis; the tilt angle of
mechanical properties in terms of ductility and strength of the tool was set to 38.
the welded zone are expected to improve if compared to the The Vickers hardness profile of the welded zone has been
classical welding techniques [13–15]. It is remarkable how measured on the weld cross-section using a Vickers indenter
the FS Welded components are characterized by low with 200 gf load for 15 s. Mechanical tests have been
distortion and misalignment effects, lower residual stresses executed on specimens having calibrated dimensions of
amount and lack of defects induced by porosity; inter- 40 mm in length and 16 mm in width. All the specimens
granular cracks and precipitate coalescences, with the were obtained by means of Electrical Discharge Machine
consequence of retained dimensional and mechanical (EDM). The axial applied load was perpendicular to the
stability, are easily avoided. weld line. Tensile tests have been performed in order to
The friction stir welding technology is expected to be evaluate the static properties of the welded joints. They have
introduced also to replace the fastener, riveted and arc been executed at room temperature using an MTS 810
welding joining methods for large scale production servo-hydraulic testing machine having a load capacity of
applications. At present time, Friction Stir Welding is 100 kN; the cross-head speed is set to 0.1 mm/min,
mainly used to join similar materials; on the other hand, according to the ASTM-E8 standard code, an accurate
few systematic studies have been done to observe the extensometer of type MTS 634.12F-24, 25 mm base length,
effect due to material dissimilarity [16–19]. Actually, the has been used.
demand of Aircraft Industries to substitute the conven- High cycle fatigue tests have been performed on a
tional joining technologies with low costs and high resonant electro-mechanical testing machine in order to
efficient processes such as friction stir welding is accelerate the testing time up to 250 Hz wave loading
considered as one of the most encouraging design control. The TEST-TRONIC 50G25 kN, produced by
challenge for the future. RUMUL has been used.
FSW is increasingly becoming a useful and promising The fatigue tests have been executed in axial stress-
approach to face automotive and aerospace structural amplitude control mode (RZsmin/smaxZ0.1). Due to the
joining difficulties. Both in commercial and military specimen compliance mounted in the flexible grips, the
applications, the necessity to produce welded aluminium working frequency was 75 Hz. All the tests have been
structural sheets with elevated and reliable tensile and conducted to failure and the specimen design respects the
fatigue properties are extremely crucial. In particular, the standard requirements (the welded profile has not been
actual need to implement advanced joining technologies polished). Successively, the significant rupture surfaces
for the 2XXX and 7XXX aluminium sheet alloys is have been prepared by standard metallographic techniques
directly related to the material choice for the future modern and etched with Keller’s reagent, in order to study the grain
aircraft. structure of the welded zones and to allow optical
The aim of the present study is to investigate on the microscopy characterization. In addition, a scanning
achievable mechanical and micro structural properties of electron microscope equipped with field emission gun
dissimilar FS butt Welded sheets made up with 2024-T3 and (type JEOL-JSM 6500 F) has been employed to observe the
7075-T6 aluminium alloy with the joining line perpendicu- specimens surfaces of fracture either with monotonic and
lar to the rolling direction. cyclic load; the microscopic morphology and defects of
590 P. Cavaliere et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 46 (2006) 588–594

the welded joints and the mechanics involved during tensile

and fatigue failure have been analysed.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Metallurgical analysis

In the present study, the dissimilar materials 2024 and

7075 aluminium alloys have been successfully joined with
the FSW Process and no visible superficial porosity or
macroscopic defects have been observed on both the top and
rear welded surfaces.
Light microscopy observations have been done on the
welded specimen cross-sections (Fig. 1); the FSW Process
applied on dissimilar 2024 and 7075 aluminium alloys
revealed the classical formation of the elliptical ‘onion’ Fig. 2. Microhardness profile measured in the joints of the 2024–7075 FSW
structure in the centre weld; this is confirmed by the micro- plates, AA7075 side on the left.
structure with fine recrystallized grains. The Thermo-
Mechanical Affected Zone (TMAZ) is also distinguished grains of the parent materials are mechanically converted to
through optical microscopy. a new equiaxed fine grain structure. At higher magnifi-
The micro hardness profile along the FS Weld is shown cations, the optical micrographs show extremely fine and
in Fig. 2, in which a value of 150 Hv is reached in the centre equiaxed grains in the recrystallized zones (estimated length
weld; the micro hardness profile increases in both the 2024 !3 mm).
and 7075 sides and then starts to descend after 2 mm from Focussing away from the weld centre part at the AA7075
the centre until reaching the hardness corresponding to the side, the grain dimension considerably increases and the
parent materials. It can be noticed the welded joint hardness orientation results with a less equiaxed character (Fig. 4). In
to assume lower values in the HA Zone with respect to both particular, at a distance of 4 mm from the weld centre, a
the 2024 and 7075 parent material sides; this is in respect of
large amount of resident parent material grains start to
the classical behaviour for aluminium alloys welded by
appear. This region corresponds to the Heat Affected Zone,
FSW.
where the hardness is low with respect to the base metal. In
Fig. 3 represents the ‘nugget’ zone at a distance of 2 mm
fact, the precipitates in this area are coarsened as discussed
from the weld centre at the AA2024 side, which consists of
by Jata et al. [4]. In the region adjacent to the nugget, i.e.
fine and equiaxed grains. The higher temperatures and
TMAZ, no recrystallization apparently occurs because of
severe plastic deformations result in remarkable smaller
grains compared to the base metal, according to all the FSW the low temperature field originated by the Friction Stir
literature data for aluminium alloys; the initial elongated process. Fig. 5(a) shows the deformed grains in the TMAZ

Fig. 1. Cross section of the welded specimen: particular of the nugget zone, Fig. 3. Fine recrystallized grains observed at a distance of 2 mm from the
TMAZ and base material interface. weld centre of the studied joints at the AA2024 side.
 P. Cavaliere et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 46 (2006) 588–594 591

Fig. 4. Grains of parent material appearing at a distance of 4 mm from the

weld centre of the joints at the AA7075 side.
Fig. 6. True stress vs. true strain curve of the FSW joint in tension.
and the regions adjacent to it, while Fig. 5(b) confirms the
grain size to be similar to the base metal. However, the 3.2. Mechanical characterization
hardness in the HAZ is limited in low ranges. Similar
microstructural behaviour has been observed in the FSW The static response of all the 2024 and 7075 dissimilar
zone of the 2024 alloy side of the weld. sheets joined by FSW is described in Fig. 6. The traction
curves show a classical and remarkable behaviour; the
mechanical properties, compared to the parent metals, are
reported in Table 1. The joints exhibit very good ductile
properties after yielding and the Ultimate Tensile Stress is
settled at high levels. Even that the FS Welded specimens
show lower proof stress at 0.2% and limited total
elongations with respect to the base metals, the mechanical
results are extremely good considering the drastic con-
ditions to which the materials are subjected during the
Friction Stirring process.
All the tested specimens fractured beside the weld HAZ
zones, close to the 2024 material side. This is in accordance
with the behaviour of dissimilar welded sheets in which,
from a microstructural point of view, the mechanical
response of the centre weld results higher then the parent
material and the HAZ because of the grain dimension
differences and the precipitates concentration at the
interfaces. In the lateral zones, in fact, the mean grain
equivalent diameter resulted from the optical images to be
around 2.5 mm.
The Wöhler curves originated by the fatigue tests data
are reported in Fig. 7; the fatigue results show the
characteristic behaviour for dissimilar aluminium sheets,
showing a trend of fatigue life decreasing with the stress
Table 1
Mechanical properties of the 2024–7075 joints compared with those of the
parent materials

Material sy (MPa) UTS (MPa) Elongation (%) E (GPa)

AA2024 380 490 17 72.4
AA7075 503 572 11 71
Fig. 5. TMZ zone grains (a) and parent material grains (b) at the AA7075 2024–7075 325 424 6 54
side: the grains dimensions difference is clearly distinguished in the studied FSW
joints.
592 P. Cavaliere et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 46 (2006) 588–594

1000 treatments, re-precipitation, and hardening processes in the

y =116,28x-0,0678
dissimilar
fsw 2024-7075
2
R = 0,9278
TMAZ.
Stress Amplitude [N/mm ]

2024T3 -0,1828
2

y = 947,54x
basematerial 2
R = 0,7837
3.3. Fracture surfaces analysis
100
67 A better comprehension and understanding of the
mechanical fracture and defect nucleation properties are
44
strongly dependent on purposed analyses of the rupture
surfaces, since the influence of the microstructural
10 morphology of the welded interfaces on the endurance
1,0E+03 1,0E+04 1,0E+05 1,0E+06 1,0E+07 time results to be fundamental. Several interesting obser-
Number of cycles N
vations have been done.
Fig. 7. Endurance Fatigue curve (S–N) of the 2024–7075 plates joined by The fracture surface of the welded 2024–7075 specimens
Friction Stir Welding. tested under tension resulted to be covered with a broad
population of microscopic voids of different size and shape
amplitude with an average slope particularly elevated even (Fig. 8); at room temperature the material showed ductility
for a typical ductile alloy. Since aluminium alloys display to occur within the fracture progression and the observations
fatigue limits at very high number of cycles (normally O performed by employing FEGSEM confirmed the presence
107) and even more but the main goal is to estimate the of locally ductile mechanisms.
fatigue behaviour at high stress regime, the tests have been In particular, two different types of dimples have been
conducted to produce rupture at relatively short times observed, those immediately close to the voids (Fig. 9a)
(around 106 cycles) rather than at greater number of cycles.
According to these considerations, the fatigue strength of
the welded joints can be expressed as the stress amplitude
level at a given number of cycles, a fatigue life of 2!106
cycles, which is found to be around 44 MPa, as recorded for
the dissimilar FS Welded joints of the present work.
The fatigue curves show good and consistent results,
since a low scatter band is observed given that few
specimens have been tested (Fig. 7). Over more, the data
compared with the typical alternate stress levels for the
parent material at the same test frequency seem to be
positioned at a lower but acceptable and interesting level,
considering the severe and critical conditions exhibited by
aluminium welded joints subjected to cyclic loading.
Finally, the fatigue properties can be incremented by heat

Fig. 8. Tensile specimen fracture surface of the studied joint showing voids Fig. 9. Dimples showing ductility behaviour of the AA 2024–7075 FSW
population. joints close to the voids (a) and the precipitates (b).
 P. Cavaliere et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 46 (2006) 588–594 593

and those associated with the second phase coarse particles have been performed in the zones of early microscopic
and precipitates, which resulted much smaller and shallower crack growth to identify the size, location and number of
(Fig. 9b). the microscopic cracks and their progression in the
With the rapid increasing of FSW technology in various material microstructure. On the other hand, also the
applications, the investigation of fatigue and fracture region of overload and final failure has been analysed in
behaviour in the low and high cycle regime represents an order to identify the fine-scale features reminiscent of the
important task to validate the process; in addition, the local governing mechanisms.
fractography studies executed by employing high resolution The fracture surfaces of the specimens tested between
instruments such as scanning electron microscope equipped 0.4!106 and 3!106 cycles are shown in Fig. 10; it can be
with field emission gun has been extremely useful to detect seen that in the high cycle loading range the fracture front is
the rupture mechanism and deduce the typology and formed along the flow material lines produced by the tool
distributions of the significant defects involved into failure. during welding.
In order to evaluate the macroscopic fracture modality, On the other hand, in both the low and high cycle load
additional low magnification observations have been specimen regions the microscopic crack growth has been
performed; the regions of microscopic crack initiation and associated with some degree of material ductile behaviour,
stable crack growth have been identified as well as the showing the typical fracture surfaces of very fine grain size
regions which presumably have been subjected to the final structure into the welded section (Fig. 11).
failure process or overloading effects. Finally, in these micro-pictures small voids produced by
The fine-scale topography and the microscopic the FSW process have been easily detected in the case of all
mechanisms governing fracture needed to be character- the tensile tested specimens.
ized; for this purpose higher magnification observations

Fig. 11. Fracture surfaces of the fatigue specimens broken after 0.4!106
6
Fig. 10. Fracture surfaces of the fatigue specimens broken after 0.4!10 (a) and 3!106 cycles (b) showing the very fine grain structure of the
(a) and 3!106 cycles (b). material and microvoids produced by the process.
594 P. Cavaliere et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 46 (2006) 588–594

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