Conduction Heat Assisted Friction Element Welding

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler J. Grimm ◽  
Gowtham V. Parvathy ◽  
Laine Mears
Keyword(s):  
High Strength ◽  
Aluminum Sheet ◽  
Process Time ◽  
Friction Element ◽  
Critical Areas ◽  
Localized Heating ◽  
High Strength Aluminum Alloys ◽  
Friction Weld ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Friction Element Welding

Abstract Increasing awareness of global warming and strict government regulations have required the automotive industry to pursue lightweighting as an avenue towards increased vehicle efficiency. Lightweight designs typically rely heavily on multi-material use, which enables selective strengthening of critical areas without additional, unnecessary mass. Joining these materials during manufacturing has proven to be a challenging endeavor. Friction element welding (FEW) is one process that is capable of joining aluminum to steel. This two-sided joining technique utilizes a fastener to secure the aluminum sheet by creating a friction weld with the steel sheet. While this process is extremely robust for most materials, the FEW process can result in the extrusion of material from underneath the head of the fastener, termed chipping, which leads to corrosion and aesthetic issues. This behavior is typically seen in high strength aluminum alloys, such as 7075. A solution to chipping is implemented herein, which utilizes a modified downholder to conductively heat the aluminum sheet prior to the FEW process. This heating method was explored experimentally and through various numerical analyses. This method was found to be a viable option for relieving chipping. While the process time was only increased by a maximum of 2.5 seconds, faster, more localized heating should be targeted for future work.

Chipping Reduction Using Thermally-Assisted Friction Element Welding

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit B. Deshpande ◽  
Tyler J. Grimm ◽  
Laine Mears
Keyword(s):  
Aluminum Alloys ◽  
Chip Formation ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Energy Utilization ◽  
Process Time ◽  
Friction Element ◽  
Novel Method ◽  
High Strength Aluminum Alloys ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Friction Element Welding

Abstract The use of multiple material in the structural components of a vehicle allows for significant weight reduction. Friction element welding (FEW) is a novel method that allows the joining of two or more dissimilar material sheets. A limitation of this process is the chip formation in high strength aluminum alloys, which is observed as the protrusion of thin aluminum segments from under the head of the fastener. Chipping can degrade the joint’s strength over time due to accelerated crevice corrosion. A novel method is proposed to eliminate chip formation using thermal assistance. A grading scheme is developed to quantify the severity of chip formation. The effect of thermal assistance on chipping is analyzed. An investigation is also carried out to validate that the thermal assistance does not negatively affect the process time, energy, and joint strength. Thermal assistance is proposed to be a novel method of overcoming this limitation to allow more widespread use of the FEW process for higher-strength aluminum alloys. Future work will include the development of feasible, rapid methods of heating and measurement of energy utilization for implementation in the industrial environment.

Investigation of the Cleaning and Welding Steps From the Friction Element Welding Process

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie D. Skovron ◽  
Brandt J. Ruszkiewicz ◽  
Laine Mears ◽  
Tim Abke ◽  
Ankit Varma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Weld Zone ◽  
Welding Process ◽  
High Strength Steels ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Process Time ◽  
Friction Element ◽  
Joint Quality ◽  
Head Height ◽  
Friction Element Welding ◽  
Step Parameters

The requirement of increased fuel economy standards has forced automakers to incorporate multi-materials into their current steel dominant vehicles in order to lightweight their fleets. Technologies such as Self Piercing Rivets and Flow Drill Screws are currently implemented for joining aluminum to high-strength steels but only one-technology is viable for joining aluminum to ultra-high-strength steels without pre-holes, namely Friction Element Welding. This study is aimed at investigating how variations in the cleaning and welding steps of the Friction Element Welding process influence joint quality. A design of experiment was conducted to understand the influence of key process parameters (endload, spindle RPM, and relative distance) during these steps on the pre-defined joint quality metrics of head height, weld zone diameter, under-head fill area, temperature, and microhardness. It is found that cleaning step parameters have the greatest influence on process time and energy consumption, while welding step parameters greatly influence maximum torque on the element, head height, and underhead fill, with both cleaning force and weld force influencing weld diameter, all parameters influence temperature.

Parameter Sensitivity and Process Time Reduction for Friction Element Welding of 6061-T6 Aluminum to 1500 MPa Press-Hardened Steel

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-56
Author(s):  
Brandt J. Ruszkiewicz ◽  
Jamie D. Skovron ◽  
Saheem Absar ◽  
Hongseok Choi ◽  
Xin Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hardened Steel ◽  
Parameter Sensitivity ◽  
Process Time ◽  
Friction Element ◽  
Time Reduction ◽  
Friction Element Welding

Thermal-Mechanical Numerical Modeling of the Friction Element Welding Process

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ankit Varma ◽  
Saheem Absar ◽  
Xin Zhao ◽  
Hongseok Choi ◽  
Tim Abke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Automobile Industry ◽  
Weight Ratio ◽  
Welding Process ◽  
Dissimilar Materials ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Element Model ◽  
Friction Element ◽  
Physical Mechanisms ◽  
Friction Element Welding ◽  
Good Agreement

To improve the fuel economy, the automobile industry is vigorously shifting towards using a mix of lightweight materials which offers high strength-to-weight ratio. Dissimilar material joining is of critical importance in this area. Friction element welding (FEW) has been proposed for dissimilar materials, with the capability of joining high strength materials of varying thickness in minimal time with low input energy. A coupled thermal-mechanical finite element model is developed in this work to better understand the physical mechanisms involved in the process and predict the evolution of parameters such as temperature, stress, material flow, and weld quality. The Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) approach is adopted to capture the severe plastic deformation of both the tool and the workpiece. The material deformation and temperature evolution are analyzed at different steps, and good agreement are shown between the simulation results and the experimental data.

Deformation and fracture behavior of an Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr alloy 8090

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 974-975
Author(s):  
D.M. Jiang ◽  
B.D. Hong
Keyword(s):  
High Strength ◽  
Deformation And Fracture ◽  
Fracture Behaviors ◽  
Aluminum Lithium ◽  
Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composites ◽  
Peak Aged ◽  
Aluminum Lithium Alloys ◽  
High Strength Aluminum Alloys ◽  
Lithium Alloys ◽  
Zr Alloy

Aluminum-lithium alloys have been recently got strong interests especially in the aircraft industry. Compared to conventional high strength aluminum alloys of the 2000 or 7000 series it is anticipated that these alloys offer a 10% increase in the stiffness and a 10% decrease in density, thus making them rather competitive to new up-coming non-metallic materials like carbon fiber reinforced composites.The object of the present paper is to evaluate the inluence of various microstructural features on the monotonic and cyclic deformation and fracture behaviors of Al-Li based alloy. The material used was 8090 alloy. After solution treated and waster quenched, the alloy was underaged (190°Clh), peak-aged (190°C24h) and overaged (150°C4h+230°C16h). The alloy in different aging condition was tensile and fatigue tested, the resultant fractures were observed in SEM. The deformation behavior was studied in TEM.

scholarly journals Surface Modification of Aluminum 6061-O Alloy by Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation to Improve Corrosion Resistance Properties

Coatings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Dmitry V. Dzhurinskiy ◽  
Stanislav S. Dautov ◽  
Petr G. Shornikov ◽  
Iskander Sh. Akhatov
Keyword(s):  
Corrosion Resistance ◽  
Aluminum Alloy ◽  
Aluminum Alloys ◽  
Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation ◽  
Electrochemical Impedance ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Electrolytic Oxidation ◽  
Coating Layers ◽  
Plasma Electrolytic ◽  
High Strength Aluminum Alloys

In the present investigation, the plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) process was employed to form aluminum oxide coating layers to enhance corrosion resistance properties of high-strength aluminum alloys. The formed protective coating layers were examined by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and characterized by several electrochemical techniques, including open circuit potential (OCP), linear potentiodynamic polarization (LP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results were reported in comparison with the bare 6061-O aluminum alloy to determine the corrosion performance of the coated 6061-O alloy. The PEO-treated aluminum alloy showed substantially higher corrosion resistance in comparison with the untreated substrate material. A relationship was found between the coating formation stage, process parameters and the thickness of the oxide-formed layers, which has a measurable influence on enhancing corrosion resistance properties. This study demonstrates promising results of utilizing PEO process to enhance corrosion resistance properties of high-strength aluminum alloys and could be recommended as a method used in industrial applications.

scholarly journals Accelerated discovery of high-strength aluminum alloys by machine learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaheng Li ◽  
Yingbo Zhang ◽  
Xinyu Cao ◽  
Qi Zeng ◽  
Ye Zhuang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Aluminum Alloys ◽  
Mechanical Performance ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Alloy System ◽  
Processing Route ◽  
Specific Strength ◽  
Cu Alloy ◽  
High Strength Aluminum Alloys

Abstract Aluminum alloys are attractive for a number of applications due to their high specific strength, and developing new compositions is a major goal in the structural materials community. Here, we investigate the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy system (7xxx series) by machine learning-based composition and process optimization. The discovered optimized alloy is compositionally lean with a high ultimate tensile strength of 952 MPa and 6.3% elongation following a cost-effective processing route. We find that the Al8Cu4Y phase in wrought 7xxx-T6 alloys exists in the form of a nanoscale network structure along sub-grain boundaries besides the common irregular-shaped particles. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of using machine learning to search for 7xxx alloys with good mechanical performance.

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