Papers by Author: Yutaka S. Sato

Abstract: The Texture Developed in High-Temperature β Phase during Friction Stir Welding of Ti-6Al-4V Was Studied. It Was Demonstrated that 0002 and 1120 Pole Figures Calculated from α Phase May Be Employed for Interpretation of Material Flow in the β Phase. Together with Orientation Measurements in Retained β Phase, this Approach Was Shown to Be a Very Simple and Effective for the Texture Analysis. The β Texture Was Found to Be a Mixture of {hkl}<111>-Fiber Texture and D₂(112)[111](Simple-Shear Texture Component.

Abstract: Invar 36 alloy is increasingly used as a structural material for manufacture of liquefied natural gas (LNG) transporters and storage tanks. However, the conventional arc welding of Invar 36 alloy has high susceptibility of hot-cracking. As a high-energy-beam welding process, laser welding could be effective for producing defect-free Invar 36 weld. In the present study, defect-free Invar 36 weld was successfully produced by Nd:YAG laser welding. The microstructure and mechanical properties of weld were also tested.

Abstract: Four kinds of the welding tools made of PCBN, W, WC and Al2O3 were applied to FSW of 304 stainless steel, and then the wear and reaction between the tool debris and the steel matrix were examined for each tool material. Severe tool damage was found in W, WC and Al2O3 tools after FSW, while the PCBN tool was hardly worn. Formations of Cr-rich borides, ferrite phases containing the high W contents and Cr-rich carbides were found in the stir zones produced using PCBN, W and WC tools, respectively. It was suggested that formation of those phases could be expected by calculation using the thermochemical database.

Abstract: Friction stir spot welding (FSSW), developed based on principle of friction stir welding, has been paid attention as a new solid-state spot welding process. Since FSSW can produce high-quality weld in Al alloys more easily than resistance spot welding, this process has been already used for construction of Al components in the automotive industries. Despite the large industrial interests in FSSW, fundamental knowledge on welding phenomena of this process has not been fully understood. In this study, FSSW phenomena, such as the consolidation mechanism, the microstructural evolution and the material flow, were examined in Al alloy 6061. This study clarified that the elliptical zone found in the vicinity of the pin hole on the cross section was characterized by the initially lapped surface of two sheets. Moreover, the following material flow was proposed; capture of the upper material with the threads on the pin surface, spiral flow along the tool rotation, and then release at the tip of the pin.

Abstract: Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining process. During FSW, microstructure drastically changes in local region of the workpiece by introduction of frictional heat and severe plastic deformation arising from rotation of the welding tool, which results in inhomogeneous microstructural distribution in the welds. To maintain high reliability of the structure produced by FSW, precise understanding of microstructural factors governing weld properties is required. In the present paper, microstructural factors governing mechanical properties, especially hardness profile and tensile properties, of friction stir welded Al and Mg alloys are reviewed.

Abstract: Large amount of nitrogen addition into an austenitic stainless steel can improve the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance remarkably as far as the nitrogen is in solid solution. However, once the nitrogen precipitates as nitride, it results in deteriorations in the properties of the high nitrogen austenitic stain steel. During welding, a high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel is ready to precipitate rapidly immense amounts of chromium nitride in the heat affected zone (HAZ), as intergranular or cellular morphologies at or from grain boundaries into grain interiors. The nitride precipitation reduces seriously the local mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. The present authors have demonstrated that a thermomechanical-processing as grain boundary engineering (GBE) inhibited intergranular chromium carbide precipitation in the HAZ of a type 304 austenitic stainless steel during welding and improved the intergranular corrosion resistance drastically. In the present study, the thermomechanical-processing was applied to a high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel containing 1 mass% nitrogen to suppress the nitride precipitation at or from grain boundaries in the HAZ during welding by GBE. GBE increases the frequency of coincidence site lattice (CSL) boundaries in the material so as to improve the intergranular properties, because of strong resistance of CSL boundaries to intergranular deteriorations. The optimum parameters in the thermomechanical-processing brought a very high frequency of CSL boundaries in the high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel. The GBE suppressed the intergranular and cellular nitride precipitation in the HAZ of the high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel during welding.

Abstract: Mg alloy has a poor formability at room temperature because of lack of the active slip systems, but the grain refinement improves its ductility. Friction stir processing (FSP) can create homogeneous microstructure consisting of fine grains in Mg alloys, thus it would be expected that FSP enhances the formability of Mg alloys. In this study, multi-pass FSP was applied to Mg alloy AZ31B, and then formability of FSPed alloy was evaluated. Multi-pass FSP produced the fine recrystallized grains in Mg alloy. The stir zone exhibited larger fracture limit major strains than the base material under uniaxial tension and plane strain deformation, and these values increased with decreasing grain size. The stir zone having grain size of 2.9 μm showed the fracture limit major strains which are roughly as same as those of an annealed pure Al. The present study suggests that FSP is an effective method to enhance the formability of Mg alloys.

Abstract: Friction stir welding (FSW) was applied to a 0.53% nitrogen stainless steel. The nitrogen content change and the microstructural evolution in the weld were investigated. The nitrogen content analysis revealed that the stir zone (SZ) showed roughly the same nitrogen content as the base material (BM). This result suggests that FSW is an effective welding process for keeping up nitrogen content of high-nitrogen steel weld. The microstructural observation showed that the weld had the BM, the SZ, the partially recrystallized zone (PRZ) and the heat affected zone (HAZ). The coarse grain structure of the BM changed to relatively fine microstructure of equiaxially recrystallized austenite grain structure in the SZ during FSW. The PRZ contained both the fine and coarse grain structures. The detailed TEM observations showed that the particles with about 11m in size were present in the advancing side of the SZ both along grain boundaries and grain interiors. The Cr nitride less than 100 nm was formed in the HAZ along grain boundaries, which indicates that a slight sensitization occurred in the HAZ during FSW.

Abstract: Recently, several metallic materials with ultrafine-grained structures and characterized by high strength and toughness have been developed. When these ultrafine-grained materials are practically used, welding and joining processes are required. However, conventional fusion welding processes result in deterioration of the good mechanical properties of these ultrafine-grained materials due to the drastic grain growth of the ultrafine grains. On the other hand, friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining process having lower heat-input than fusion welding processes, enabling formation of a fine grain structure in the stir zone. Thus, this process would effectively alleviate deterioration of mechanical properties of the ultrafine-grained materials. The authors applied FSW to ultrafine-grained Al alloys and then examined the microstructural features associated with hardness in the friction stir welds. The present paper reviews microstructural evolution of ultrafine-grained Al alloys, produced by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) and accumulative roll-bonding (ARB), during FSW.