Materials Science & Engineering A 687 (2017) 39–46

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Materials Science & Engineering A

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/msea

Microstructure and mechanical characterization of friction stir welded high MARK

strength low alloy steels
⁎
R. Ramesha, , I. Dinaharanb, Ravi Kumarc, E.T. Akinlabib
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore 641004, Tamilnadu, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering Science, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park Kingsway Campus, Johannesburg 2006, Gauteng, South
Africa
c
Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, Tamilnadu, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: Friction stir welding (FSW) is a promising technique to join HSLA steels without the problems encountered
High strength low alloy steel during fusion based welding processes. In the present work, 3 mm thick HSLA plates were successfully welded
Friction stir welding using FSW. A tool made of tungsten-rhenium alloy was used in this work. The relationship between
Microstructure microstructure and tensile strength was studied under various welding conditions i.e. change in traverse speed
Tensile strength
(57–97 mm/min). The microstructure of the weld nugget revealed the presence of upper bainite and fine ferrite
phases. The amount of upper bainite reduced with increase in traverse speed. EBSD images showed a reducing
trend for grain size. The details of hardness, tensile strength and bending test were reported.

1. Introduction
Currently, the micro–alloyed otherwise called as high strength low
alloy (HSLA) steels have emerged as an important class of materials
and drawn lots of research focus. HSLA steels were essentially invented
as a replacement to low carbon steels to enhance the strength-to-weight
ratio of structures and individual components. Both the carbon and
alloy content in HSLA steels are very low. HSLA steels are tailored to
deliver a specific set of mechanical properties rather than meeting a
composition criterion. HSLA steels are commonly produced using
thermomechanical controlled processing (TMCP) which involves sub-
jecting the steel to repeated rolling process at high temperature and
subsequent rapid cooling. HSLA steels possess a distinctive combina-
tion of high strength, superior ductility, excellent toughness, adequate
formability, improved corrosion resistance, good weldability and out-
standing impact toughness at low temperature. HSLA steels are
extensively used in the construction of automotive chassis, oil and
gas transportation pipelines, offshore oil drilling platforms, ship
building, mine and railroad cars, storage tanks, bridges and pressure
vessels [1–4].
Joining of HSLA steels is inevitable for structural applications. The
hunt for establishing proper welding procedures to join HSLA steels is
intensified over the years. HSLA steels can be joined using a variety of
traditional fusion welding processes such as gas metal arc welding
[5,6], gas tungsten arc welding [7], submerged arc welding [8,9] and
laser beam welding [10,11]. The heat affected zone (HAZ) of fusion
welded HSLA steels became vulnerable to hydrogen assisted cracking.
Fusion welding was commonly associated with the distribution of high
tensile residual stress across the joint which accelerated cracking
behavior. Considerable depletion of strength and toughness in the
HAZ lead to poor mechanical properties of the joints. The prior
austenite grains continued to grow during fusion welding and resulted
in the development of coarse bainite and martensite phases in the
microstructure of the weld nugget. A precise control of weld micro-
structure is required to secure proper strength-toughness synergy. Fine
bainite structure is advantageous to improve the joint strength without
compromising toughness. But it is seldom achieved in fusion welding.
A coarse bainite phase is detrimental to the joint as it assists in the
propagation of large cracks through the lath boundaries. Although laser
beam welding is attractive to join HSLA steels, the faster cooling rate
facilitates the formation of martensite phase [11].
Friction stir welding (FSW) is considered as a promising welding
process to produce sound HSLA joints with minimum or zero defects
encountered in fusion welding [12]. FSW was invented at TWI in 1991
and predominantly applied to join aluminum alloys. The material at the
abutting edges is plasticized by frictional heat due to rubbing of a non
consumable tool. The rotating action of the tool stirs the plasticized
material and moves from one side to another side. The traverse motion
causes extrusion of the plasticized material at the backside of the tool
which is forged by the application of a compressive force applied along

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: rameshsmit@gmail.com (R. Ramesh), dinaweld2009@gmail.com (I. Dinaharan), nvrk@iitm.ac.in (R. Kumar), etakinlabi@uj.ac.za (E.T. Akinlabi).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2017.01.050
Received 25 November 2016; Received in revised form 16 January 2017; Accepted 18 January 2017
Available online 19 January 2017
0921-5093/ © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
R. Ramesh et al. Materials Science & Engineering A 687 (2017) 39–46

Table 1
Chemical composition of HSLA steel.

Element C Si Mn P S Cr Ni Mo Al Cu Fe

wt% 0.102 0.303 0.405 0.081 0.014 0.540 0.286 0.016 0.033 0.300 Balance

Fig. 1. Tungsten-rhenium alloy friction stir welding tool.

Fig. 4. Optical macrograph of friction stir welded joints at traverse speed of; (a) 57 mm/
min, (b) 67 mm/min, (c) 77 mm/min, (d) 87 mm/min and (e) 97 mm/min. (For
interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend,the reader is referred to
the web version of this article.)

the axis of the tool [13,14]. The progress in FSW of hard and high
melting point material is sluggish due to rapid tool wear and the need
for expensive super hard tools [15]. In spite of this limitation, FSW has
been effectively demonstrated to join high temperature materials such
as stainless steels [16,17], inconel [18], titanium [19], zircaloy [20] and
molybdenum [21] using advanced tools. FSW is considered as a green
technology which has several advantages including low energy con-
sumption, absence of filler metal, fine microstructure, negligible
distortion and ease of automation.
Some investigators attempted to join HSLA steels using FSW
process [22–30]. Wei and Nelson [22,23] explained the variation in
microstructure of weld nugget against different levels of heat input. The
increase in heat input due to increased tool rotational speed affected
the phases formed in the weld nugget. Xue et al. [24] applied FSW

Fig. 2. An example of a friction stir welded HSLA plate.

Fig. 3. Scheme for extraction of specimens for various tests (A-Tensile specimen, B-
EBSD specimen, C-Microstructure and hardness specimen and D-bend test specimen). Fig. 5. Optical micrograph of transition zone at a traverse speed of 97 mm/min.

40
R. Ramesh et al. Materials Science & Engineering A 687 (2017) 39–46

Fig. 6. Optical macrograph of; (a) HSLA steel and friction stir welded joints at traverse speed of; (b) 57 mm/min, (c) 67 mm/min, (d) 77 mm/min, (e) 87 mm/min and (f) 97 mm/min.
(For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend,the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

process to modify the microstructure of fusion zone of submerged arc
welded HSLA steels. They observed that the increase in tool rotational
speed increased the hardness of the weld nugget due to the formation
of upper bainite structure. Ragu Nathan et al. [25,26] investigated the
failure of various tungsten based tools during welding. Nelson and
Rose [27] suppressed the formation of hard zone by controlling the
cooling rate using different back up plate materials. Avila et al. [28]
examined the effect of microstructure evolution on fracture toughness.
Ragu Nathan et al. [29,30] correlated the effect of tool geometry on the
microstructure and joint strength. The increase in shoulder diameter
improved material flow and lead to the formation of upper bainite.
A limited number of studies have been reported on FSW of HSLA
steels. The objective of the present investigation is to study the
microstructure evolution under various welding conditions and corre-
late with the mechanical properties.
2. Experimental procedure
Rolled HSLA steel plates were used for this research work. The
composition of as received HSLA plates was estimated using optical
emission spectrometry and is given in Table 1. The composition
matches to A588 Grade K HSLA steels according to ASTM specifica-
tions. Plates of size 100x50x3 mm were prepared from the rolled
plates. Square butt welding of HSLA plates was carried out semi
automatically on an indigenously built FSW machine (M/s RV Machine
Tools, Coimbatore, INDIA). The FSW tool was made of tungsten-
rhenium alloy. The tool as shown in Fig. 1 had a shoulder diameter of
18 mm and pin length of 2.7 mm. The pin profile was tapered

41
R. Ramesh et al.
Fig. 7. Effect of traverse speed on frictional heat input.
cylindrical with a diameter of 8 mm at the shoulder end and 6 mm at
the free end. The traverse speed was varied from 57 mm/min to
97 mm/min in steps of 10 mm/min. The tool rotational speed and axial
force were kept constant for all joints which were respectively 500 rpm
and 9 kN. The rolling direction of the plates was kept parallel to the
welding direction. The faying surfaces were thoroughly cleaned with
acetone prior to welding. An example of a friction stir welded HSLA
plate is shown in Fig. 2.
Specimens were machined (as shown in Fig. 3) perpendicular to the
welding direction for metallographic analysis. They were mounted
(STRUERS Citopress), polished (STRUERS Labopol) and etched with
10% Nital solution. The etched specimens were observed using an
optical microscope (OLYMPUS BX51M). The macrograph was re-
corded using a stereo microscope (OLYMPUS SZX16). Electron back-
scatter diffraction (EBSD) of the weld nugget was carried out in a FEI
Quanta FEG SEM equipped with TSL-OIM software. The microhard-
ness was measured using a microhardness tester (WOLPERT WILSON
402-MVD) at 500 g load applied for 10 s across the weld nugget at the
centre of the thickness direction. The tensile specimens were prepared
as per ASTM: E8M-13a standard having a gauge length of 40 mm, a
gauge width of 7 mm and a thickness of 3 mm. The ultimate tensile
strength (UTS) was estimated using a computerized universal testing
machine (INSTRON 3367). The fracture surfaces were viewed using
scanning electron microscope (JEOLJSM-6390). Specimens of size
100x20x3 mm were prepared for the bend test. Three-point root bend
test was performed as per ASTM E190-03 specifications.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Macrostructure of welded joints
The cross sectional macrographs of the friction stir welded HSLA
steel joints at various traverse speeds are presented in Fig. 4. The
macrographs reveal that the joining was successful under the experi-
mental conditions and the applied tool design. All the joints exhibit full
penetration without a lack of joining at the root of the joint. Typical
volumetric defects (worm holes, tunnels, pin holes and voids) encoun-
tered in FSW are not present in the macrographs. The frictional heat
generated was adequate to plasticize the HSLA steel and cause good
amount of material flow leading to proper consolidation. However, two
kind of defects (a groove defect at the top of the weld nugget near
retreating side and a root flaw due to improper consolidation) as
marked by arrows in Fig. 4e was observed at a traverse speed of
97 mm/min. The increase in traverse speed reduces the residing time
of the generated frictional heat and available stirring effect of the
rotating tool [13]. As a result, defects occurred owing to low heat input
and inadequate stirring. The defect formation at the highest traverse
speed chosen in this investigation suggests that the tendency to form
42
Materials Science & Engineering A 687 (2017) 39–46
defects increases with increased traverse speed. The shape of the weld
nugget is similar to a “basin shape” which broadens towards the crown
surface of the joint. This indicates that the material flow induced by the
tool shoulder was dominant during welding. The boundary of the weld
nugget is clearly visible on both the sides and delineated with black
lines. The weld nugget is symmetric with respect to the axis of the tool
rotation. A symmetric weld nugget is a result of uniform material flow
across the weld nugget and promotes homogenous microstructure. It is
evident from Fig. 4 that there is no appreciable reduction in the size of
weld nugget with increased traverse speed. This may be due to the
major role played by severe plastic deformation compared to volu-
metric heating of the material by frictional heat. No banded structure
or clear onion ring structure is visible in Fig. 4. However, Ragu Nathan
et al. [25] noticed clear onion ring structure in friction stir welded
5 mm thick HSLA plates. The process parameters, tool design and plate
thickness used by the present authors are different to them which
might not have favored the formation of onion ring structure. The color
contrast across the weld nugget is constant which implies that there is
no foreign material embedded in the form of debris from tool wear. The
tool design i.e. tool material and geometry applied in this investigation
did not undergo significant wear and withstood the stresses imposed by
welding. An optical micrograph of the transition zone of the joint at
97 mm/min is depicted in Fig. 5. Different zones in the micrograph are
identified as weld nugget (WN), a narrow transition region –generally
known as thermomechanically affected zone (TMAZ) and heat affected
zone (HAZ). The grains in TMAZ display a change in orientation due to
the action of shear stresses. The combined action of thermal and
mechanical forces is accountable for the change in orientation.
3.2. Microstructure of welded joints
The optical micrograph of as received HSLA steel is presented in
Fig. 6a. The micrograph is characterized predominantly with two
phases namely ferrite and pearlite. The plain colored regions represent
ferrite phase which exhibits polygonal shape. The dark regions are
identified as pearlite phase which displays a fine lamellar structure.
Ferrite phase occupies major portion of the micrograph to that of
pearlite due to lower carbon content. The microstructure evolved in the
weld nugget with various welding conditions is represented in Fig. 6b–
f. Those micrographs were recorded at the geometric centre of the weld
nugget. The microstructure of the base metal is significantly refined in
the weld nugget. The microstructure of all the weld nuggets (Fig. 6b–f)
is not same which suggests that the welding conditions greatly
influenced the resultant microstructure subsequent to welding. The
key factors which direct the evolution of weld nugget microstructure
are the chemical composition of the steel and the heat input during
welding [11,23]. Fig. 7 presents the generation of frictional heat under
the applied experimental conditions. Heat input was calculated based
on an expression reported elsewhere (Heat transfer efficiency and
coefficient of friction were respectively assumed to be 0.8 and 0.3) [31].
Heat input in turn affects heating rate of the abutting edges, peak
temperature of the weld nugget and cooling rate of the consolidated
material. Generally, if the heat input is high or excessive it results in
slower cooling rate and vice versa. Subsequently, if the cooling rate is
slow it leads to the formation of coarse grain microstructure and vice
versa. Though the heat input in FSW is relatively lower compared to
fusion based welding processes, the slower welding speed may negate
the merits of lower heat input. Even though a lower frictional heat
input is preferred to produce fine grains, comparatively a higher
friction heat input is required for adequate plasticization of steel to
that of low temperature non ferrous materials. According to the
established continuous cooling transformation diagram, various phases
such as acicular ferrite, bainite and martensite are expected to form. It
is evident from Fig. 6b–d that the weld nugget microstructure is
composed of upper bainite and fine ferrite. Similar results were
reported by some researchers [22,29]. There are no traces of marten-
R. Ramesh et al. Materials Science & Engineering A 687 (2017) 39–46

Fig. 8. EBSD (IPF + grain boundary) map; (a) HSLA steel and friction stir welded joints at traverse speed of; (b) 57 mm/min, (c) 67 mm/min, (d) 77 mm/min, (e) 87 mm/min and (f)
97 mm/min.

site phase. This observation suggests that the peak temperature during The austenite is transformed into upper bainite upon cooling. However,
welding exceeded the allotropic transformation temperature i.e. A3 in the amount of upper bainite reduced with increased traverse speed due
iron–carbon diagram under the welding conditions 57–77 mm/min. to reduction in peak temperature above A3 and its residing time. The

43
R. Ramesh et al.
Fig. 9. Effect of traverse speed on grain size of friction stir welded HSLA joints.
Fig. 10. Effect of traverse speed on microhardness of friction stir welded HSLA joints.
Fig. 11. Effect of traverse speed on UTS of friction stir welded HSLA joints.
micrographs of weld nugget at traverse speed 87 and 97 mm/min show
meager amount of upper bainite and huge amount of fine ferrite. This
indicates that the peak temperature is hardly above A3 with lesser
dwell time.
EBSD images of as received HSLA steel and weld nugget at various
welding conditions are presented in Fig. 8a–f. The average grain size of
as received HSLA steels was 17 µm. Grains with an alternate array of
continuous dots in Fig. 8a represent pearlite phase. The quantitative
effect of welding conditions on grain size is furnished in Fig. 9. The
average grain size decreased with an increase in traverse speed. It was
44
Materials Science & Engineering A 687 (2017) 39–46
Fig. 12. Photographs of failed tensile specimens. Numbers indicate the value of traverse
speed.
estimated to be 9.7 µm at 57 mm/min and 6.3 µm at 67 mm/min. The
grain size is governed by two different mechanisms in FSW. The
increase in frictional heat generation coarsens the grain size. On the
other hand, the increase in deformation rate due to the rotating tool
reduces the grain size. Both frictional heat and deformation rate reduce
with increase in traverse speed. There is a competition between
frictional heat and deformation rate at each welding condition to
change the grain size [14]. The resultant grain size is the net effect of
frictional heat and deformation rate. The available frictional heat and
deformation rate are high at a traverse speed of 57 mm/min. But the
reduction in grain size with increased traverse speed suggests that the
effect of frictional heat is dominant over deformation rate. The slower
cooling rate at lower traverse speed (57 mm/min) caused coarse upper
bainite structure. The increase in traverse speed reduced the peak
temperature and increased the cooling rate causing a reduction in the
size of upper bainite (Fig. 8b–d). The fine ferrite grains are retained
(Fig. 8e and f) without coarsening at higher traverse speed due to lower
peak temperature and faster cooling rate.
3.3. Mechanical properties of welded joints
The microhardness distribution across the HSLA joints under
various welding conditions is represented in Fig. 10. The hardness of
the weld nugget is higher compared to that of as received HSLA plates.
This can be attributed to faster cooling rate in FSW in comparison to
fusing welding. There is no major variation in hardness across the joint.
It is well established that the mechanical properties are greatly
influenced by the type of phases present and the grain size [1,2]. The
formation of upper bainite structure increased the hardness of joints at
traverse speeds below 78 mm/min. The hardness of the joints in-
creased with increased traverse speed due to finer bainite structure.
Further increase in traverse speed reduced the hardness of the joints in
spite of finer ferrite grains. Because, the harder bainite phase is absent
and the ferrite is relatively softer than bainite. As discussed in the
previous section, the grain size became finer with increased traverse
speed. The mechanical properties are proportional to grain size
according to well-known Hall-Patch relationship. Hence, the hardness
was expected to increase with traverse speed. However, the formation
of hard bainite phase dominated the effect of grain size.
The tensile strength of HSLA joints and the failed tensile specimens
under various conditions are respectively presented in Figs. 11 and 12.
The UTS was measured to be 540 MPa at 57 mm/min and increased to
553 MPa at 77 mm/min. The variation in UTS was within a narrow
range. All those tensile specimens failed at the base metal as seen in
Fig. 11a–c. The formation of upper bainite phase strengthened and
R. Ramesh et al.
Fig. 13. SEM micrograph of friction stir welded joints at traverse speed of; (a) 57 mm/min, (b) 67 mm/min, (c) 77 mm/min, (d) 87 mm/min and (e) 97 mm/min. Micro voids and
defects are circled.
preserved the integrity of the weld nugget. The morphologies of the
fractured specimen show (Fig. 13a–c) large population of well-developed
dimples. This observation suggests that the welded specimens possessed
adequate ductility after welding. Further increase in traverse speed
reduced the UTS which was estimated to be 407 MPa at 97 mm/min.
The tensile specimens welded at 87 and 97 mm/min failed at the weld
nugget (Fig. 12d and e). The fracture surface of the tensile specimen at
87 mm/min (Fig. 13d) shows distinct signs of poor consolidation of
plasticized material. The presence of micro voids deteriorated the joint
strength and caused failure at the weld nugget. The lowest UTS at
97 mm/min is due to root flaw and groove defect observed in the
macrostructure (Fig. 4e). The fracture surface (Fig. 13e) revealed uneven
45
Materials Science & Engineering A 687 (2017) 39–46
surface compared to other joints. The root flaw might have acted as
stress raiser and caused failure at the weld nugget. The UTS of as-
received HSLA plates was 583 MPa. A maximum joint efficiency of
94.9% was obtained in the welded joint at 77 mm/min.
Fig. 14 depicts the photograph of root bend specimens. All the
welded HSLA plates successfully passed the bend test except the joint
welded at 97 mm/min. The joints displayed acceptable ductility upto
87 mm/min. It is interesting that the joint which had micro voids at
87 mm/min bend fully without breakage. The bending action imposed
compressive stress on the face side of the weld which might have acted
against opening of micro voids during bending. The defects in the joint
at 97 mm/min caused breakage of bend specimen.
R. Ramesh et al.
Fig. 14. Photographs of specimens after root bed test. Numbers indicate the value of
traverse speed.
4. Conclusions
In the present work, HSLA steels were successfully joined using
friction stir welding at different traverse speeds. The following conclu-
sions were derived:-
• The tendency to form macroscopic defects increased with increase in
traverse speed. Root flaw and groove defect were observed at a
traverse speed of 97 mm/min.
• The microstructure of the weld nugget consisted of upper bainite
and fine ferrite phases. The amount of upper bainite reduced with
traverse speed due to decrease in peak temperature and faster
cooling.
•
EBSD images revealed a decreasing trend of grain size with
increased traverse speed. The effect of frictional heat was dominant
over deformation rate of plasticized material.
• The weld nugget displayed higher hardness due to hard bainite
phase and refined ferrite. The hardness decreased with faster
traverse speed due to reduction in the formation of bainite structure
and increase in soft ferrite phase.
•
The joint strength was 540 MPa at 57 mm/min and 407 MPa at
97 mm/min. The higher strength below 78 mm/min traverse speed
was due to hard weld nugget. The lower joint strength with further
increase in traverse speed was due to poor consolidation and
macroscopic defects.
• All the welded joints passed the root bend test except the joint
welded at 97 mm/min. There was acceptable ductility in the welded
plates.
Acknowledgements
The corresponding author is grateful to Indian Academy of Sciences
at Bangalore, Indian National Academy of Sciences at New Delhi and
The National Academy of Sciences India at Allahabad for awarding
Summer Research Fellowship (Reg. No: ENGT-51, 2015) to carry out
this work. The authors acknowledge Dr. K. K. Ramachandran at
Government Engineering College Thrissur for sharing HSLA plates.
The authors are grateful to Materials Joining Laboratory at Indian
Institute of Technology Madras, OIM and Texture Lab at Indian
Institute of Technology Bombay and Microscopy Lab at University of
Johannesburg. The authors acknowledge National Institute of
Technology Calicut and PSG College of Technology Coimbatore for
sharing valuable suggestions and extending the facilities.
46
Materials Science & Engineering A 687 (2017) 39–46
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