Friction stir welding of HSLA-65 steel: Part II. The influence of weld speed and tool material on the residual stress distribution and tool wear

A set of single pass full penetration friction stir bead-on-plate and butt welds in HSLA-65 steel were produced using a range of traverse speeds (50 to 500 mm/min) and two tool materials (W-Re and PCBN). Part I described the influence of process and tool parameters on the microstructure in the weld region. This article focuses on the influence of these parameters on residual stress, but the presence of retained austenite evident in the diffraction pattern and X-ray tomographic investigations of tool material depositions are also discussed. The residual stress measurements were made using white beam synchrotron X-ray diffraction (SXRD). The residual stresses are affected by the traverse speed as well as the weld tool material. While the peak residual stress at the tool shoulders remained largely unchanged (approximately equal to the nominal yield stress (450 MPa)) irrespective of weld speed or tool type, for the W-Re welds, the width of the tensile section of the residual stress profile decreased with increasing traverse speed (thus decreasing line energy). The effect of increasing traverse speed on the width of the tensile zone was much less pronounced for the PCBN tool material.