Materials and Design 56 (2014) 725730

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Materials and Design

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Short Communication

Microstructure and mechanical properties of spray formed 7055

aluminum alloy by underwater friction stir welding
Yong Zhao a,, Qingzhao Wang a, Huabin Chen b, Keng Yan a
a
b

Provincial Key Lab of Advanced Welding Technology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, No. 2 Mengxi Road, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212003, China
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 11 August 2013
Accepted 28 November 2013
Available online 7 December 2013

a b s t r a c t
Ultra-high strength spray formed 7055 aluminum alloy in which Zn is supersaturated solid solution
requires strict control of heat input in welding process. In this paper, underwater friction stir welding
is carried out in order to reduce heat input comparing with traditional friction stir welding and further
improve the joint performances by varying welding temperature history. Through comparing the thermal
cycle curves and distribution of residual stress of the plate welded in different media, the reason why the
joint welded underwater shows a better performance is gured out. The result shows that tensile
strength, hardness and plasticity of underwater welded joint are better than that welded in air. The
underwater joint has a ne grained microstructure without S line defect, a typically distinct boundary
between the weld nugget zone and the thermal mechanically affected zone and a narrow heat affected
zone. The main strengthening phase in underwater joint is MgZn2 .
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
AlZnMgCu series (7XXX) alloys are widely used in the aerospace and automotive industries due to their excellent properties,
i.e. high strength, low density and outstanding machinability [1,2].
However, a practical limit of about 8 wt% Zn in AlZnMgCu
alloys is imposed for conventional cast materials due to inherent
foundry problems. Spray formed process enables the content of
Zn to be increased considerably and further improves the mechanical properties of the alloys [3]. Early in 1990s, industrial developed
countries had developed a new type of ultra-high strength 7XXX
aluminum alloy with ne microstructures and high solid solubility
of Zn (above 8%, even up to 14%) through spray formed technology.
Increasing Zn content makes the grain of the as-deposited alloys
rene [4]. Its tensile strength is up to 780830 MPa after proper
heat treatment.
The property of 7XXX series alloy is dominated by the quantity
of g0 phases which consists of Zn and Mg [5]. The spray formed process can make Zn to be supersaturated solid solution in the Al alloy
matrix. However, this kind of alloy is considered unweldable by
traditional fusion welding techniques owning to solidication
cracking or severely degraded mechanical properties of the welds.
The present researches about spray formed Al alloy just focus on its
preparation technologies, including its heat treatment technologies and the evolution of microstructures during preparation
process, but the study on its weldability is rarely reported.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 0189 14571603; fax: +86 0511 84434793.
E-mail address: yongzhao418@just.edu.cn (Y. Zhao).
0261-3069/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2013.11.071

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state welding process.

Since its invention in 1991 by TWI (Cambridge, United Kingdom)
[6], FSW has emerged as a reliable method to join high strength
series Al alloys [79]. Furthermore, the defect features and
mechanical properties of friction stir welded dissimilar aluminum
alloy sheets are widely investigated [10,11]. Although the base
metal does not melt during FSW process, improper thermal cycles
still can cause reduction of mechanical properties of the joints. So
more and more studies are focus on controlling the heat input of
FSW. Sakurada et al. [12] were the rst one who used submersion
in a rotary friction weld for 6061 aluminum alloys. The results
showed that it was possible to generate enough friction heat for
welding even though the samples were submerged in the water.
Thomas adopted submerged FSW to improve the strength of the
FSW joint of 6061 aluminum alloy [13]. Liu et al. [14,15] conducted
a study on properties and microstructure of 2219-T6 joints welded
by underwater friction stir welding. The results showed that water
cooling environment could improve the strength of joints.
In this paper, ultra-high strength spray formed 7055 aluminum
alloy is welded by friction stir welding in air and underwater,
respectively. The thermal cycle curves and the distribution of
residual stress are analyzed. The tensile properties, hardness,
microstructures and fracture features of joints are also
investigated.
2. Material and experimental procedures
The base material (BM) used for the experiment was a spray
formed 7055 aluminum alloy. The 4 mm thick sheets were cut into

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Y. Zhao et al. / Materials and Design 56 (2014) 725730

250  100 mm specimens which were prepared for FSW processing. The chemical composition and the mechanical property of
the base metal are listed in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.
Bead-on-plate friction stir welds were produced with a H13
steel tool consisting of a concave 10 mm diameter shoulder and a
4 mm diameter pin with the length of 3.75 mm. During the FSW,
a constant tile angle of 2.5 was maintained. The welding speed
was 100 mm/min and the rotation speed of the tool was
1000 rpm. Friction stir welding experiments were carried out in
air and underwater, respectively. The experimental setup of underwater friction stir welding is shown in Fig. 1. The thermal cycle
temperature was measured by 8 thermocouples xed on the workpiece and the locations of the thermocouples are shown in Fig. 2.
AS represents advancing side, and RS represents retreating
side. The residual stress of plate was measured after welding. Hole
drilling method according to ASTM: E837-13a was applied and the
location of the strain rosettes on the workpiece was indicated in
Fig. 3. The Vickers microhardness measurements were conducted
by MH-5D hardness tester (load: 100 g, time: 5 s).
The joints were cross-sectioned perpendicular to the welding
direction for microstructure analyses and tensile tests. The tensile
tests were conducted under the guide of GB/T228.1-2010 [16]. The
cross-sections of the metallographic specimens were observed by
optical microscopy (OM) after etching with Kellers reagent. The
evolution of strengthening precipitation in different experiment
conditions was observed by D/max 2550VL/PC X-ray diffraction
(XRD). The room temperature tensile properties were tested by a
Zwick Z020 E-stretching machine, and the results of each joint
were evaluated using three tensile specimens cut from the same
joint. The fracture features of the joints were observed by
JSM-6460 scanning electron microscope (SEM).

Table 1
Chemical composition of spray formed 7055 aluminum alloy (wt%).

Fig. 2. The location of thermocouples (AS: advancing side, RS: retreating side).

Fig. 3. The location of strain rosettes.

Zn

Mg

Mn

Cr

Fe

Si

Ti

Cu

Al

7.68.4

1.82.3

0.05

0.04

0.15

0.1

0.06

2.02.6

Bal.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Thermal cycle curves

Table 2
Mechanical properties of spray formed 7055 aluminum alloy.
Material

Thickness
(mm)

Heat
treatment

Ultimate tensile
strength (Rm/MPa)

Elongation
(%)

7055

T6

570

12

Fig. 1. Experimental setup of underwater friction stir welding.

The thermal cycle curves of welds formed in different media are

shown in Fig. 4 and the corresponding meanings and locations of
the marks are indicated in Fig. 2. Fig. 4(a) proles the room temperature weld initiated at 30 C. Approximately 80 s later, the
rotating tool is approaching the test area, and it begins to show a
sharp increase in temperature. When rotating tool passes by the
thermocouples, the temperature at this point of the plate rises to
the maximum (196.5 C) on advancing side (AS). Once the rotating
tool passes the test area, the curves begin to show a gradual
decrease in temperature. When the welding process is conducted
underwater, the temperature curves become mild and no signicant increase is observed, as shown in Fig. 4(b). The maximum
temperature is 68.5 C which is 128 C lower than that of the weld
formed in air. It means that water can ensure the plate to be kept in
a low temperature environment and extra heat can be taken away
by water in time. After rotating tool passing by, the temperature of
plate can fall to room temperature quickly.
The thermal cycle curves that come from the nearest and
farthest points away from the weld center on the same side are
compared in Fig. 5. Fig. 5(a and b) shows that a signicant drop
in temperature is observed from the nearest point to the farthest
point both on AS (from 196.5 C to 106.4 C) and RS (from
173.6 C to 90.3 C) when the joint is welded in air, which shows
a very large temperature gradient around weld. A large range

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727

Fig. 4. The thermal cycle curves of weld formed in different media (a) in air and (b) underwater.

Fig. 5. The thermal cycle curves tested by the points nearest and farthest from the weld center on the same side (a) AS in air, (b) RS in air, (c) AS underwater, and (d) RS
underwater.

variation of temperature would make properties of joint non-uniform which is detrimental to the performance of weld. While the
temperature of the underwater welding is more steady and
changes little, as shown in Fig. 5(c and d). No matter the welding
process is conducted in air or underwater, the temperature on AS
is always higher than that of RS. The result is consistent with the
conclusion of present study on the thermal cycle of friction stir
welding [17]. Clearly the material on AS is affected by the heat
input more seriously than RS.
3.2. Residual stress distributions
The distribution of residual stress of the joint welded in different media is shown in Fig. 6. Distribution of residual stress is
related to thermal cycle and restraint intensity. In this experiment,
the deformation of plate is strictly limited by the xture during
welding process, so the difference in residual stress mainly gener-

ates by different thermal cycles. According to the results of thermal

cycles, the plate welded in air suffers higher temperature and takes
a longer time to cool down. If it is in a free state, the plate welded
in air would suffer a serious deformation to respond the heat.
However, it is xed strictly during the whole welding process,
which leads to higher residual stress in the plate welded in air.
By contrast, the plate welded underwater just experiences a low
and mild thermal cycle for a short time, and shows lower residual
stress on all range and it even shows compression stress in the
weld area. Compression stress should come from squeezing action
of rotating tool to the weld. The plate will expand when it is heated
for a period of time. Compression stress which gained from friction
stir welding process would be released during cooling process
when the expansion reaches a certain degree, and farther more it
tends to be residual tensile stress left in the weld and plate nally.
In traditional friction stir welding process, the heat input is usually
high enough to make the plate expand to counteract the

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Y. Zhao et al. / Materials and Design 56 (2014) 725730

3.3. Microstructures

Fig. 6. Distribution of residual stress of the plate welded in different media.

compression stress. Compared to the traditional FSW joint which

shows tensile stress on all range, compression stress is reserved
in weld area of the underwater FSW joint. Residual compressive
stress can improve the fatigue strength of the joints.

Figs. 7 and 8 show the cross-section and microstructures of

joints welded by FSW in air and underwater, respectively. The S
line is observed in the weld nugget zone of the joint welded in
air, as shown in Fig. 7(b). The S line is a kind of weak connection
defect, which is detrimental to the properties of joints. But S line
is not found in the underwater joint (Fig. 8(b)).
It is known that the black S line probably originates from the
oxide layer on the plate surface, which is broken up, extruded and
deformed during FSW [18]. The oxidation lm is generated soon by
friction heat during FSW in air process even though it has been
cleaned thoroughly before welding. When it is welded by underwater FSW, the plate is prevented from atmospheric oxidation
and the S line defect is eliminated. Furthermore, some researches
[19,20] indicate that reducing temperature gradient is also helpful
to eliminate S line. Underwater FSW has a milder temperature
gradient than that in air and the water can take redundant heat
away produced by friction in time which further reduces the possibility of forming S line.
The AS of the underwater joint is characterized by a typically
distinct boundary between the nugget zone (NZ) and the thermal
mechanically affected zone (TMAZ), as shown in Fig. 8(a). By contrast the boundary between the NZ and the TMAZ in RS is rather
unclear, as shown in Fig. 8(c). In the joint welded in air, there is

Fig. 7. Microstructure of joints welded by FSW in air.

Fig. 8. Microstructure of joints welded by underwater FSW.

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Y. Zhao et al. / Materials and Design 56 (2014) 725730

of dissolved state of Zn, strengthening mechanism of joints differs

from base metal.
Compared with underwater joint, the higher heat input of FSW
in air has changed the component of strengthening phases. The
strengthening phase in the underwater joint is MgZn2, while that
in the joint welded in air is MgZn2 and MgCu2. Although both
two phases are Laves Phase working as solid solution strengthening phase, MgCu2 and MgZn2 are different in electron concentration and crystal structure which cause different degrees of
grain distortion and lead to different strengthening effects. MgCu2
generates from the displacement reaction of Cu and MgZn2. When
the welding process is conducted in air, Cu tends to be active under
higher heat input and bonds Mg more tightly and easily than Zn
does due to the difference of atomic radius. Ref. [22] proves that
Cu would displace Zn from MgZn2 when the aluminum alloy gets
adequate heat. MgZn2 and MgCu2 combining strengthening method is less efcient than MgZn2 single strengthening method. MgZn2
tends to transform into MgCu2 under a higher heat input easily. It
would have a great impact on the property of joint.

Fig. 9. XRD spectra of base metal and FSW joints.

no clear interface between the NZ and the TMAZ on both side of the
weld (Fig. 7(a and c)). In addition, the process of traditional FSW
experiences higher temperature and longer time, so HAZ of the
joint is wider due to a higher heat input. Under the inuence of
heat input, HAZ is fuzzy because of variation of grain size and
microstructure in this area. Water cooling can take the welding
heat away in time, gentle the temperature gradient, restrain heat
spreading to base metal and prevent the grain in HAZ from
coarsening.
3.4. X-ray analysis
XRD spectra of base metal and FSW joints are displayed in Fig. 9.
Strengthening phase of base metal mainly consists of MgZn2, AlCuMg and AlMg4Zn11. AlMg4Zn11 phase is not observed in joints
after welding. Ref. [21] shows that the g0 phase which consists of
MgZn2 is the main strengthen phase of spray formed aluminum
alloy when MgZn2 is supersaturated solid solved in base metal
matrix. However the g0 phase is unstable and MgZn2 is sensitive
to heat input. Zn tends to dissolve out with the decrease of the
solubility of Zn after welding and the quantity of MgZn2 would
reduce, then g0 phase would turn into g phase. With the change

3.5. Mechanical properties

The results of tensile test are given in Table 3. The normal joint
has an ultimate tensile strength of 430 MPa, equivalent to 75% of
base metal strength. By underwater FSW, tensile strength of joints
can be increased to 495 MPa, which is approximately 87% of base
metal strength. The elongation of the underwater FSW joint
reaches 7.2% which is higher than that of the normal joint. No matter the joint is welded in air or underwater, the AS is weakened due
to the asymmetrical distribution of heat input of the heat input
during FSW, with fractures occurring in advance sides.
Fig. 10 shows the fracture features of joints welded in different
media. The fracture feature of the sample FSW underwater
(Fig. 10(a)) is consisted of dimples with white dots. White dots hinder the movement of dislocation which improves the strength and
ductility of grain boundary. However, the fracture feature of joint
of traditional FSW shows small dimples and fuzzy torn lines without white dots. Its fracture mechanism is close to quasi-cleavage
fracture (Fig. 10(b)). Water immersion environment reduces heat
input of FSW and preserves the excellent properties of base
material furthest.

Table 3
Tensile properties of welded joints in different media.
Medium

Underwater
In air

Parameters
F (mm/min)

S (rpm)

100
100

1000
1000

Ultimate tensile strength (MPa)

Elongation (%)

Fracture location

495
430

7.2
4.1

AS (advance side)
AS (advance side)

Fig. 10. Fracture features of different joints (a) FSW underwater, (b) FSW in air.

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Y. Zhao et al. / Materials and Design 56 (2014) 725730

Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to be supported by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51005153).
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2013.11.
071.
References

Fig. 11. Microhardness distributions of different joints.

3.6. Microhardness distributions

The values of hardness of the weld formed underwater are
higher than that of weld formed in air, as shown in Fig. 11. The
hardness curve of weld welded in air shows a W shape which
contains a distinct low value area in the thermo-mechanical
affected zone (THAZ) on both sides. By contrast, the hardness curve
of underwater joint is a at-like area which eliminates the distinct
low value area, and shows a more uniform performance. But no
matter the plate is welded in which media, the lowest value of
hardness always lies on the AS where the fracture takes place.
4. Conclusions
From the above investigations, the main conclusions can be
summarized:
(1) Underwater FSW creates a milder and lower thermal cycle
than traditional FSW which is helpful to reserve the excellent performance of base metal furthest.
(2) Water environment has reduced the residual stress of the
joint obviously and even reserved compression stress in
the weld.
(3) Underwater FSW eliminates the S line defect and the
underwater joint has a clear boundary between the NZ and
the TMAZ on AS. The joint welded in air shows no clear
interface the NZ and the TMAZ on both side of the weld.
(4) Strengthening phase particles of base metal is AlMg4Zn11,
MgZn2 and AlCuMg, and AlMg4Zn11 is not found in FSW
joints. The strengthening phase in the underwater joint is
MgZn2, while MgCu2 replaces MgZn2 partly in the normal
joint.
(5) Tensile strength of the underwater joint reaches 495 MPa,
equivalent to 75% that of the base metal and the elongation
is higher than that of the normal joint.

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