Materials and Design 44 (2013) 476–486

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Materials and Design

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Microstructure and failure mechanisms of refill friction stir spot welded

7075-T6 aluminum alloy joints
Zhikang Shen, Xinqi Yang ⇑, Zhaohua Zhang, Lei Cui, Tielong Li
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Advanced Joining Technology, School of Material Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, the microstructure and mechanical properties of 7075-T6 aluminum alloy joints joined by
Received 4 June 2012 refill friction stir spot welding (RFSSW) were investigated. The keyhole was refilled successfully, and the
Accepted 4 August 2012 microstructure of the weld exhibited variations in the grain sizes in the width and the thickness direc-
Available online 29 August 2012
tions. There existed defects (hook, voids, bonding ligament, etc.) associated to the material flow in the
weld. Mechanical properties of the joint have been investigated in terms of hardness and tensile/shear
Keywords: and cross-tension test, and the fracture mechanisms were observed by SEM (scanning electron micro-
A. Non-ferrous metals and alloys
scope). The hardness profile of the weld exhibited a W-shaped appearance in the macroscopic level,
D. Welding
E. Mechanical
which reached the minimum at the boundary of the sleeve and the clamping ring. The variation laws
between tensile/shear and cross-tension strength and processing parameters were rather complicated.
The void in the weld played an important role in determining the strength of the joint. On the whole,
the preferable strength can be obtained at lower rotational speed. Shear fracture mode was observed
under tensile–shear loadings, and nugget debonding, plug type fracture (on the upper sheet) and plug
type fracture (on the lower sheet) modes were observed under cross-tension loadings. It was also
observed that the main feature affecting the mechanical properties of the joint is the alclad between
the upper and lower sheets and the connecting qualities between the stir zone and thermo-mechanically
affected zone.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction air, nor complex electrical transforming equipment. Furthermore,

Friction Stir Spot Welding (FSSW) is a variation of linear Friction
Stir Welding (FSW), involving only the plunge and retraction of the
FSW tool, i.e., the traverse part of the process is eliminated [1]. This
technology is expected to apply in transportation systems, partic-
ularly in automotive industry for its advantages such as superior
mechanical properties, ease of handling, joining of materials that
are difficult to fusion weld and low energy consumption [2,3].
Recently, aluminum alloys are used widely, especially in the
automobile and aerospace industry, in which weight saving is
extraordinarily important [2,4,5]. Resistance spot welding (RSW)
and riveting are the primary methods used today for single point
joining. However, there exist inherent disadvantages compared
with FSSW, such as high energy consumption, poor welds and
shunting problems for RSW, and high cost, low production effi-
ciency and bad working environment for riveting. Moreover, FSSW
costs 25% less than RSW, and the FSSW process is simpler and is
not as sensitive to changing material conditions and surface condi-
tions [1,2,6]. Additionally, FSSW requires no water, no compressed
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 22 2740 7022.
E-mail address: xqyang@tju.edu.cn (X. Yang).
Mazda Motor Corporation has successfully applied friction stir spot
welding in the production of the rear door of their 2003 RX-8, the
rear door have excellent structural stability against side impact as
well as provide five star roll over protection [7].
FSSW mentioned above also can be called as plunge friction stir
welding (PFSSW) or conventional friction stir spot welding, which
was patented by Mazda in 2003 [8]. With the advantage mentioned
above, there also exist disadvantages for PFSSW such as corrosion
could take place preferentially at the keyhole because of rainwater
in the keyhole, where body paint hardly reaches the bottom [5], the
keyhole inevitably remains at the center of the nugget directly lim-
its the widespread applications of the PFSSW process. Meanwhile,
the keyhole is an inherent defect itself, which will cause stress con-
centration and reduction of the effective connection area of the spot
weld which in turn affect the mechanical properties of the joints. In
order to solve the problem, refill friction stir spot welding (RFSSW)
was developed by GKSS-GmbH in 2002 [8]. The RFSW is being
developed at the SDSMT AMP Center under license to RIFTEC-
GmbH. RFSW is also being used as a tacking technology to hold
and restrain parts during welding by linear FSW [7]. Uematsu et
al. [5] pointed out that tensile strength can be improved by re-fill-
ing process. Furthermore, RFSSW also can be used to repair the
fatigue crack [9]. However, with the exception of a few publications

0261-3069/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2012.08.026
 Z. Shen et al. / Materials and Design 44 (2013) 476–486 477

Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of the RFSSW processes.

[4,5,10,11], relatively little are currently known about the detail of
RFSSW.
The schematic illustration of the friction stir spot welding pro-
cess is shown in Fig. 1. It can be seen that the RFSSW is performed
using a tool assembly comprised of three parts: clamping ring,
sleeve and pin. Furthermore, the three components of the tool
are operated by three separate actuators so that they are mounted
coaxially and can be rotated and moved up and down indepen-
dently of each another. Prior to welding, the clamping is moving
the entire welding head against the work pieces to keep the sheets
to be welded tightly secured during the welding process and to
avoid plasticised material to be lost in the form of flash [10]. As
indicated in Fig. 1 the RFSSW process can be explained by four dis-
tinct stages: (a) the clamping ring is fixed on the top surface of the
upper sheet and both the sleeve, and the pin starts to rotate and
rub on the sheet for a while to soften the material so that the pen-
etration could be more smoothly. (b) The sleeve and pin move
downwards and upward, respectively, therefore the plasticised
material displaced by the sleeve is squeezed into the cylindrical
cavity created by the upward movement of the pin. (c) After reach-
ing a predetermined plunge depth, both the sleeve and pin’s direc-
tion of movement begin to reverse, and the plasticized material in
the cylindrical cavity is squeezed back by the sleeve, hence the
cylindrical cavity created by the sleeve is refilled successfully. (d)
The welding head of the workpieces is removed and a flat surface
connection is obtained [10].
In the present study, the tests were conducted using lap-shear
specimens of refill friction stir spot welded 7075-T6 aluminum
alloy. The mechanical properties were evaluated and the micro-
structure, characteristics of defects and failure mechanisms were
discussed based on experimental observation.
2. Experimental details
The material used in the present study is 7075-T6 aluminum
alloy plate of 2.0 mm thickness, whose chemical composition and
mechanical properties are listed in Tables 1 and 2, respec-
tively.7075-T6 is precipitation-hardened Al–Zn–Mg–(Cu) alloy that
has been used extensively in the aircraft structural components,
mobile equipment, and other highly stressed applications for their
light weight and high strength [12–14].
Fig. 2 illustrates the configuration of lap-shear and cross-ten-
sion specimens employed. The specimens were made by using
two 40 mm  150 mm sheets with a 40 mm  40 mm and

Table 1
Chemical composition of 7075-T6 aluminum alloys (wt.%).

Si Fe Cu Mn Mg Cr Zn Ti Other impurities Al
Single total
0.40 0.5 1.2  2.0 0.30 2.1  2.9 0.18  0.28 5.1  6.1 0.30 0.05 0.15 Rest

Table 2
Mechanical properties of 7075-T6 aluminum alloys.

As received Tensile stress rb (MPa) Yield stress r0.2 (MPa) Shear strength T (MPa) Elongation d (%)
T6 453.4 415.5 317 13.9

Fig. 2. Configuration of test specimens (in mm): (a) tensile/shear test specimen and (b) cross-tension test specimen.
478 Z. Shen et al. / Materials and Design 44 (2013) 476–486

Fig. 3. Microstructures on longitudinal section of RFSSW joint made at welding condition of the rotational speed of 1200 rpm and dwell time of 4 s: (a) cross section of weld
zone, (b) magnified views of the regions A1-D marked in a, respectively and (c) variations of the grain sizes in the thickness direction.

50 mm  50 mm overlap areas, respectively. Tensile/shear tests
and cross-tension tests were performed according to Japanese
Industrial Standard (JIS) Z 3136–1999 [15] and Z 3137–1999
[16], respectively. All the specimens were welded in the middle
of the overlap area. RFSSW lap experiments were carried out on
the FSSW-SK-002 welding machine. The three-piece non-consum-
able tool comprises a clamping ring, a sleeve and a pin, whose
diameters are 15, 9 and 5 mm, respectively. The rotational speeds
and duration time were varied, which were 1500, 1750 and
2000 rpm, and 3, 4 and 5 s, respectively.
After welding, a longitudinal section through the center of the
joint was polished and etched to reveal the weld structure using
an OLYMPUS DP700 optical microscope. The tensile/shear and
cross-tension tests were performed using a CHANGCHUN CSS-
44100 electronic universal testing machine. After the tests, fracture
morphologies of the failure specimens were examined in detail
using a HITACHI Hatchis-4800 ESEM scanning electron micro-
scope. Vickers hardness profiles of the joint was measured using
432SVD Vickers micro-hardness tester in the middle location of
the upper sheet and lower sheet. A 5 kg force was used with
0.5 mm distance between indents and a dwell time of 10 s.

Fig. 4. Characteristics of the hooks and voids made at different processing parameters.
 Z. Shen et al. / Materials and Design 44 (2013) 476–486 479

Fig. 5. Characteristics of the defects of the joint: (a) bonding ligament, (b) incomplete refill, (c) no mixing and (d) lack of mixing.

Fig. 6. Hardness profiles of the welds in the mid-thickness of the upper sheet.

Fig. 7. The mechanical properties of the joints: (a) diagram of the tensile/shear strength among the welds and (b) diagram of cross-tension strength among the welds.
480 Z. Shen et al. / Materials and Design 44 (2013) 476–486

Fig. 8. Shear fracture of nugget of the RFSSW joints under tensile/shear loadings: (a) close-up top view of the upper sheet, (b) close-up bottom view of the upper sheet and (c)
close-up top view of the lower sheet.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Microstructure characterization and characteristic of defects in

weld zone

3.1.1. Microstructure characterization in weld zone

The macroscopic and microscopic structure of the cross-section
of the weld made at the welding condition of rotational speed of
1500 rpm and duration time of 3 s are revealed in Fig. 3. As shown
in Fig. 3a, the keyhole was successfully re-filled and the white
alclad was entrapped into the joint by the rotating and stirring tool,
the alclad will be described later. Based on the characteristic of the
cross-section, the weld structure is found to be symmetrical with
respect to the tool axis, and the cross-section of the friction stir spot
welded joint can be classified into four regions in terms of the
microstructural characteristics of the joints in sequence from the
stir zone towards the base material, i.e. stir zone (SZ), thermo- Fig. 9. Schematic illustration of fracture path: (a) shear fracture path, (b) nugget
debonding path, (c) plug type fracture path (on the upper sheet) and (d) plug type
mechanically affected zone (TMAZ), heat affected zone (HAZ) and
fracture path (on the lower sheet).
the base material (BM), respectively. Fig. 3b reveals the magnified
views of the regions A (A1, A2), B, C and D in Fig. 3a, respectively.
As shown in Fig. 3b. The HAZ experiences a welding thermal
cycle, but does not undergo any plastic deformation, which causes As shown in Fig. 3a, the boundary between TMAZ and SZ can be
a precipitate dissolution in the matrix [17] and the coarser clearly distinguished around the periphery of the sleeve. The SZ dis-
strengthening precipitates than those in the BM. The TMAZ is con- plays a basin-shape and exhibits a recrystallized and fine equiaxed
centrated in narrow zone around the periphery of the sleeve, which grain structure due to intense plastic deformation and frictional
experiences both moderate frictional heating and deformation and heating during joining process. The hardening precipitates were
is characterized by a highly deformed structure, recrystallization broken into particles and dissolved by stirring of the tool, and the
does not occur in TMAZ due to insufficient deformation strain larger precipitates reprecipitated on subsequent cooling. The mag-
[18]. The larger hardening precipitates have no significant change nified views of the regions A1 and A2 in Fig. 3a are indicated in
in the size or morphology, however, the grains were elongated Fig. 3b in order to investigate the SZ in detail. Due to the up-and-
along the direction of pin’s motion. There is a dramatic change of down movements of the pin and sleeve, the materials in the bound-
grain size from about 5 lm in SZ to 20 lm in the vicinity of sleeve’s ary of them were stirred more severely than other regions, thus the
periphery, where the crack initiation is more possible due to the grains are much finer than those in the center. Meanwhile, there
drastic change in microstructure [19]. also existed variations in the grain sizes in the thickness direction
 Z. Shen et al. / Materials and Design 44 (2013) 476–486
Fig. 10. Scanning electron micrographs of (a) a fracture surface on the lower sheet shown in Fig. 8b and (b) magnified views of the regions A–F marked in (a).
(see Fig. 3c), the grain sizes in the regions of G and I are smaller than
those in the region of H. This can be attributed to the higher temper-
ature and severe plastic deformation under the pin and sleeve tips
in the maintaining stage.
It should be noted that there were several kinds of defects
formed in regions E and F (denoted in Fig. 3a) due to poor flowabil-
ity of materials there, which will be discussed in detail later.
3.1.2. Characteristics of the defects
As shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Due to the inherent disadvantage of
this method, several kinds of weld defects were formed during the
joining process, such as hook, voids, bonding ligament and incom-
plete refill. All of them were defects associated to the material flow.
As shown in Fig. 4 hooks are observed under all processing
parameters applied in the present study. Unlike the hook found by
Rosendo et al. [10], in other words, the hook presents an L-shaped
appearance and exhibits a poor continuity. Badarinarayan et al.
[20] attributed the formation of hook to the upward bending of the
sheet interface caused by the tool penetration into the bottom sheet.
However, which is not true in the present study, because there was
no upward bending of the sheet interface due to the poor plasticity
481
of the base material. Furthermore, the formation of hook can be
attributed to the tool penetration into the bottom sheet and the lack
of mixing of the two sheets due to the poor flowability of materials
and insufficient pressure in such a tight space. It also can be seen that
the processing parameters scarcely affect the hook geometry. Mean-
while, various sizes of voids formed, which are also associated to the
material flow and related to the processing parameters. As shown in
Fig. 4, the voids get smaller and less with the increasing of duration
time at a given rotational speed. However, the voids get bigger with
the increasing of rotational speed at a given duration time. Hence
duration time plays a crucial role in increasing the fluidity of the
material. It can be attributed to a less violent caused by slip condi-
tions between the rotating sleeve and the surrounding material with
the increasing of rotational speed [10]. The presence of the void
diminishes the integrity of the weld, which have an important effect
on the crack initiation when the weld is subjected to external
loading.
Fig. 5a represents the bonding ligament in the joint welded at
the rotational speed of 1500 rpm and duration time of 3 s. The
bonding ligament lies above the boundary between the two sheets
because of the upward material flow of the lower sheet, which
482 Z. Shen et al. / Materials and Design 44 (2013) 476–486
Fig. 11. Schematic illustration of rotation of nugget [3].
displays banded structure with layers because of alclad entrapped
into the joint. Similar with inclusion in fusion welding, alclad will
lower the mechanical properties of joints because the alclad and
the matrix cannot fuse together, and stress concentration can be
Fig. 12. Macroscopic fracture appearances of RFSSW joints under cross-tension loadings.
formed when the weld is subjected to external loading. It also
can be seen that the bonding ligament is higher in the center than
that in the periphery, it can be concluded that the bonding liga-
ment formed in the pin’s plunging stage, and the materials in the
periphery of the sleeve could be stirred more severely than that
in the center.
Similar to the defects found by Rosendo et al. [10], other defects
such as incomplete refill, no mixing and lack of mixing are also ob-
served, which are revealed in Fig. 5b, c and d, respectively, They
were made under the welding conditions of rotational speed of
1750, 2000 and 1500 rpm, and duration time of 4, 4 and 5 s, respec-
tively. All of them locate at the path the sleeve plunges into the
upper sheet, the boundary between the stir zone and thermo-
mechanically affected zone can be clearly identified, where the
materials did not mix thoroughly. The formations of such defects
are associated to the poor flowability of materials and inappropri-
ate processing parameters.
3.2. Mechanical property tests
3.2.1. Hardness test
The Vickers hardness profiles of the joints made at the duration
time of 3 and 5 s are represented in Fig. 6a and b, respectively,
which were carried out after 40 days natural aging. According to
the profile of the Vickers hardness, the distribution of Vickers hard-
ness is found to be symmetric with respect to the tool axis and
exhibited a W-shaped appearance in the macroscopic level, fur-
thermore, the hardness exhibited gradually in the location of
HAZ toward the center of the weld and reaches the minimum value
in the boundary of the HAZ and TMAZ. Then the hardness of the
TMAZ and SZ increases dramatically toward the direction of the
center of weld and reaches the maximum value in the periphery
of the pin, the maximum value is almost equivalent to the base
material hardness. And then the hardness decrease gradually and
reach the other minimum value in the location of the tool axis
within the limits of pin’s diameter. As shown in Fig. 6, when the
 Z. Shen et al. / Materials and Design 44 (2013) 476–486
Fig. 13. Scanning electron micrographs of (a) a nugget debonding fracture surface on the lower sheet shown in Fig. 9 and (b) magnified views of the regions A–H marked in
(a).
duration is 3 s, the difference of Vickers hardness is rather small
with the increasing of rotational speed. However, when the dura-
tion time is 5 s, the difference of Vickers hardness is slightly bigger,
which can be attributed to the increasing of heating or cooling
rates during welding by increasing duration time, because the
increasing heating rate could reduce the time for the precipitates
to grow [21].
The deduction of hardness in the HAZ can be attributed to the
coarsening of precipitates and grains due to the only effect of ther-
mal cycle during welding, which resulted in the lower hardness
than that of the BM according to the Hall–Petch relationship, in
which the precipitation state plays a decisive role on the hardness
for the reason that the submicroscopic Mg2Zn and Al2CuMg precip-
itates render a high hardness in the alloy [22], and Cavaliere et al.
[23] attributed the reduction of hardness in HAZ to the competing
mechanisms of work hardening and over-aging. Compared to the
HAZ, the grains in the TMAZ and SZ undergo severe intense plastic
deformation besides frictional heat, especially the SZ undergo dy-
namic recrystallization, which induces the appearance of fine equi-
axed grain structure, meanwhile, the larger amount of precipitates
in the SZ were dissolved due to the higher temperature and then
reprecipitated during the following natural ageing [21]. Hence
the hardness in the SZ and TMAZ can be attributed to the compre-
hensive effect of variations in the grain sizes and strengthening
precipitates.
3.2.2. Tensile/shear and cross-tension tests
The variation laws between tensile/shear strength and process-
ing parameters are shown in Fig. 7a. When the rotational speed is
483
1500 rpm, higher tensile/shear strength can be obtained under
three different duration times applied in the present study, and
the strength increases and then decreases with the increasing of
duration time. However, as rotational speed reaches 1750 or
2000 rpm, the strength decrease and then increase with the
increasing of duration time. The tensile/shear strength reaches a
maximum of 7031.0 N at the welding condition of the rotational
speed of 1500 rpm and duration time of 4 s.
As shown in Fig. 7b, the variation laws between cross-tension
strength and processing parameters are rather complicated. Under
all given processing parameters, the peak load can be obtained by
appropriate combination of rotational speed and duration time. As
a whole, when the rotational speed is lower, the peak value can be
obtained by lowering the duration time, which can be attributed to
the coarser structure associated to increasing heating input. How-
ever, when the rotational speed is 2000 rpm, the strength is lower
at the duration time of 3 s, however, the peak value could be ob-
tained by prolonging the duration time, this also can be attributed
to slip conditions between the rotating sleeve and the surrounding
material at higher rotational speed [10], and the material can be
mixed adequately by prolonging the duration time. The maximum
cross-tension strength of 2643.2 N can be obtained at the welding
condition of rotational speed of 1500 s and duration time of 3 s. As
shown in Fig. 7a and b, in general, the preferable mechanical prop-
erties can be obtained at lower rotational speed, this can be attrib-
uted the lower density of strengthening precipitates compared to
higher heat input [24].
As shown in Fig. 7, the mechanical properties of 7075-T6 joints
are relatively lower. This are associated to the poor flowability of
484 Z. Shen et al. / Materials and Design 44 (2013) 476–486
Fig. 14. Scanning electron micrographs of (a) a plug type fracture surface shown in Fig. 9 and (b) magnified views of the regions A–D marked in (a).
the materials, as well as the alclad mentioned above. There is a di-
rect correlation between the mechanical properties and the sizes of
voids (see in Figs. 4 and 7), hence, the size of the void has a crucial
role in determining the mechanical properties.
3.2.3. Macroscopic and microscopic fracture morphology
One type of fracture mode was observed under tensile/shear
loadings–shear fracture. Fig. 8 reveals the typical macroscopic frac-
ture surfaces of the close-up top and bottom views of the upper
sheet and close-up top view of the lower sheet. It can be clearly rec-
ognized that shear fracture took place along the boundary between
the upper and lower sheets through the nugget of the weld, and the
faying surface between the two sheets was completely sheared off.
There exhibits bulgy ridges in the periphery of the fracture surface
on the lower sheet, accordingly, sunk ridges formed on the upper
sheet because the crack propagated along the hook. The outside
fracture surface of the ridge is smooth, where bond did not form,
but the inside fracture surface of the ridge is sunk because the crack
propagated along the bonding ligament where stress concentration
could form when the weld is subjected to external loading.
In order to examine the fracture process in more detail, the
crack propagation path is schematically shown in Fig. 9a, and
SEM micrographs of fracture surfaces on the failed tensile/shear
specimen are represented in Fig. 10. Fig. 10a reveals SEM micro-
graph of overall fracture surface on the lower sheet of the joint,
and Fig. 10b reveals the magnified views at the regions A–L in
Fig. 10a, respectively. The crack initiated in the region A, where
corresponds with the void in the boundary between the stir zone
and thermo-mechanically affected zone (see in Fig. 4) where con-
siderable variation of hardness can be recognized (see in Fig. 6),
then the crack propagated toward the weld center and along the
circumferential direction. The regions B, K, L and C, D, J correspond
with the hook’s tip and junction’s slope of the hook and bonding
ligament, respectively. There exist fewer dimples in region B com-
pared to regions K and L, indicating the crack preferentially initiate
in region B. The presence of numerous dimples of various sizes and
quantities in regions D–I indicate the occurrence of shear fracture
in the remaining area of the nugget. Furthermore, striation-like
patters can be clearly seen in the regions of A, B, K and L, which
indicated that the crack propagated along the direction perpendic-
ular to the loading direction around the nugget. This phenomenon
can be attributed to rotation of the nugget, which is schematically
shown in Fig. 11, the rotation of nugget gives rise to the generation
of the load component perpendicular to the loading direction and
in turn causes the crack to grow to the thickness direction [4,7].
Fig. 12 summarizes the fracture modes of the joint under cross-
tension loadings. It can be seen that the fracture modes could be
classified into three modes: nugget debonding, plug type fracture
(on the upper sheet) and plug type fracture (on the lower sheet).
It should be noted that nugget debonding is the dominant fracture
mode under cross-tension loadings, plug type fracture rarely
occurs, with the exception of some specimens made at welding
conditions of rotational speed of 1500 rpm and duration time of
4 s (on the upper sheet), rotational speed of 1750 rpm and duration
time of 5 s and rotational speed of 2000 rpm and duration time of
4 s (on the lower sheet). Hence, the welded quality between the
 Z. Shen et al. / Materials and Design 44 (2013) 476–486
upper and lower sheets is worse than that between the stir zone
and the thermo-mechanically affected zone. As shown in Figs. 8
and 12, the bonding ligament between the boundary of the two
sheets and the partial bonding around the boundary between the
stir zone and the base material play an important role in the crack
initiation and propagation.
As shown in Fig. 12, the fracture surface of nugget debonding is
similar to that of shear fracture (see in Fig. 8). SEM micrographs of
the overall fracture surface on the lower sheet of the joint are
shown in Fig. 13. Fig. 13b reveals the magnified views of the
regions A–H marked in (a), respectively. The crick initiated at re-
gion A at the boundary between the upper and lower sheets, and
fracture surfaces with striation like patterns can be observed in
the regions A and C, this indicates that the crack propagated along
the circumferential direction around the SZ. Then the crack propa-
gated toward to SZ, the fracture path is schematically shown in
Fig. 9b, it can be seen that the fracture mode is similar to that of
shear fracture under tension/shear loadings mentioned above.
Meanwhile, the presence of equiaxed dimple in the regions B, C
and D, and the sizes of dimple increase gradually, which indicates
that plasticity increases gradually and the metallurgy combination
becomes preferable. There exist numerous small shallow dimples
associated with the second-phase particles in region E, indicating
the poor plasticity of the material on the hook. In the region F,
the existence of alternant distribution of small and big dimples
suggests the difference of plasticity. There exist small shallow dim-
ples associated with discontinuous second-phase particles in re-
gions G, and the fracture surface in region H is mainly composed
of ductile dimples and tearing edges, presents a mixed ductile–
brittle fracture.
As indicated in Fig. 12, plug type fracture was brought about by
the pull out of the nugget, furthermore, the fracture mode also can
be classified in two categories: plug type fracture (on the upper
sheet) and plug type fracture (on the lower sheet), which is associ-
ated with the lack of mixing between the boundary between the SZ
and thermo-mechanically affected zone (see in Fig. 5d) and the
preferable bond between the upper and lower sheets, respectively.
Fig. 14a is the overall fracture surface of the upper sheet and
Fig. 14b is the magnified views of the regions A–D in Fig. 14a,
respectively. It is worth noting that no matter the fracture takes
places on the upper sheet or the lower sheet, the crack initiated
at the boundary between the upper and lower sheets and then
grown to the thickness direction at the edge of the nugget (path
of sleeve’s movements) where dramatic variation in hardness can
be recognized (seen in Fig. 6), and stress concentration may be
caused, the fracture paths are schematically shown in Fig. 9c and
d, respectively. In the present study, the crack initiated at region
A where equiaxed dimples of various sizes were formed, and bro-
ken second-phase particles distributed among the bigger dimples.
As shown in Fig. 14b, the presence of striation like patterns in
regions B, C and D indicated that the crack also propagated along
the circumferential direction perpendicular to the loading
direction.
4. Conclusions
The microstructure and mechanical properties of refill friction
stir spot welded 7075-T6 aluminum alloy were investigated. The
following conclusions are made:
(1) The keyhole of the weld can be refilled successfully, the
microstructure of the weld exhibits variations in the grain
sizes in the width and the thickness directions. Moreover,
defects associated to the material flow were observed, such
as hook, voids, bonding ligament and incomplete refill.
485
(2) The hardness profile of the weld exhibited a W-shaped
appearance in the macroscopic level. The change low of
hardness can be attributed to the comprehensive effects of
several factors, in which the precipitation state plays a deci-
sive role.
(3) Overall, the preferable mechanical properties can be
obtained at lower rotational speed and shorter duration
time. Extending the duration time contributed to the
improvement of mechanical properties at higher rotational
speed.
(4) Shear fracture mode is observed under tensile/shear load-
ings, and nugget dobonding, plug type fracture (on the upper
sheet) and plug type fracture (on the lower sheet) modes are
observed under cross-tension loadings. Moreover, the frac-
ture modes under cross-tension loadings are associated to
the processing parameters.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the financial support for this work
from the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No.
50775159) and Nature Science Foundation of Tianjin (No.
10JCYBJC06700).
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