Superplastic Behavior and Microstructure of Titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) Friction Stir Welds Made Under a Variety of Processing Conditions

摘要

Friction Stir Welding of Ti-6Al-4V was performed on 5 mm thickness plate in order to assess the affect of welding conditions on the resulting microstructure and superplastic forming behavior of the joints. A variety of welding conditions were tested and all welds were subsequently Superplastically formed. It was found that the weld parameters do influence the microstructure and degree of superplastic performance of the joints. Spindle speed was found to have the most dominant affect on the resulting microstructure and superplastic forming behavior. Low spindle speed welds lead to fine grained microstructures and highly superplastic welds, relative to the base material, while high spindle speed welds larger grained microstructures and less superplastic welds.