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Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Journal of Manufacturing Processes

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

Technical paper

Experimental investigation on mechanical and metallurgical

properties of super duplex stainless steel joints using friction
welding process
T. Udayakumar a , K. Raja a , A. Tanksale Abhijit b , P. Sathiya b,
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College of Engineering, Anna University, Ramanathapuram 623513, Tamil Nadu, India
b
Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 620015, Tamil Nadu, India

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

Article history: Friction welding is one of the most economical and highly practicable methods in joining similar and
Received 28 February 2013 dissimilar metals. In this study, high-quality welds are produced in the super duplex stainless steel by
Received in revised form 30 May 2013 continuous drive friction welding successfully. Design of experiment was done using central composite
Accepted 9 June 2013
design of response surface methodology. In the present work, the microstructure and mechanical prop-
Available online xxx
erties of friction welded super duplex stainless steel (UNS S32760) were examined. The base material
has a microstructure consisting of the ferrite matrix with austenite islands. Ferrite content was analyzed
Keywords:
through the phase analyzer software and found that it is in the range of 4255% in all weld metals. The
Phase analysis
Tensile properties
phases were further analyzed through X-ray diffraction method. All the weld metals have higher hardness
Impact strength than the base metals. Weld transverse tensile failures consistently occurred away from the weld zone and
Hardness exhibit more hardness, yield and ultimate tensile strengths than the base material. The austenite content
Microstructure characterization increases with nitrogen concentration. Nitrogen could enhance the yield stress and ultimately tensile
strength of super duplex stainless steel. Secondary phase precipitation is not observed in the welded
joint probably due to the shorter heating times.
2013 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction high compressive residual stresses are involved on the surface of

Friction welding is a solid state welding process. It makes use of
frictional heat generated at the rubbing surfaces to raise the tem-
perature at the interface high enough to cause the two surfaces
to be forged together under high pressure. Friction welding has
signicant economic and technical advantages. The present study
utilized a continuous drive friction welding machine. In continu-
ous drive friction welding, one work piece is rotated at nominal
constant speed in alignment with the second part under an applied
pressure. The rotation and pressure are maintained for a specic
period to ensure adequate thermal and mechanical conditioning
of the interface region. Thereafter the rotation is stopped with
forced braking and at the same time pressure is increased to forge
parts together. The application of an axial force maintains intimate
contact between the parts and causes plastic deformation of the
material near the weld interface. Deformation is largely restricted
to the volume of material adjacent to the original interface. Friction
welding is applied to weld low ductility materials because it causes
crystal renement and the pattern of the heat ow is simple and
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 431 2503510; fax: +91 431 2500133.
E-mail addresses: psathiya@nitt.edu, paulsathiya@yahoo.co.in (P. Sathiya).
these joints [1].
Duplex stainless steel has equal phase balance of approximately
equal amounts of ferrite and austenite. It has a mixed microstruc-
ture consisting of ferrite (bcc) and austenite (fcc) phases. Duplex
stainless steel exhibits higher resistance to stress corrosion crack-
ing and it has higher strength than austenitic stainless steel. Taking
advantages of these positive factors, duplex stainless steel is widely
used in the oil and gas, petrochemical, pulp and paper, and pollution
control industries. It is well known that the duplex stainless steel
exhibit good weldability, but the melting and solidication asso-
ciated with fusion welding processes destroy the favorable duplex
microstructure of this stainless steel [2,3].
Hilkes et al. [4] analyzed the microstructure of the wrought
duplex stainless steel and found it has a pronounced orientation
of austenite islands in the ferrite matrix, parallel and transverse to
the rolling direction, but fusion welding produces a microstructure
consisting of coarse ferrite grains and intergranular and intragranu-
lar austenite phases in the weld metal and heat affected zone (HAZ).
The volume of fraction of ferrite is much higher than that of austen-
ite in the weld metal and HAZ. These changes in microstructure
cause the loss of low-temperature notch toughness and corrosion
resistance in the weld. Matsunaga et al. [5] conducted an investi-
gation of gas tungsten arc welding of 329JL duplex stainless steel

1526-6125/$ see front matter 2013 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2013.06.010

Please cite this article in press as: Udayakumar T, et al. Experimental investigation on mechanical and metallurgical properties of super
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Table 1
Base material chemical composition (wt.%).

Elements Cu C Si Mn P S Cr Mo Ni N

(%) 0.429 0.007 0.538 0.962 0.026 0.001 24.27 3.07 6.15 0.240

Fig. 1. Optical micrograph and phase mapping.

without ller material and ArN2 gas mixture was used as a shiel- emphasis on the precipitation of sigma phase. The effect of lat-
ding media. The study was concentrated only on nitrogen content tice mist strains due to the precipitation of sigma phase on
in the weld metal. The effect of nitrogen on the microstructure the mechanical properties were analyzed and discussed. Topo-
and corrosion properties of the weld metal was investigated. It laka and Labanowski [10] studied the effect of heat treatments
is found that, nitrogen content of the weld metal increased and and the resulting changes in microstructure on mechanical proper-
brought reductions in the ferrite content and the quantity of Cr2 N ties, mainly impact toughness, of commercial 2205 duplex stainless
nitride precipitates in the weld. The critical pitting temperature and steel and higher alloy super duplex 2507 grade. The results conrm
pitting potential increased and corrosion rate decreased with the
increasing of nitrogen content of the weld metal.
Due to its low nickel content, duplex stainless steel (DSS) has
good weldability. However, the melting and solidication asso-
ciated with fusion welding process destroy the favorable duplex
microstructure of this stainless steel. Moreover, detrimental inter-
metallic phases can be formed during the fusion welding process.
Higher ferrite content and coarse grains are other factors which
decrease both the corrosion resistance and the mechanical proper-
ties of welded joints, and it was reported by Sato et al. [6]. Sato et al.
[7] carried out research concerning the gas tungsten arc welding of
duplex stainless steel without ller wire addition with varying the
ArN2 mixed shielding gas atmospheres. Weld metals with differ-
ent nitrogen contents were annealed at 9001300 K and examined
the single effect of nitrogen on the transformation. Nitrogen con-
tent of the weld metal did not inuence the nose temperature and
the time for initiation in timetemperatureprecipitation dia-
grams for , but did decreases the content after annealing for
long times. The obtained results were correlated with the nitrogen
content and microstructure of the weld metals. Sato and Kokawa
[8] investigated the effect of crystallographic orientation relation- Fig. 2. Friction welding machine.

ship at / interface on sigma phase formation in a duplex stainless

steel weld metal. It is found that the minimum deviation angle
for sigma phase formation decreases with increasing the anneal-
ing time. Apparently, sigma phase formation is strongly affected by
the coherency and interfacial energy of ferrite/austenite interface.
Sun et al. [9] conducted a study on the microstructure and
mechanical properties of super duplex stainless steel by varying
heat treatment temperature and holding time with the special

Table 2
Friction welding parameters and their levels.

Parameters Level = 1 Level = 0 Level = +1

Friction pressure (MPa) 40 80 120

Upset pressure (MPa) 122 146 170
Burn off length (mm) 2 4 6
Speed of rotation (rpm) 1000 1500 2000
Fig. 3. Friction welded samples.

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Table 3
Central composite design for four factors.

Std. order FP UP Speed BOL FP UP Speed BOL

1 1 1 1 1 40 122 1000 2
2 1 1 1 1 120 122 1000 2
3 1 1 1 1 40 170 1000 2
4 1 1 1 1 120 170 1000 2
5 1 1 1 1 40 122 2000 2
6 1 1 1 1 120 122 2000 2
7 1 1 1 1 40 170 2000 2
8 1 1 1 1 120 170 2000 2
9 1 1 1 1 40 122 1000 6
10 1 1 1 1 120 122 1000 6
11 1 1 1 1 40 170 1000 6
12 1 1 1 1 120 170 1000 6
13 1 1 1 1 40 122 2000 6
14 1 1 1 1 120 122 2000 6
15 1 1 1 1 40 170 2000 6
16 1 1 1 1 120 170 2000 6
17 1 0 0 0 40 146 1500 4
18 1 0 0 0 120 146 1500 4
19 0 1 0 0 80 122 1500 4
20 0 1 0 0 80 170 1500 4
21 0 0 1 0 80 146 1000 4
22 0 0 1 0 80 146 2000 4
23 0 0 0 1 80 146 1500 2
24 0 0 0 1 80 146 1500 6
25 0 0 0 0 80 146 1500 4
26 0 0 0 0 80 146 1500 4
27 0 0 0 0 80 146 1500 4
28 0 0 0 0 80 146 1500 4
29 0 0 0 0 80 146 1500 4
30 0 0 0 0 80 146 1500 4
31 0 0 0 0 80 146 1500 4

that high temperature service of duplex stainless steel should
be avoided. Precipitations of secondary phases (mainly phase)
strongly deteriorate the mechanical properties of steel but some
amount of these phases could be acceptable in the microstructure
depending upon the application of the steel. Martins et al. [11]
investigated the characters of the microstructure of a super duplex
stainless steel in the cast and solution annealed conditions, and they
determined the inuence of aging heat treatments on its impact
strength, based on Charpy impact tests applied on to V-notched
test specimens. They reported that, the sigma phase was found to
begin precipitating at heat treatment temperatures above 760 C
and dissolves completely above 1040 C, with the highest peak con-
centration of this phase appearing at close to 850 C. Martins and
Casteletti [12] studied the inuence of several heat treatment tem-
peratures on the microstructure and mechanical properties of an
ASTM A 890/A 890M Gr6A super duplex stainless steel. They found
that the increase in hardness and the decrease in impact toughness
of these materials are directly correlated with the increase in sigma
phase concentration in their microstructure, which tended to pre-
cipitate into ferrite/austenite interfaces. When the sigma phase was
completely dissolved by the heat treatment, the materials hard-
ness was determined by the volumetric concentration of ferrite
and austenite in the microstructure, and the energy absorbed in
the impact test reached approximately 220 J at room temperature.
Sathiya et al. [13] investigated the effect of two different shiel-
ding gases (argon and helium) with gas tungsten arc welding of
duplex stainless steel and evaluated the mechanical and metallur-
gical characters of the welded joint. It is found that helium-shielded
welds exhibited higher toughness due to large Mn content and it
also exhibited a smaller amount of ferrite phase and larger amount
of austenite phase in the weld metal. Due to the high value of the
Creq /Nieq ratio, a large amount of ferrite is present in the argon-
shielded weld metal. Chromium nitride precipitation is observed in
the argon-shielded weld metal. For the argon-shielded weld metal
an even phase balance (55% ferrite and 45% austenite) is achieved
by appropriate selection of the heat input and interpass tempera-
ture.
Deng et al. [14] studied the effect of annealing temperature
on the microstructure of each phase and the associated corro-
sion behavior of a SDSS modied by mischmetal, thus determining
the optimal annealing temperature where the SDSS exhibits the
best pitting corrosion resistance. It is observed that the secondary
phases (sigma phase-secondary austenite) and chromium nitrides
can be observed after quenching from solution annealing temper-
atures and they have different inuence on the corrosion behavior
of SDSS. Fargas et al. [15] analyzed the kinetics and the mecha-
nisms of wear that develop in SDSSs with different amounts of
sigma phase and their correlation to microstructural characteris-
tics. Hua et al. [16] investigated the pitting corrosion resistance
of super duplex stainless steel with different annealed tempera-
tures in the range of 10301200 C without apparent precipitation
of deleterious phases. Youseeh et al. [17] optimized the pulsed
current gas tungsten arc welding (PCGTAW) parameters for the
corrosion resistance of super duplex stainless steel (UNS S32760)
welds. The Taguchi method was found to be promising technique to
obtain the optimum conditions for this study. Moreover, the exper-
imental results obtained conrm the adequacy and effectiveness of
this approach.
From these observations made out of the above literature, it is
clear that numerous research studies have focused on the effect of
various heat treatments and their effects and corrosion studies on
weld metals. Only a very few literatures are available on welding
of super duplex stainless steel.
The present work is an experimental study of friction weld-
ing of super duplex stainless steel. In this study, the super duplex
stainless steel materials with the same composition were welded
with different process parameters using the same procedure. The
mechanical properties of the joints were determined by tensile
test, impact test and the results were compared with individual
parameter effects. The tensile and impact fracture surface were

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Fig. 4. Typical cross sectional views of the friction welded sample.

analyzed through SEM and the hardness variations were measured.
The microstructure and phase analysis in the welding zones were
obtained. X-ray diffraction was adopted for phase identication in
the weld zone. The chemical composition of the weld was stud-
ied and the ratio of Nieq and Creq were calculated. An experimental
procedure is realized in laboratory conditions on friction welding.
2. Experimental details
Super austenitic stainless steel (UNS S32760) specimens of
16 mm diameter and 100 mm length (each side dimensions) were
joined using friction welding process. The base material chemical
composition was analyzed using an optical emission spectrometer
and their values are presented in Table 1.
The base metal is employed in the study is UNS S32760 super
austenitic stainless steel. Optical micrograph and phase mapping
of the base metal is presented in Fig. 1(a) and (b).
A four-factors, three-level Central Composite design (CCD) was
used to determine the optimal factors of Friction welding process
for super duplex stainless steel (UNS S32760). Four independent
variables namely friction pressure (FP), upset pressure (UP), burn
off length (BOL) and speed of rotation were chosen. Each indepen-
dent variable had 3 levels which were 1, 0 and +1. The welding
parameters and their levels are presented in Table 2.
A total of 31 experiments (including seven replicates of center
point with the side of coded value 0) were conducted in random
order according to a CCD conguration for four factors generated
from Minitab 16 software contains 16 cube points, 8 axial points
and 7 center points (see Table 3). A continuous drive friction weld-
ing machine (as shown in Fig. 2) with a maximum load of 150 kN
was used for welding.
The super duplex stainless steel friction welded samples are
presented in Fig. 3.
The specimens were mounted and later attened and then pol-
ished using SiC abrasive paper with grit ranges from 180 to 1200.
Then the samples were lightly polished using 3 m diamond pastes.
Samples were then washed, cleaned by acetone and then dried fol-
lowed by electrolytic etching in 10% oxalic acid at 9 v for 30 s as per
ASTM E3-11. Chemical composition of the weld metal was found
from spectra chemical analysis. Ferrite percentage was measured
using ferrite scope and also the percentage of ferrite was calculated
using Creq and Nieq . The specimens for Charpy test were prepared

Fig. 5. Macrograph of the friction welded joints.

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Fig. 6. Typical weld and joint interface microstructures.

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Table 4
Experimental results (yield strength, tensile strength, impact strength, % of ferrite phase, hardness in the weld).

Exp. no. Friction Upset Burn of Speed (rpm) Yield Tensile Impact % ferrite Hardness
pressure pressure length strength strength strength (J) phase in in the weld
(MPa) (MPa) (mm) (MPa) (MPa) weld

1 40 122 2 1000 641 850 41 54.21 323.5

2 120 122 2 1000 637 816 39 42.89 286.85
3 40 170 2 1000 632 810 37 53.61 304.5
4 120 170 2 1000 632 815 30 41.41 339
5 40 122 6 1000 624 842 40 42.49 284.4
6 120 122 6 1000 649 840 32 51.33 302.1
7 40 170 6 1000 641 827 38 47.38 334.2
8 120 170 6 1000 655 839 29 43 334.7
9 40 122 2 2000 640 819 32 43.71 295
10 120 122 2 2000 641 820 30 43.8 331.5
11 40 170 2 2000 648 830 28 46.76 320.8
12 120 170 2 2000 658 842 29 47.2 354.7
13 40 122 6 2000 643 823 33 45 312.2
14 120 122 6 2000 657 841 30 46.23 320.6
15 40 170 6 2000 648 830 36 43.69 325.9
16 120 170 6 2000 655 839 31 43.2 316
17 40 146 4 1500 638 817 38 43 319.4
18 120 146 4 1500 653 836 29 46.76 325.9
19 80 122 4 1500 640 831 36 46.23 298.2
20 80 170 4 1500 619 816 31 47.2 309.8
21 80 146 2 1500 648 830 35 42.53 314.9
22 80 146 6 1500 649 831 30 43.69 406.7
23 80 146 4 1000 646 846 34 38 292.3
24 80 146 4 2000 620 838 32 44.92 317
25 80 146 4 1500 611 826 29 43.9 294.9
26 80 146 4 1500 614 823 28 42.8 310.5
27 80 146 4 1500 610 820 27 43.7 302.1
28 80 146 4 1500 613 825 29 43.3 305.9
29 80 146 4 1500 612 821 30 43.9 310.4
30 80 146 4 1500 609 826 31 43.1 302.8
31 80 146 4 1500 611 820 29 43.7 301

according to the ASTM E23 standards. The impact tests were con-
ducted at room temperature. For the tensile test (ASTM E 8) the
ash was machined from the welds before testing and the base
materials and joints were machined with 120 mm of gauge length
and 9 mm diameter in all parallel parts. Three measurements were
taken for each of the welding strengths to calculate their average
data. In order to detect various phases present in the weldments,
X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies were carried out on planar surfaces
of these weld zones. Rigaku Ultimate 3 (Japan) X-ray diffractometer
with Cu Ka radiation of wavelength 1.544 A was used. Microhard-
ness survey was carried out using a Matsuzawa-MMT-X7 Vickers
hardness tester at 500 g load for 20 s. The microhardness tests were
performed on a transverse section of the weld center in order
to identify the possible effects of microstructural heterogeneities
in the weld. Samples for characterization were prepared using
standard metallographic techniques. The phases were analyzed
with optical microscopy and the fracture surfaces were studied
through JEOL JSM-5610 LV scanning electron microscope (SEM)
equipped with energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) to study the
quantitative analysis of the welds. In addition the microstructure
characterization was studied.
3. Experimental results
3.1. Macrograph of the welded joints
The friction welding of super duplex stainless steel was suc-
cessfully conducted without any defects. The typical cross sectional
views of the friction welded samples are presented in Fig. 4(a)(d).
Fig. 4 shows the macro-photo of the joint. It was observed that
the obvious upset collars (ashes) were formed around the weld
interface on both the sides. The macrographs of the friction welding
of super duplex stainless steel joints are presented in Fig. 5(a)(r).
The weld bandwidth was found to be very narrow (Fig. 5(ar))
in all the welds. The ow pattern was in the peripheral region of
the weld for all the macrostructures (Fig. 5(a)(r)).
3.2. Microstructure of the weld and joint interface
The typical weld metal, joint interface and partial deformation
zone (PDZ) microstructure is presented in Fig. 6(a)(f).
Fig. 6(a)(f) clearly distinguishes the different zones of the weld
metal. Fusion zone between the weld and the base metal is without
any internal defects. These facts point to the good metallurgic joint
of the weld. The weld metal microstructures have ner grain size
at the nearby zone called the partly deformed zone (PDZ).
3.3. Phase analysis and weld metal chemical composition of the
weld
Generally, the volume of fraction ferrite content is much higher
than the austenite content in the weld and this may be due to
the loss of low-temperature notch toughness and corrosion resis-
tance in the weld [2,4]. To overcome these issues, careful control
of the weld metal composition and temperature are required dur-
ing welding. From weld micrographs, the percentage of ferrite and
austenite phases were mapped with image analyzing software and
ferrite number was measured using Fischer Feritscope MP 30 and
their average values are presented in Table 4. From Table 4, it is
found that the percentage of ferrite phases was lower than the
austenite phases for all the welds except three welds.
The quantitative chemical compositions of the weld metals
(austenite phase 0.0050.007%C, 0.6341.682%Si, 1.051.54%Mn,
0.0580.59%P, 0.851.74%S, 21.9925.06%Cr, 3.043.21%Mo,
5.637.93%Ni, 0.1920.219%Cu, 0.2070.242%N and ferrite phase
0.0020.005%C, 0.5911.214%Si, 0.981.84%Mn, 0.0520.52%P,

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Fig. 7. Typical EDS spectrum with SEM microstructure.

0.931.95%S, 22.8925.01%Cr, 3.023.2%Mo, 5.87.13%Ni,
0.1930.212%Cu, 0.2250.247%N) were conrmed by EDS inves-
tigations. Typical EDS spectrum for austenite (white color) and
ferrite (black color) phases are shown in Fig. 7.
The Creq /Nieq ratio, calculated from the following equations [8]
was 1.59 for base metal and 1.41.75 for weld metal.
Creq = %Cr + (1.5)%Si + 1.4%Mo + %Nb-4.99
and
Nieq = %Ni + 30%C + (0.5)%Mn + 26(%N-0.02) + 2.77
From Fig. 9, it is clearly seen that the fractures occur away from
the weld joint. The tensile tested typical load vs displacement curve
is presented in Fig. 10.
From load vs displacement (Fig. 10) graph, it can be observed
that all the strength and ductility obtained values of joint are higher
than the base material strength properties. The area under the
force vs elongation indicates joints have better toughness also.
(1)
The fractured surface of tensile specimen is analyzed using SEM.
The fracture surface of the tensile tested fractrograph is shown in
Fig. 11(a)(f).
(2)

The above metallographic results were further conrmed by
XRD analysis. The typical XRD pattern is presented in Fig. 8(a)(e).
3.4. Tensile strength of the joints
The main aim of the tensile test is to evaluate the strength and
plasticity of welding joints and examine the inuence of welding
defects on the joint performance. The test is done on computer
interface electronic universal testing machine. The transverse ten-
sile strength and yield strength of all joints have been evaluated.
The tensile test results of friction welding of super duplex stainless
steel joints are presented in Table 4. From Table 4, it is clear that
the weld metal tensile strength is much higher than the base metal
tensile strength which is in line with the microhardness results. The
typical tensile tested samples are presented in Fig. 9.
3.5. Toughness of the weld
In order to evaluate the Charpy impact toughness values of
welded joint, a series of Charpy V-notch test was carried out from
friction welded joints at room temperature and the tested samples
are shown in Fig. 12.
Notches were prepared exactly midpoint of the weld. The value
obtained from the testing is shown in Table 4. The impact toughness
of unwelded base metal was found to be 27 J, which was compara-
tively lower than the weld metal impact strength. From Table 4 it is
clear that weld joints exhibit higher impact toughness values and
the enhancement in impact strength (toughness) value is approxi-
mately 45% compared to the base metal value. The fractured surface
of impact specimens was analyzed using SEM. The fractured surface
of the impact tested fractrograph is shown in Fig. 13(a)(h).

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Fig. 8. Typical XRD results of welded samples.

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Fig. 9. Typical tensile tested samples.
3.6. Hardness of the weld
The microhardness (VHN) test was performed on the etched
transverse cross-section of the weld zone using a load of 0.5 kg,
which was applied for a duration of 20 s. Five measurements in
each weld zone were taken at regular intervals and their values are
presented in Table 4. The hardness values were measured 1 mm
below the upper surface and the 1 mm above the lower surface.
4. Discussions
It is observed that the deformed shapes on both sides of the
joint are not much different and the symmetric shape was obtained
(Fig. 4(a)(d)). The formation of the ash depends on the mechan-
ical and thermo physical properties of base materials. This could
be attributed to the equal softening of metal on both sides. From
the experimental results, we observed the ash thickness for left
hand sides was roughly 23.2 mm and right hand sides was roughly
1.83.0 mm. The ow metal particle lines are curved to a less extent
away from the central region of weld and they become parallel as
the central line is approached (Fig. 5(a)(r)). This may be due to
less deformation (less temperature in weld region) taking place in
the central line of the welds. Wang [18], Ogawa and Koseki [19]
observed that the greater deformation near to the interface is due
to higher temperatures that prevail in this region.
Fig. 10. Load vs displacement curve for Tension test (Exp. no. 11).
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9
The typical microstructure of the weld, PDZ and base metal
are shown in Fig. 14(a)(c). It is observed that the matrix of
weld formed of ferrite and austenite forms a network along the
grain boundaries. The austenite islands in the weld and partially
deformed zone (PDZ) have more grain boundaries than the base
material. The grains are elongated toward the rotating direction of
the weld.
Fig. 14(a) shows ner grains than the PDZ and the base metal.
It is observed that the average grain size of the austenite phase
was the nest in the weld region, averaging 2.7 m. In all weld
regions, the grain size of the austenite phase was smaller than that
of the ferrite phase. Average grain size of the austenite phase in
PDZ region is 3.8 m and average grain size of the ferrite phase in
PDZ is about 4.1 m, which is smaller than that of the base mate-
rial grain size. The austenite phase exhibits a smaller grain size
than the ferrite phase for all the welds probably due to the ferrite
achieving complete recrystallization, while the austenite has par-
tial recrystallization. Gooch [3], Lippold and Savage [20] reported
the possibility of chromium nitride formation during welding of
duplex stainless steel. It is more likely to occur in the ferrite phase
because the solubility of nitrogen in ferrite drops rapidly with a
decrease in temperature. Typical SEM micrograph of the weld sam-
ple is presented in Fig. 15. In friction welding of super duplex
stainless steel welds (Figs. 6(a)(f) and 14(a)) chromium nitride
precipitation could not be detected due to low solubility of nitrogen
and the nitrogen present dissolves in the austenite phase. There-
fore, the greater proportion of austenite phase ensures that the
nitrogen remains in solid solution.
Fig. 15 reveals that no intermetallic phases were found. Weld
metal chemical composition may play a more important role than
the cooling rate in controlling the phase balance. More amounts of
Ni and N present in the weld metal may enhance austenite phase
in the weld region and also delays the formation of intermetallic
phases in the weld. The weld metal Creq /Nieq was calculated and
it is observed in the range of 1.41.75. When the ratio of Creq /Nieq
was lower than 1.35, solidication results in austenitic formation
and when it was greater than 1.31.8 mixed modes of phases
was formed [21] and above 1.8 fully ferritic solidication occurred
[22]. No intermetallic phase was found at the interfaces or inside
the grains of the ferrite phase (Fig. 7). X-ray diffraction analyses
revealed the atomic plane diffractions of the ferrite and austenite
phases peaks (Fig. 8). From Table 4, it is clear that all the welded
samples have more tensile strength than base material. This is
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Fig. 11. Fractrographs of the tensile tested samples.

due to very ner grains observed in the weld zone. The effects of
individual process parameters on friction welding with respect to
the tensile strength relationship is plotted in graph as shown in
Fig. 16(a)(d).
At a constant low friction pressure (40 Mpa) and low rotat-
ing speed (1000 rpm) for burn of lengths 2 mm and 6 mm there
is decrease in tensile strength as upset pressure increases from
122 MPa to 170 MPa (Fig. 16(a)). Whereas at a constant low fric-
tion pressure (40 MPa) and high speed (2000 rpm) for 2 mm and
6 mm of burn of lengths, the upset pressure increases from 122 MPa
to 170 MPa and also increases the tensile strength of the joints
(Fig. 16(b)). There is a gradual decrease in tensile strength as
upset pressure increases when all other parameters are constant
(Fig. 16(c)). Tensile strength decreases at 1500 rpm then again
increases at 2000 rpm while all other parameters are constant Fig. 12. Typical impact tested samples.

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duplex stainless steel joints using friction welding process. J Manuf Process (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2013.06.010
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Fig. 13. Fractrographs of the impact tested samples.

(Fig. 16(d)). However, all the welded samples failed away from
the joint interface (Fig. 9). The tensile tested fracture surface
(Fig. 11(a)(f)) revealed the ductile mode fracture with very ne
dimples. Due to very ne dimples size (Exp. no. 1), the tensile
strength is higher than the other weld strength and due to solid
solution strengthening effect, the dissolved nitrogen in austenite
phase enhances the tensile strength of the welds.
The individual effect of friction welding parameters with respect
to the toughness of the welds is plotted in the graph as shown
in Fig. 17(a)(d). From Table 4, it is clearly seen that, the friction

Please cite this article in press as: Udayakumar T, et al. Experimental investigation on mechanical and metallurgical properties of super
duplex stainless steel joints using friction welding process. J Manuf Process (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2013.06.010
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Fig. 14. Typical comparative microstructure (Exp. no. 1).

strength decreases at 1500 rpm then again increases at 2000 rpm

Fig. 15. SEM micrograph of weld sample.
weld toughness is higher for all set of parameters than the base
metal toughness. This increase may be due to decrease in ferrite
percentage and increase in austenite percentage in the weld metal.
At low friction pressure (40 MPa) and minimum burn of length
(2 mm) there is a gradual decrease in impact strength (tough-
ness) as upset pressure and speed increases (Fig. 17(a)). Impact
strength (toughness) decreases as upset pressure increases for burn
of lengths 2 mm and 6 mm while friction pressure (40 MPa) and
speed (1000) are at low levels (Fig. 17(b)). Fig. 17(c) shows that
there is a small decrease in impact strength (toughness) as burn of
length increases when all other parameters are constant. Impact
while all other parameters are constant (Fig. 17(d)). The fracture
surface contains ductile dimples, which is coalescence mechanism
and facets associated with cleavage fracture (Fig. 13(a)(h)). The
dimples are initiated at the second-phase particles within the
phase of the super duplex stainless steel alloy. From Fig. 13(g),
coarse dimples are seen and due to coarse dimples, the weld metal
impact strength (toughness) is lowered than the other weld metal
impact strength. The hardness relation with different individual
parameters is shown in Fig. 18(a)(b).
Hardness of the weld increases with increase in upset pres-
sure and burn of length when friction pressure (40 MPa) and
speed (2000 rpm) are constant (Fig. 18(a)). When other parame-
ters are constant, hardness of the weld increases as speed increases
(Fig. 18(b)). The weld metal hardness values are higher than the
base metal from Table 4. This is due to considerable difference in
the ferriteaustenite proportion in all weld zones. The increase of
hardness in the weld zone suggests that the hardness is related
to the grain sizes of ferrite and austenite phases in the weld. The
morphology of austenite islands in the weld zone was much dis-
tinct from that of the base metal one. Secondary phases were not
observed in any region of the welded joint probably due to the
shorter times. Jun Wang et al. [22] investigating that DSS con-
taining low nitrogen, the strength is enhanced by increasing the
volume fraction of ferrite, which is regarded to be stronger than
austenite. It is well known that in super duplex stainless steel
most of the nitrogen is dissolved in austenite and due to interstitial
solid solution strengthening by nitrogen the austenite acquires the
stronger phase. Due to this, the weld metal hardness values remain
higher.

Please cite this article in press as: Udayakumar T, et al. Experimental investigation on mechanical and metallurgical properties of super
duplex stainless steel joints using friction welding process. J Manuf Process (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2013.06.010
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Fig. 16. Effect of friction welding process parameters on tensile strength.

Fig. 17. Effect of friction welding process parameters on impact strength.

Please cite this article in press as: Udayakumar T, et al. Experimental investigation on mechanical and metallurgical properties of super
duplex stainless steel joints using friction welding process. J Manuf Process (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2013.06.010
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Fig. 18. Effect of friction welding process parameters on hardness.
5. Conclusions
In this study, the friction welding of UNS S32760 super duplex
stainless steel joints is carried out as per the central composite
design methods. The joints were evaluated through the mechan-
ical and metallurgical characteristics and important results are
deduced.
Intermetallic phases were found to be absent in the all weld
metals. More amount of Ni and N enhances the austenite phase
in the welds.
Effect of nitrogen is that it raises the temperature at which the
austenite begins to form from ferrite. This increases the rate of the
ferrite to austenite transformation. Therefore, even at relatively
rapid cooling rates, the equilibrium level of austenite can almost
be reached. This reduces the problem of excess ferrite in the heat
affected zone.
The weld metal tensile strength is higher than the base metal
strength and also tensile samples were fractured away from the
joint interface and they revealed the ductile mode fracture with
very ne dimples.
The weld metal toughness is higher than the base metal tough-
ness due to higher amount of austenite in the former than the
latter. The fracture surface contains ductile dimples, which is
coalescence mechanism and facets associated with cleavage frac-
ture.
The weld metal hardness values are higher than the base metal.
This is due to considerable differences in the ferriteaustenite
proportion in all weld zones. The increase of the hardness in the
weld zone depends on the grain sizes of ferrite and austenite
phases in the weld.
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