Analysis of the effect of structural defects on the fatigue strength of RFSSW joints using C‐scan scanning acoustic microscopy and SEM

Abstract

Abstract Solid‐state refill friction stir spot welding (RFSSW) technology offers significant benefits in the fabrication of aluminium structures in the transport and aerospace industries. In this paper, the joining of 1.6‐mm‐thick Alclad 7075‐T6 aluminium alloy sheets is investigated. High‐cycle fatigue strength tests of single‐lap welded joints were carried out on an Instron E10000 testing machine with a limited number of cycles equal to 2 × 10 6 . The welding of overlap fatigue specimens was conducted using an RPS100 spot welder by Harms & Wende GmbH & Co KG. C‐mode scanning acoustic microscopy (C‐SAM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were utilised to evaluate the joint quality and characterise the microstructure. The paper discusses the effect of the maximum load force and defects (voids, hook, kissing bond, bonding ligament, etc) associated with the material flow in the weld on the failure mechanism. Insufficient plasticisation of sheet material and mixing of the material in the weld area are crucial defects that influence the number of destructive cycles. The weld defects in the joint structure are a source of a decrease in the fatigue life compared with the fatigue life of defect‐free welds. It was also found that RFSSW joint defects can be effectively detected by the nondestructive C‐SAM method.