Thermodynamics guided design and processing of a WC/HEA cermet tool for high temperature friction stir welding
Friction stir welding (FSW) of high temperature materials such as ferrous alloys, Ti-alloys, and Ni-alloys is challenging due to the high costs, short tool lives, and limited availability of tool materials. Commercially available cermets such as WC/Co are relatively cost-effective, yet their perform...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Materials & Design |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127525000383 |
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| Summary: | Friction stir welding (FSW) of high temperature materials such as ferrous alloys, Ti-alloys, and Ni-alloys is challenging due to the high costs, short tool lives, and limited availability of tool materials. Commercially available cermets such as WC/Co are relatively cost-effective, yet their performance is largely compromised by subpar high temperature properties of the Co binder. To address this issue, an integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) approach was applied to design a WC/HEA cermet with high entropy alloy (HEA) binder for better mechanical properties and high temperature performance. The WC/HEA cermet was fabricated by powder metallurgy route using mechanical alloying and mixing followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The SPS-sintered WC/HEA cermet possessed good room temperature hardness-fracture toughness synergy and hot hardness property. FSW tools were fabricated using the WC/HEA material and the tools were benchmarked against a high strength low alloy grade 50 (HSLA-50) steel. The tools performed with no observed chemical interaction with the workpiece material. The HSLA-50 material showed improved microstructure, hardness, and tensile properties post FSW. This study is the first proof-of-concept for the design, fabrication, testing, and evaluation of a novel cermet FSW tool material with low-cost and high-performance synergy for high temperature FSW application. |
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| ISSN: | 0264-1275 |