Essam Ahmed

In this research, the electro-gas welding process was compared with a shielded metal arc welding process for welding steel A573 from a mechanical properties point of view. Visual and radiographic inspections confirmed the soundness of weldments produced by electro-gas welding and shielded metal arc welding techniques. Various assessments were performed, including hardness, tensile strength, V-notch impact toughness, macrostructure, microstructure, and electrochemical tests. The mechanical properties of the two welding processes were closely matched, with an average tensile strength of 590 MPa for electro-gas welding and 585 MPa for shielded metal arc welding. Furthermore, the influence of welding variables, such as groove design and heat input, on the welded joints’ quality, mechanical properties, and electrochemical behavior was thoroughly examined. Dilution estimates, particularly for the electro-gas welding process, were around 35%, and a significant similarity was observed between the chemical composition determined through dilution calculations and that obtained from chemical analysis using an arc spark emission spectrometer. Notably, the electro-gas welding process demonstrated exceptional productivity, surpassing the shielded metal arc welding process by more than elevenfold. The optimum welding parameters for the electro-gas welding process were identified to achieve superior mechanical properties, low corrosion rates, and reduced consumption of the welding electrodes. This included adopting a single V type and groove angle of 30° instead of 60°, resulting in a 23% reduction in economic costs. Selecting an appropriate heat input within the range of 12 to 14 kJ/mm further contributed to enhancing overall welding efficiency.

This study aims to enhance the practical performance of PVDF/ZnO and PVDF/TiO₂ composite coatings known for their distinctive properties. The coatings, applied through spray coating with PVDF and ZnO or TiO₂ nanoparticles on glass, steel, and aluminum substrates, underwent a comprehensive evaluation. Surface wetting properties and morphology were respectively evaluated using a technique involving liquid droplets and an imaging method using high-energy electrons. Potentiodynamic polarization was used to compare corrosion resistance between coated and bare substrates. Nanoindentation was used to assess coating hardness, and bonding strength was subsequently quantified. The results revealed that PVDF/ZnO composite coatings had higher water contact angles (161 ± 5° to 138 ± 2°) and lower contact angle hysteresis (7 ± 2° to 2 ± 1°) compared to PVDF/TiO₂ and PVDF coatings. Moreover, corrosion tests demonstrated superior protection for steel and aluminum surfaces coated with superhydrophobic PVDF/ZnO. Nanoindentation indicated enhanced mechanical properties with TiO₂ nanoparticles, with adhesion results favoring TiO₂ over ZnO nanoparticles.

Joining dissimilar sheet thicknesses of AA6082-T6 alloys by friction stir spot welding (FSSW) provides many advantages in automotive and aerospace applications. The formed keyhole at the end of the FSSW process is one of the typical features after the welding process, which owns the same size as the rotating pin that remains at the joint center. This keyhole destroys the joint continuity and can stimulate serious stress concentration when the FSSW joint bears an external force. To solve this issue, a novel refilling technique was developed for the FSSW keyholes using a friction stir deposition (FSD) technique. The FSSW joints of AA6082-T6 sheets were welded at various rotation speeds from 400 to 1000 rpm and a constant dwell time of 3 s, where a 2 mm sheet thickness was an upper sheet, and a 1 mm sheet thickness was a lower sheet. All the keyhole refilling processes were achieved using a specially designed AA2011-T6 consumable rod to be used for friction stir deposition of continuous layers at a constant deposition parameter of 400 rpm consumable rod rotation speed and a 1 mm/min feed rate. The heat input energy for both the FSSW and refilled FSSW lap joints was calculated. In addition, the FSSW and the FSD temperatures were measured. Macrostructure, microstructure, and mechanical properties in terms of hardness and tensile shear maximum load were evaluated for both the friction stir spot welded (FSSWed) and the refilled FSSW lap joints. The obtained results showed that the keyhole could be successfully refilled with defect-free continuous multilayers after the refill friction stir spot welding (RFSSW) process. All the RFSSW lap joints showed higher tensile shear loads than that given by the FSSW (before refill) lap joints. The RFSSW joint (welded at 600 rpm/3 s and refilled at 400 rpm/1 mm/min) showed a higher tensile shear load of 5400 N ± 100 compared with that recorded by the unrefilled joint (4300 N ± 80). The fracture location and fracture surface of the FSSW and RFSSW were examined and discussed.

Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) is one of the important variants of the friction stir welding (FSW) process. FSSW has been developed mainly for automotive applications where the different thickness sheets spot welding is essential. In the present work, different thin thickness sheets (1 mm and 2 mm) of AA6082-T6 were welded using FSSW at a constant dwell time of 3 s and different rotation speeds of 400, 600, 800, and 1000 rpm. The FSSW heat input was calculated, and the temperature cycle experience during the FSSW process was recorded. Both starting materials and produced FSSW joints were investigated by macro- and microstructural investigation, a hardness test, and a tensile shear test, and the fractured surfaces were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The macro examination showed that defect-free spot joints were produced at a wide range of rotation speeds (400–1000 rpm). The microstructural results in terms of grain refining of the stir zone (SZ) of the joints show good support for the mechanical properties of FSSW joints. It was found that the best welding condition was 600 rpm for achieving different thin sheet thicknesses spot joints with the SZ hardness of 95 ± 2 HV0.5 and a tensile shear load of 4300 ± 30 N.

Because of their great water repellency, Superhydrophobic coatings have a major impact on a variety of industrial applications. The current study’s key originality is the development of low-cost, stable, superhydrophobic, and corrosion-resistant composite coatings. In the present work, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/Al₂O₃ composite coatings were produced using the spray technique to investigate the wettability and corrosion behavior of the coated materials for industrial and civil applications. PVDF was mixed with various concentrations of Al₂O₃ nanoparticles, and the mixture was sprayed onto steel, aluminum, and glass substrates. The wettability and morphology of the coated surfaces were investigated using the sessile droplet method and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The corrosion resistance of bare substrates was compared to that of those coated with PVDF alone and those coated with PVDF/Al₂O₃ nanoparticles using Tafel polarization techniques. The force of adhesion between the coat and the substrates was measured in pounds per square inch. A nanoindentation test was also used to measure the hardness of the coating layer. The PVDF/Al₂O₃ coated steel showed a significantly higher water contact angle and lower contact angle hysteresis, reaching 157 ± 2° and 7 ± 1°, respectively, compared to the coated aluminum and glass substrates. Corrosion test results showed that the superhydrophobic PVDF/Al₂O₃ coatings had a much higher corrosion protection efficiency for steel and aluminum than that of the PVDF ones. The PVDF/Al₂O₃ coated substrates showed moderate but still acceptable adhesion between the coating layer and the substrates. Moreover, the PVDF/Al₂O₃ coatings had much better mechanical properties than the PVDF only coatings. Such type of coating could be a promising candidate for possible industrial and civil applications.

Two B400B-R and B500B grade rebars were industrially produced through a Tempcore process. The standard chemical composition of B500B grade was additionally alloyed with 0.067 wt.% V to enhance its mechanical properties. A set of optimized processing parameters were applied to manufacture two different diameters D20 (Ø 20 mm) and D32 (Ø 32 mm). The microstructure -mechanical properties relationships were evaluated using optical and scanning electron microscopes, hardness, and tensile testing. In addition, a thermal model was developed to define the thermal cycle evolution during cooling in the quenching & tempering box (QTB) to simulate the kinetics of V(C,N) precipitation. The microstructure observations showed a typical graded microstructure consisting of ferrite-pearlite core and outer tempered martensite ring for both grades of both diameters. The optimized processing parameters for B400B-R of D32 (compared with D20) resulted in softening of the core (from 160 to 135 HV10) and tempered martensite surface (from 220 to 200 HV10) as well as in decreasing the yield strength (from 455 to 413 MPa) and tensile strength (from 580 to 559 MPa). On the contrary, an increase in hardness of the core (from 165 to 175 HV10) and the outer tempered martensite (from 240 to 270 HV10), in addition to an increase in yield strength (from 510 to 537 MPa) at almost the same level of tensile strength of 624–626 MPa are observed for B500B grade D32 compared with D20. The modeling and simulation calculations suggest that the manufacturing D32 rebars of B500B grade involves longer quenching time in the QTB which allow deeper tempered martensite surface along with a relatively higher core temperature that renders faster kinetics and larger volume fraction of V(C,N) precipitates. The current study demonstrates that the full potential of V-alloying can be exploited when a sufficient quenching time at the equalization temperature is achieved, which is valid for D32 rebars.

This work investigated the effect of friction stir welding (FSW) tool rotation rate and welding speed on the grain structure evolution in the nugget zone through the thickness of the 10 mm thick AA5083/AA5754 weldments. Three joints were produced at different combinations of FSW parameters. The grain structure and texture were investigated using electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD). In addition, both the hardness and tensile properties were investigated. It was found that the grain size varied through the thickness in the nugget (NG), which was reduced from the top to the base in all welds. Reducing the rotation rate from 600 rpm to 400 rpm at a constant welding speed of 60 mm/min reduced the average grain size from 33 µm to 25 µm at the top and from 19 µm to 12 µm at the base. On the other hand, the increase of the welding speed from 20 mm/min to 60 mm/min had no obvious effect on the average grain size. This implied that the rotation rate was more effective in grain size reduction than the welding speed. The texture was the mainly simple shear texture that required some rotations to obtain the ideal simple shear texture. The hardness distribution, mapped for the nugget zone, and the parent alloys indicated a diffused softened welding zone. The heating effect of the pressure and rotation of the pin shoulder and the heat input parameter (ω/v) on the hardness value of the nugget zone were dominating. Tensile stress-strain curves of the base alloys and that of the FSWed joints were evaluated and presented. Moreover, the true stress-true strain curves were determined and described by the empirical formula after Ludwik, and then the materials strengthening parameters were determined. The tensile specimens of the welded joint at a revolution speed of 400 rpm and travel speed of 60 mm/min possessed the highest strain hardening parameter (n = 0.494).

The current work presents a detailed investigation for the effect of a wide range friction stir welding (FSW) parameters on the dissimilar joints’ quality of aluminum alloys. Two groups of dissimilar weldments have been produced between AA5083/AA5754 and A5083/AA7020 using tool rotational rates range from 300 to 600 rpm, and tool traverse speeds range from 20 to 80 mm/min. In addition, the effect of reversing the position of the high strength alloy at the advancing side and at retreating side has been investigated. The produced joints have been investigated using macro examination, hardness testing and tensile testing. The results showed that sound joints are obtained at the low heat input FSW parameters investigated while increasing the heat input results in tunnel defects. The hardness profile obtained in the dissimilar AA5083/AA5754 joints is the typical FSW hardness profile of these alloys in which the hardness reduced in the nugget zone due to the loss of the cold deformation strengthening. However, the profile of the dissimilar AA5083/AA7020 showed increase in the hardness in the nugget due to the intimate mixing the high strength alloy with the low strength alloy. The sound joints in both groups of the dissimilar joints showed very high joint strength with efficiency up to 97 and 98%. Having the high strength alloy at the advancing side gives high joint strength and efficiency. Furthermore, the sound joints showed ductile fracture mechanism with clear dimple features mainly and significant plastic deformation occurred before fracture. Moreover, the fracture in these joints occurred in the base materials. On the other, the joints with tunnel defect showed some features of brittle fracture due to the acceleration of the existing crack propagation upon tensile loading.

This work aims to investigate the effects of two welding techniques (gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) with filler metal ER70S-3 and flux cored arc welding (FCAW) with filler metal E71T1C) on the microstructure and mechanical properties (including softening due to the conversion of martensite into tempered martensite) of DP steels with different martensite volume fractions ranging from 9 to 20%. Microstructure features and the constituents of base metals and heat affected zones of all weldments were examined and analyzed using an optical microscope and a scanning electron microscope integrated with energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. Hardness, tensile, and v-notch impact toughness measurements were also carried out. Visual and radiographic inspection showed that both the FCAW and GTAW techniques produced sound weldments. However, DP steel weldments exhibited softening effects, which led to a decrease in joint efficiency. This decrease were related to transformation of the original martensite into tempered martensite. The results also revealed that the DP steel joints efficiencies are ranged from 85.9 to 87.7% using the FCAW process and ranged from 83.3 to 86% using the GTAW process. The impact toughness of the samples welded by FCAW is higher than the impact toughness of those welded by GTAW due to a higher percentage of acicular ferrite. This information should be valuable in the automotive and other industries, where DP steels are valued for their combination of high strength and ductility, which leads to weight savings and thus to reduced fuel consumption.