Evaluation of the Microstructures and Mechanical Properties on Friction Welded STK400 Tube

We evaluate the properties of friction welded STK400 steel tube in terms of the relationship between microstructures and mechanical properties. Friction welding is conducted at a rotation speed of 1,600 rpm and upset time of 3-7 sec for different thicknesses of STK 400 tubes. To analyse the grain boundary characteristic distributions(GBCDs) in the welded zone, electron backscattering diffraction(EBSD) method is introduced. The results show that a decrease in welding time (3 sec.) creates a notable increase grain refinement so that the average grain size decreases from 15.1 μm in the base material to 4.5 μm in the welded zone. These refined grains achieve significantly enhanced microhardness and a slightly higher yield and higher tensile strengths than those of the base material. In particular, all the tensile tested specimens experience a fracture aspect at the base material zone but not at the welded zone, which means a soundly welded state for all conditions.