Journal of Materials Processing Technology 230 (2016) 254262

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Journal of Materials Processing Technology

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

Hook formation and mechanical properties of friction spot welding in

alloy 6061-T6
J.Y. Cao a,b , M. Wang a,b, , L. Kong a , L.J. Guo c
a
b
c

Shanghai Key Laboratory of Materials Laser Processing and Modication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
The State key Lab of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Shanghai Spaceight Manufacture (Group) Co., Ltd, Shanghai 200240, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 13 July 2015
Received in revised form
27 November 2015
Accepted 28 November 2015
Available online 2 December 2015
Keywords:
Friction spot welding
Processing parameters
Hook formation
Weld strength

a b s t r a c t
A series of welds were produced at various processing parameters in friction spot welded of AA6061T6 to investigate hook formation and mechanical properties. Two different types of hook defect were
identied based on the locations, which were closely associated to the plunge depth. The weld strength
had a negative correlation with the hook height. An increase in rotational speed, joining time or plunge
depth increased the hook height and resulted in lower weld strength. Increasing plunge depth might also
bring a positive effect of weld strength as a result of increased effective shear area.
2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) process is characterized
by plunging the rotating tool into and out of the overlapping sheets
for a short cycle time. After the completion of welding processes, a
keyhole is typically left at the center of the weld nugget. Uematsu
et al. (2008) stated that corrosion could take place preferentially at
the keyhole, where body paint barely reaches the bottom. Shen
et al. (2013) regarded the keyhole as an inherent defect itself,
which would detrimental to the mechanical properties. To remedy the keyhole, Friction spot welding (FSpW) has been developed.
Depending on which part of the FSpW tool is plunged into sheets,
there are two variants under development: pin plunge and sleeve
plunge. Generally, the sleeve plunge process can generate higher
joint strength with larger weld zones and has received growing
attention. The process of FSpW can be divided into four stages
(Fig. 1). In the rst stage, the upper and lower sheets are pressed
tightly between the clamp and the back anvil. The sleeve and pin
begin to rotate in the same direction. In the second stage, the sleeve
plunges into the sheets while the pin moves in the opposite direction and creates a cavity for accommodating the plastic material
squeezed by the plunging sleeve. The third stage starts after the

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wang-ellen@sjtu.edu.cn (M. Wang).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2015.11.026
0924-0136/ 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

sleeve reaches a preset plunge depth and both the sleeve and the
pin retract back to their original position. Finally, the welding tool
is removed and a at surface joint with minimum material loss is
created.
A few researchers have investigated the effect of processing
conditions on the mechanical properties during the friction spot
welding of aluminum alloys. However, the factors that determining
the overlap strength properties of friction spot welds are still not
fully understood and various interpretations have been proposed
in the literatures. For example, Shen et al. (2013) studied the effect
of process variables on FSpW for AA6061-T6 and reported that
extending the joining time would improve the joint quality by eliminating pores. In contrast, in the study of Rosendo et al. (2011), it
was suggested that longer joining time would weaken the strength
of FSpW joints by creating a steeper hook prole. A defect referred
to the partially bonded region where the original interface between
the upper and lower sheets is not fully integrated (Badarinarayan
et al., 2009a). Tier et al. (2013) performed FSpW on AA5042-O aluminum alloy and reported that slower rotational speed produced
larger completely bonded area in weld nuggets, leading to joints
with higher strength. In addition, Zhao et al. (2014) found that the
mechanical properties of FSpW joints for alclad 7B04-T4 aluminum
alloys were dependent on the distribution of alcald and the hook
prole inside the weld. Deep plunge tended to make the alcald more
dispersed in the weld, creating favorable joints. Nonetheless, if the

J.Y. Cao et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 230 (2016) 254262

255

Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of FSpW process.

Table 1
Chemical composition of 6061-T6 aluminum alloys (wt%).

being measured. The fracture surface of the failed specimens was

examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Si

Fe

Cu

Mn

Mg

Cr

Zn

Ti

Al

0.7

0.28

0.25

0.09

1.1

0.19

0.06

0.02

Re

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Microstructure and hook characteristics

Table 2
Mechanical properties of 6061-T6 aluminum alloys.
Tensile strength (MPa)

0.2% proof stress (MPa)

Elongation (%)

316

285

11.5

plunge was too deep, the excessive upward bending of the hook
would adversely affect the joint strength.
The uncertainties involving weld geometric features (effective
bonded area and hook defect) necessitates further study to unravel
the dependence of mechanical properties on the weld macrostructure and processing parameters. The aim of the present paper
was to examine the effect of processing parameters on the hook
formation as well as the weld strength. Statistical analysis was
applied to determine the most critical factors that affect the weld
strength. Failure mechanism of FSpW joints was also investigated.
An attempt was made to correlate the weld strength to the hook
geometry in FSpW joints.
2. Experimental procedure
2 mm thick AA6061-T6 rolled sheets were used to make overlap joints. The chemical composition and mechanical properties of
the alloy are listed in Tables 1 and 2 respectively. Before welding,
all sheets were cleaned with acetone and then nitric acid aqueous solution (5%) to remove dirt, oil and oxide, etc. Spot welds
were produced between two 25 mm 100 mm sheets overlapped
by 25 mm as illustrated in Fig. 2. All the specimens were welded in
the middle of the overlapped area. The FSpW was performed on a
FSSW-SK-001 welding machine manufactured by Riftec Company
under displacement control mode. The friction tool has a clamp
diameter of 18 mm, a sleeve diameter and pin diameter of 9 mm
and 5 mm whose surface is grooved. Three different processing
parameters were varied: rotational speed RS (1500 and 2100 rpm),
joining time JT (2, 3 and 4 s), and plunge depth PD (1.9, 2.1 and
2.3 mm) comprising 18 conditions (2 3 3 matrix). After welding, specimens for metallographic analysis were cut at the center
of the joints, and subsequently ground, polished and etched by
Kellers reagent (4 ml HF, 6 ml HCl, 10 ml HNO3 , 180 ml H2 O). The
microstructural features of the welds were observed using optical microscopy (OM). Vickers hardness value was averaged from
three measurements at the distance of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mm from
the upper sheet surface. A 200 g force was applied to the indenter
for 10 s with step size of 0.5 mm. The tensile shear test was performed at room temperature with a speed of 1 mm/min. The load
direction was indicated by arrow in Fig. 2. For each condition, the
strength was averaged over three specimens with the peak load

3.1.1. Microstructure
Fig. 3(a) shows the cross-section of a typical FSpW joint. Based
on the microstructural characteristics, three distinct regions can
be identied from the joint center to edge: the stir zone (SZ), the
thermal mechanically affected zone (TMAZ), and the heat affected
zone (HAZ). The SZ was primarily conned inside the sleeve path
and featured ne equiaxed grains (Fig. 3(b)). According to Su et al.
(2005), the ne grain structure observed in the SZ has been usually
attributed to dynamic recrystallization caused by intense plastic
deformation and high temperature. The shape of SZ was supposed
to present an upside-down cone appearance since the material at
the top near the sleeve periphery experienced the longest plastic deformation. However, the width of SZ was smaller at the top.
Therefore, it was suggested that the clamp acted as a heat sink
and led to a low temperature, resulting a small volume of plasticized material at the top near the sleeve periphery. The TMAZ
(Fig. 3(c)) adjacent to the SZ consisted of partially recrystallized
grains induced by moderate temperature and deformation. The
HAZ (Fig. 3(d)) experienced a thermal cycle, but did not undergo
any plastic deformation during the welding process. Therefore, the
HAZ had the coarsest grains of about 27 m, followed by TMAZ of
about 17 m and SZ of about 5 m.
3.1.2. Hook characteristics
The hook defect (indicated by white rectangle in Fig. 3(a)) was
referred to the partially metallurgical bonded region, a transitional
zone between the completely bonded regions and unbonded ones.
Fig. 4(ac) shows the hook defect of welds made at typical welding conditions. Depending on locations, there existed two types of
hook defect whose formation were closely related with the plunge
depth. In all welds made at plunge depth of 1.9 mm, the hook defect
located in SZ (designated as Hook 1) exhibited curved proles as
shown in Fig. 4(a). Such kind of feature has been observed by Shen
et al. (2015) but the formation mechanism of its geometry is still
unclear. It is believed that it was a result of material ow during
the second and third stages. During the second stage, the plasticized lower sheet material was extruded into the upper plate, and
the original interface generating an inverted V shape in the weld
(Fig. 5). Such phenomenon has been observed by Suhuddin et al.
(2013) who studied the material ow during the dissimilar friction
spot welding of aluminum and magnesium alloy by interrupting
the welding process at the second stage. In the third stage, as the
pin extruded material from the center to rell the keyhole created
by retracted sleeve, the edges of the inverted V shaped interface
were pushed sideways and upward while its center was pushed
downward by the retracted pin (see Fig. 5). However, sluggish

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J.Y. Cao et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 230 (2016) 254262

Fig. 2. Conguration and size of the tensile shear specimen. (For interpretation of the references to color in text, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 3. (a) Cross-section of a typical friction spot weld (2100 rpm, 3 s and 2.1 mm) and grain structures in different microstructural zones (b) SZ, (c) TMAZ, (d) HAZ.

material ow was inadequate to eliminate the original interface at

the SZ periphery thereby forming Hook 1. When the plunge depth
increased to 2.1 mm or 2.3 mm, the hook was formed in TMAZ (designated as Hook 2) with its end terminated at the sleeve path. See
Fig. 4(b), at a rotational speed of 1500 rpm, joining time of 2 s and
plunge depth of 2.1 mm, Hook 2 went downward and then slightly
shifted upward toward the upper sheet. A further increase of rotational speed, joining time or plunge depth would change the hook
appearance. As illustrated in Fig. 4(c), Hook 2 was distinguished by
an upward shift in TMAZ, followed by a downward shift toward
the SZ. In light of the hook formation mechanism in FSSW welds
(Badarinarayan et al., 2009b), it was suggested that the formation
of Hook 2 arose from upward bending of the interface due to tool
penetration into lower sheets.
A projection composed of lower sheet material was formed into
the upper sheet plate in all welds (regions marked by I in Fig. 4(ac).
Previously, Ohishi et al. (2015) performed FSSW on welding of alu-

minum alloy and steel sheets and concluded that the projection of
steel into the upper aluminum plate due to the tool penetration
into the bottom sheet produced high quality welds. Therefore, the
FSpW method might show some potential in dissimilar joining of
lightweight alloys to steels even if the tool did not penetrate into
the lower steel plate. This research topic will be explored in the
future.
Here it is necessary to introduce an important weld geometric
feature: hook height, which is dened as the distance between the
original interface and the hook tip (the point A in Fig. 4(d) where
the partially bonded interface begins). It is possible for H to be negative when the hook tip was below the original interface. In all cases,
the hook tip was determined using optical microscopy at 1000
magnication. The hook height was then measured using optical
microscopy at 200 magnication. The error in any hook height
value was 10 m while the reported values were the average of
at least three measurements. Fig. 6 shows the hook height as a func-

J.Y. Cao et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 230 (2016) 254262

257

Fig. 4. Representative hook defect of welds made at (a) 2100 rpm, 2 s and 1.9 mm (b) 1500 rpm, 2 s and 2.1 mm (c) 2100 rpm, 4 s and 2.3 mm. (d) magnied view of the hook
defect in (c).

Fig. 5. Material ow during the second and third stage of FSpW process.

tion of various processing parameters. In general, hook height had a

positive correlation with rotational speed, joining time and plunge
depth. The nal hook height is believed to be controlled by two
factors: the amount of plasticized material and the upward material ow tread. The former one was dominated by the energy input
which was mainly determined by rotational speed and joining time
(Su et al., 2006). Therefore, at a given plunge depth, raising rotational speed or joining time increased energy input and the volume
of plasticized material adjacent to the tool, yielding a taller hook.
The upward material ow tread was mainly governed by plunge
depth. The plunging sleeve pushed the soften material beneath it
downward, squeezing the adjacent material upward (Yang et al.,
2010). As a result, a deeper plunge depth would generate greater
upward material ow and also increased the hook height.
3.2. Mechanical properties

ter, reached a minimum value at the boundary between HAZ and

TMAZ, and recovered throughout TMAZ to a nal plateau in SZ.
In different welding conditions, a slight hardness variation was
observed within 10 mm of the region that included the entire SZ
and a small portion of TMAZ.
The hardness of AA6061-T6 is dependent on the density and size
of the precipitates in the alloy (Sato et al., 1999). The dependence
of hardness on precipitate evolution has been discussed in detail
by Fujimoto et al. (2008) in a similar FSSW of AA6061-T6. In agreement with the reference, the softening in HAZ was mainly due to
precipitate coarsening from the intermediate temperature surge
during the welding process. The TMAZ and SZ underwent intensive plastic deformation and a high thermal cycle, which dissolved
the precipitates and softened the alloy in these regions. However,
higher hardness in SZ over TMAZ could come from the formation
of GP zone in SZ.

3.2.1. Hardness testing

Fig. 7 displays the typical Vickers microhardness proles across
the FSpW joints. The parent metal has a hardness level of about
115 HV. Overall, the hardness of welds was softened compared
to the base material and presented an approximate W shaped
appearance. The hardness decreased in HAZ toward the weld cen-

3.2.2. Tensile shear testing

Table 3 shows the experimental results for the average tensile shear strength. Firstly, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was
employed to investigate the relative effect of the different welding parameters on the tensile shear strength (Juang and Tarng,
2002). The results of ANOVA for the welding outputs are presented

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J.Y. Cao et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 230 (2016) 254262

Fig. 6. Hook height at different (a) rotational speed, (b) joining time, (c) plunge depth.
Table 3
Summary of tensile shear strength of welds made in different welding conditions.

Fig. 7. Microhardness proles measured at the cross section of FSpW joints made
in typical welding conditions.

in Table 4. Statistically, F-test provides a decision at some condence level as to whether these estimates are signicantly different
(Tosun et al., 2004). Therefore, the terms RS, JT, and PD had signicant contributions on weld strength, as their p values were found to
be less than the signicance level (0.05). Moreover, the percentage
contribution can be used to evaluate the relative power of a factor
to reduce variation. For a factor with a high percent contribution, a

Weld

RS (rpm)

JT (s)

PD (mm)

Load (N)

SD (N)

Stress (MPa)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

1500
2100
1500
2100
1500
2100
1500
2100
1500
2100
1500
2100
1500
2100
1500
2100
1500
2100

2
2
3
3
4
4
2
2
3
3
4
4
2
2
3
3
4
4

1.9
1.9
1.9
1.9
1.9
1.9
2.1
2.1
2.1
2.1
2.1
2.1
2.3
2.3
2.3
2.3
2.3
2.3

8623
8627
8463
8035
8182
7544
9093
8756
8727
8424
8537
8251
8074
8409
8210
7756
7997
7409

76
236
181
317
56
525
241
332
160
231
315
192
133
409
278
393
81
164

135.61
135.68
133.10
126.37
128.68
118.64
143.01
137.71
137.25
132.48
134.26
129.76
126.98
132.25
129.12
121.98
125.77
116.52

RS: rotational speed; JT: joining time; PD: plunge depth; Load: tensile shear strength;
SD: standard deviation; Stress: tensile shear strength/ (sleeve radius)2 .

small variation will have a great inuence on the experimental outputs. In this way, the signicance order of process parameters on
tensile shear strength was PD (40.25%) > JT (34.62%) > RS (12.47%).
Besides, the interaction term RS JT (6.54%) seemed to have some
inuence on the weld strength since the contribution of the error
was about 1.51%.

J.Y. Cao et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 230 (2016) 254262

259

Fig. 8. Main effects on tensile shear strength for each factor.

Table 4
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the tensile shear strength.
Source

SS

df

MS

Contrib. (%)

RS (rpm)
JT (s)
PD (mm)
RS JT
RS PD
JT PD
Error
Total

4.035E + 005
1.120E + 006
1.302E + 006
2.116E + 005
10693.44
42020.56
1.450 + 005
3.235 + 006

1
2
2
2
2
4
4
17

2.377E + 005
4.035E + 005
5.598E + 005
1.058E + 005
5346.72
10505.14
36248.97

6.56
11.13
15.44
17.97
0.15
0.29

0.0289
0.0131
0.0100
0.1654
0.8673
0.8712

12.47
34.62
40.25
6.54
3.31
1.3
1.51

SS: sum of square; df: degree of freedom; MS: mean sum of square; F: mean sum
of square/error mean sum of square; P: probability that exceeds the 95% condence
level; Contrib. (%): sum of square/total sum of square.

Fig. 8 shows the main effect for the response in which the points
were the mean tensile shear strength at the various levels of each
factor. Increasing RS was found to be adverse to the weld strength.
Similar trend was observed for longer JT. In the case of the PD, the
weld strength increased from 1.9 mm to 2.1 mm and then dropped
after a further increase to 2.3 mm.
Fig. 9 is the rst order interactions graph, which discloses the
differences in responses between the levels of one factor at all levels
of other factors. It was clear that tensile shear strength decreased
with increased joining time for all levels of rotational speed and
the reduction rate was greater for higher rotational speed. This
nding conrmed the ANOVA results that interaction RS JT had
some effect on the weld strength. It should be pointed out here
that the maximum tensile shear strength was obtained at the rotational speed of 1500 rpm and joining time of 2 s, and plunge depth of
2.1 mm while the minimum one was made at the rotational speed
of 2100 rpm and dwell time of 4 s, and plunge depth of 2.3 mm.
3.2.3. Failure behavior
Only two fracture modes were observed for tensile shear testing: nugget pullout on the upper sheet and nugget pullout on the
lower sheet. Fig. 10(a) shows a typical cross section of a partially
fractured FSpW specimen (nugget pullout on the lower sheet) made
under rotational speed of 1500 rpm, joining time of 2 s, and plunge
depth of 2.1 mm. Notably, the fracture was initiated from the hook
tip (Fig. 10(d)), then propagated downward following an arc shaped
path, and nally ruptured about 1 mm away from the sleeve path.
It should be pointed out here that nugget pullout on the lower
sheet only occurred in the welds produced at the rotational speed of
1500 rpm, joining time of 2 s, and plunge depth of 2.1 mm. Nugget
pullout on the upper sheet mode is presented in Fig. 10(b and c).
Similarly, crack was also emanated from the hook tip. However,
depending on the hook types, the crack propagation route at the

initial stage exhibited some difference. For hook located in the SZ

(Hook 1), crack would propagate along partially bonded interface
(Fig. 10(e)). Whereas for the hook in the TMAZ (Hook 2), the crack
immediately propagated upward in the thickness direction, rather
than along the partially bonded interface, and then penetrated into
the SZ (Fig. 10(f)). Fracture in either type eventually occurred within
1 mm away from the sleeve path.
For the nugget pullout on the lower sheet mode, the fractographs at the region a1, a2 and a3 (marked in Fig. 10(a)) are
presented in Fig. 11(ac) respectively. The crack initiation surface
was characterized by ridge appearance with smooth surface (see
Fig. 11(a)). This feature corresponded to the hook tip where the mixing between the upper and lower sheet was quite low. At the initial
stage of crack propagation (Fig. 11(b)), shallow tear dimples with
second-phase particles in the bottom were observed on the fracture surface, indicating the stress state in this region was primarily
tension. The formation of these dimples was related to the presence
of discontinuous second-phase particles that lowered the plasticity
of the material. The fracture surface in region a3 exhibited a small
amount of elongated dimples, indicating shear fracture occurred at
the nal stage of failure (Fig. 11(c)). For the nugget pullout on the
upper sheet mode, the fracture surface was found similar to the
other mode (not shown here for brevity) except for the region b1,
also known as Hook 1 marked in Fig. 10(b), where some ridges oriented perpendicular to the load direction can be readily discerned
(Fig. 11(d)), it was suggested that the crack preferentially propagated along the partially bonded region around the perimeter of SZ.
Once it happens, an annular crack was formed which would reduce
the effective shear area (Rosendo et al., 2011). The formation of
these ridges was probably caused by the material mixing between
upper and lower sheets during the welding process rather than by
tensile shear testing. Numerous dimples of various sizes observed
among the ridges conrmed that partially metallurgical bonding
occurred in the hook defect.

3.2.4. Factors affecting the tensile shear strength of FSpW weld

The hardness prole is insufcient to explain the performance
difference for FSpW welds because hardness in the fracture region
shown slight variation under different welding conditions (Fig. 7).
Besides, compared the tensile shear strength between welds 2 and
welds 18 (Table 3), the completely bonded area appears to be not a
dominant factor that determining the weld strength as the welds 18
have larger completely bonded area (Fig. 4) but much lower weld
strength. Since the fracture was initiated at the hook tip and then
propagated through the remainder of the upper or lower sheet, the
strength of FSpW welds could be affected by a combination of stress
concentration, mechanical property of the material, and loading

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J.Y. Cao et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 230 (2016) 254262

Fig. 9. Interaction plots between factors.

Fig. 10. Macroscopic appearances of tensile shear fractures in welds: (a) nugget pullout on the lower sheet (1500 rpm, 2 s and 2.1 mm), (b) nugget pullout on the upper sheet
(2100 rpm, 2 s and 1.9 mm), (c) nugget pullout on the upper sheet (2100 rpm, 3 s and 2.3 mm), (df) are close-up view of the fracture regions in (ac) respectively.

area in front of the hook tip. In the present study, it is found that
the hook height could be used as an indicator for the weld strength.
Fig. 12 displays the weld strength plotted as function of the hook
height. The weld strength decreased monotonically with increasing
hook height. Noteworthy that at a given hook height, the welds

made at plunge depth of 1.9 mm was weaker than those made at

2.1 mm. This is because the annular cracks formed at the partially
bonding interface (Hook 1) reduced effective shear area of welds
made at plunge depth of 1.9 mm.

J.Y. Cao et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 230 (2016) 254262

261

Fig. 11. Fractographs at the selected locations: (a) region a1, (b) region a2 and (c) region a3 marked in Fig. 10(a) and (d) region b1 marked in Fig. 10(b).

turn led to the decrease of stirring intensity and strain rate of plasticized material (Gerlich et al., 2006, 2008). However, decreased
stirring intensity and strain rate might lead to low hook height,
thereby improve the weld strength. This issue awaits further investigation. Thus, it can be concluded that the strength of friction spot
welds is signicantly affected by the hook geometry, which, in turn,
is inuenced by the processing parameters.
4. Conclusions
Based on the results of this experiment, the following conclusions can be made:

Fig. 12. Correlation of hook height with tensile shear strength of the welds.

Slow rotational speed was found to be benecial to weld

strength. Tier et al. (2013) reported the same results and suggested
that the decreased completely bonded area was responsible for the
low weld strength at high rotational speed. However, in the present
study, it was the increased hook height at high rotational speed that
decreased the weld strength. Extending joining time had a similar effect and has been reported in Rosendo et al. (2011). A deeper
plunge depth tended to increase the hook height. However, when it
is increased from 1.9 mm to 2.1 mm, the hook type was transformed
from Hook 1 to Hook 2 and hence the crack propagation route
changed during tensile shear testing. The benecial effect from
increased effective shear area on the weld performance outweights
the detrimental effect from increased hook height, improving the
weld strength. As for the interaction effect between rotational
speed and joining time, Amancio-Filho et al. (2011) reported a
similar nding and attributed it to the slippage between the tool
periphery and adjacent material at high rotational speed, which in

Welds produced at the plunge depth of 1.9 mm exhibited hook

defect extending into the weld. Welds produced at the plunge
depth of 2.1 and 2.3 mm exhibited hook defect locating in the
TMAZ.
The hook height had a positive correlation with rotational speed,
joining time and plunge depth.
Plunge depth was the most signicant parameter that affects the
weld strength, followed by joining time and rotational speed.
Tensile shear strength decreased monotonically with increasing
hook height. Increasing effective shear area brought benecial
effect of tensile shear strength.
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by Shanghai Aerospace Funding. The
authors would like to express their gratitude to Shanghai Spaceight Manufacture (Group) Co., Ltd., for providing the FSpW
connections and to Zhang Chengcong for helpful discussions.
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J.Y. Cao et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 230 (2016) 254262

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