Joining Dissimilar Materials Using

Friction Stir Scribe Technique

Piyush Upadhyay
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
Richland 99352, WA
e-mail: piyush.upadhyay@pnnl.gov

Yuri Hovanski
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
Richland 99352, WA

Saumyadeep Jana
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
Richland 99352, WA

Leonard S. Fifield
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
Richland 99352, WA
Development of a robust and cost-effective method of joining dis-
similar materials could provide a critical pathway to enable wide-
spread use of multimaterial designs and components in
mainstream industrial applications. The use of multimaterial com-
ponents such as steel-aluminum and aluminum-polymer would
allow design engineers to optimize material utilization based on
service requirements and could often lead to weight and cost
reductions. However, producing an effective joint between materi-
als with vastly different thermal, microstructural, and deformation
responses is highly problematic using conventional joining and/or
fastening methods. This is especially challenging in cost sensitive,
high volume markets that largely rely on low cost joining solu-
tions. Friction stir scribe (FSS) technology was developed to meet
the demands of joining materials with drastically different proper-
ties and melting regimes. The process enables joining of light met-
als like magnesium and aluminum to high temperature materials
like steel and titanium. Viable joints between polymer composites
and metal can also be made using this method. This paper will
present the state of the art, progress made, and challenges associ-
ated with this innovative derivative of friction stir welding (FSW)
in reference to joining dissimilar metals and polymer/metal com-
binations. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4034629]
Fig. 1 Schematic of FSS tool as it plunges into a dissimilar
material lap joint (above). FSS tools (below).
(shoulder and pin) plastically deform the top sheet, the scribe cut-
ter cuts into the higher melting point material underneath. As the
tool rotates and traverses forward, the in situ machining of the bot-
tom sheet creates a mechanical interlock in the dissimilar material
interface. The depth of cut in the bottom layer is determined by
the length of the scribe cutter. A predetermined gap between the
tip of the FSW pin and the interface is maintained so that only the
scribe cutter is in contact with the bottom sheet while the FSW
tool interacts with the top sheet. This aspect—unique to FSS—
intrinsically prevents plastic deformation of the bottom layer
(higher melting point material). This avoids the propensity of
melting and void formation related to joining materials with sig-
nificantly different melting points using conventional FSW.
Herein, we present a brief overview of the technique, including
tooling and other critical requirements of the process. Progress
made and challenges associated with the development of joining
dissimilar material combinations, including polymer to aluminum,
aluminum to steel, and magnesium to steel, are also reported.
Results and Discussion
A representative FSS joint made between AA6022 aluminum
(1 mm thick) and LCF50-PA66 carbon-fiber–filled polyamide

Introduction
A recent derivative of friction stir welding (FSW), the friction
stir scribe (FSS) [1] technique has enabled joining of materials
with vastly different melting points by creating in situ mechanical
interlocks between material interfaces with the use of a modified
FSW pin tool. The FSS tool essentially consists of the typical
FSW tool with one modification: at the tip of the tool, a scribe cut-
ter is attached offset from the axis of rotation. A hole is drilled
into the pin at an appropriate location and the scribe cutter is press
fit into the hole. Care is taken to ensure that the base of the scribe
is completely seated on the base of the hole to avoid any change
in the scribe height during joining. A schematic of a typical FSS Fig. 2 Representative FSS welded joint made between carbon
tool plunged into a material stack to be joined is shown in Fig. 1. fiber-reinforced polyamide (LCF50-PA66) and aluminum
Layers to be joined are assembled and appropriately clamped in
lap configuration such that the lower melting point material is on
the top. While the conventional components of the FSW tool

Contributed by the Manufacturing Engineering Division of ASME for publication

in the JOURNAL OF MANUFACTURING SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING. Manuscript received
August 17, 2016; final manuscript received August 23, 2016; published online Fig. 3 Tensile sample from dissimilar welds made between
October 3, 2016. Editor: Y. Lawrence Yao. AZ31 and 0.8 mm thick steel sheet

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Fig. 4 Representative joints made between different steel and
aluminum combinations using the friction stir scribe technique
(3 mm thick) is shown in Fig. 2. In order to avoid excessive heat-
ing of the crown and ensure through-thickness homogeneity, a sta-
tionary shoulder tool was used with this material combination.
Preliminary trials focused on proof of concept yielded an effective
joint efficiency of 50%. It is expected that the parameter and
tool optimization will lead to additional increase in bond strength
achieved. Detailed discussion of the tool setup, design, parame-
ters, and resulting joint properties relative to the base and rein-
forced polymers can be found in Upadhyay et al. [2]
AZ31 magnesium alloy and zinc-coated high strength low alloy
steel were also successfully joined using the FSS technique (see
Fig. 3). The resulting joint performed significantly better in tensile
tests than the joints made without any scribe in an otherwise simi-
lar tool. Failure occurred outside of the weld region in base metal
for the case shown in Fig. 3. The statistical variation in the tensile
strength was significantly lower in the scribe joint. Strength of
close to 90% of the base metal steel was achieved. Additional
information on this particular set of dissimilar joining can be
found in Jana et al. [3]
An ongoing project at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
in collaboration with several automotive manufacturers, is focused
on development of FSS in joining of aluminum to steel. Figure 4
shows representative joint panels made between different types of
aluminum and steel in a variety of thickness combinations. The
steel types considered range from mild steel to high strength steel,
depending upon the specific application needs of the automotive
manufacturers involved. Several control parameters such as weld-
ing speed, rotational speed, and plunge depth are varied, resulting
in a wide array of welded coupons. Samples that perform reason-
ably well in manual peel tests are subsequently tensile tested.
Figure 5 shows load per unit weld length versus extension for
five different samples obtained from a single joint panel between
1 mm thick AA6022 and 0.7 mm thick mild steel. The welding
speeds were 750 mm/s and 1950 rpm, and the plunge depth was
0.99 mm. For reference, the load versus extension curve for the
base metal mild steel (0.7 mm) is also shown. Although some vari-
ation in the amount of extension achieved by individual samples
is observed, all of the samples are seen to reach a peak load very
similar to that of the parent mild steel sheet. The top left inset
image of Fig. 5 shows a fractured sample (bottom) where necking
and eventual failure took place away from the weld region.
Two aspects of FSS joining need to be fulfilled in order to
obtain a defect-free joint that can perform well in tensile tests.
While the FSW on the top material layer must be defect free, it is
also important to generate complete hook features in the bottom

Fig. 5 Joint between AA6022 and mild steel. The graph shows load per unit weld length ver-
sus extension for FSS joint samples obtained over the length of the joint. Top left: an E8
sub-size tensile sample for the mild steel base metal (adjacent to ruler) is shown for side-by-
side comparison with the FSS joint. Top right: a representative FSS joint sample with loca-
tions of final fractures indicated by dotted boxes. The image below the graph shows a typical
lap shear test setup.

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 Fig. 6 Representative FSS joint cross sections for welds made between aluminum and mild
steel
Fig. 7 Lateral (X, Y) and normal (Z) forces experienced by the FSS tool during the pro-
cess plotted against the tool position. Z position of the tool is also shown.
Fig. 8 Load per unit weld length for FSS joint between cast
aluminum and rolled steel
material layer to form an in situ joint without causing voids in the
plastically deformed layer. This requirement demands a narrow
window of plunge depth and scribe length. The hook feature mor-
phology seen in Fig. 6 for three different locations exhibit very
consistent hook formation. Although some inclusions of stray
steel chips into the aluminum nugget are present, these are not
observed to lead to void formation and eventual fracture initiation
sites.
Figure 7 shows tool forces recorded during the length of FSS
welding discussed above are plotted. After an initial acceleration
period in the first 50 mm, the lateral (X, Y) and normal (Z) forces
experienced by the tool throughout the length of the weld are rela-
tively constant. This is indicative of a consistent material flow (in
the aluminum) and machining (in the steel). For the specific gauge
sheets used, the Z force required is 6 kN, while the X and Y
forces are less than 0.5 kN. This information is critical to equip-
ment manufacturers and suppliers as this enables important design
assessments needed to develop robotic applications of FSS tech-
nique in the automotive supply chain.
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Figure 8 shows a representative lap shear strength data set
obtained for 3 mm cast aluminum joined to 2 mm mild steel. Nor-
malized strength values expressed in terms of N/mm (load bearing
capacity) are plotted as bar charts for samples extracted from three
locations of 11 in. long weld are shown. The strength values for a
range of parameters are fairly consistent along the length of the
weld. The performance of the joints under dynamic loading and
corrosive environment is currently being evaluated.
Summary
The FSS technique has been successfully used to lap join dis-
similar materials with vastly different material properties. The
continuous, rivet-like in situ mechanical interlocking feature pro-
duced during the process was found to provide promising joint
strength. While fairly consistent along the length of the joint, sev-
eral joining and tooling parameters can influence the effectiveness
of the hook morphology. It is anticipated that this capability of
readily joining dissimilar materials will enable new avenues in the
use of hybrid structures.
Acknowledgment
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated by Battelle
Memorial Institute for the U.S. Department of Energy under con-
tract DE-AC05-76RL01830. This work was sponsored by W.
Joost in association with the U.S. Department of Energy Office of
Vehicle Technologies as part of the Lightweight Materials pro-
gram along with participating automotive OEMs—General
Motors, Honda R&D Americas and Fiat Chrysler Automobile.
References
[1] Hovanski, Y., Grant, G. J., Jana, S., and Mattlin, K. F., 2013, “Friction Stir Weld-
ing Tool and Process for Welding Dissimilar Materials,” U.S. Patent No.
8,434,661.
[2] Upadhyay, P., Hovanski, Y., Fifield, L. S., and Simmons, K. L., 2015, “Friction
Stir Lap Welding of Aluminum—Polymer Using Scribe Technology,” Friction
Stir Welding and Processing VIII, R. S. Mishra, M. W. Mahoney, Y. Sato, and
Y. Hovanski, eds., Wiley, New York, pp. 153–160.
[3] Jana, S., Hovanski, Y., Grant, G. J., and Mattlin, K., 2011, “Effect of Tool Fea-
ture on the Joint Strength of Dissimilar Friction Stir Lap Welds,” Friction Stir
Welding and Processing VI, R. S. Mishra, M. W. Mahoney, Y. Sato, and Y. Hov-
anski, eds., Wiley, New York, pp. 205–211.
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