Welds quality analysis in Friction Stir welding using online methods

Abstract: This paper discusses on the detection of defect that arises during friction stir welding
using continuous wavelet transform on force signal. The vertical force applied during welding
undergoes sudden changes due to presence of defects. These sudden changes are localized with
the help of continuous wavelet transform scalogram (CWT coefficients gray scale image).
Statistical feature of variance is used on scale of 1 of transformed signal to localize the defects.
The experiments of welding are conducted on the work piece of All 100 aluminum alloy with
varying tool rotational speed (1000, 2000, 3000 rpm) and transverse velocity (75 mm/min and
125 mm/min). The manuscript also indicates the comparison of result between DWT and CWT
of force signals showing better localization and degree of defect in CWT analysis.

Keywords: Continuous wavelet transform, Friction stir welding, Force signal, Weld defects
1. Introduction: Friction welding part:
In the process of friction stir welding, different kinds of defects arise. These defects tend to affect
the strength of weld, so it is important to detect the defects and optimize the process parameters
to remove them. Some kinds of defects are evident by bare eyes but some are very small and
these defects cause adverse effect on weld strength. Thus processing of signals generated during
welding is necessary so that instead of depending on visual detection, signals are able to identify
the defects. This decreases human dependency and thus the errors. This paper focuses on
continuous wavelet transform, as signal processing technique, to localize the exact position of
defects present in welds. The statistical analysis is also done on scale 1 of CWT coefficients of
transformed signal to detect the defects more efficiently.
The continuous wavelet transform is applied on the vertical force i.e. Z-load after passing the
original signal through median filter. The transformed signal is represented in frequency-time
domains with the help of gray scale images. The intensity of images represents the value of
coefficients obtained from the continuous transform. The values of coefficients obtained depend
on the abrupt changes in signal. The abrupt changes in signal cause the coefficient values to
increase which are represented in gray scale image as peaks with high intensity in frequencytime domain. The continuous wavelet transform is basically the scaled and shifted version of the
signal which is to be transformed.[14] This article uses daubechies of order 8 as the mother
wavelet for the transformation of the original filtered signal. Apart from localizing the defects in
gray scale images by showing the presence of peaks at positions of abrupt changes due to defect,
the localization of defects are also shown by implementing variance on scale 1 plot of
transformed signal. The statistical feature like variance applied on scale 1 plot of transformed
signal also verifies with position where defects are localized by gray scale images.

In order to localize the defects present in weld, the signal needs to be analyzed in frequency
domain to study different frequency components present in signal. Various transforms like
Fourier transform, short Fourier transform, etc are there but these have limitations on localization
of frequency components due to which more advanced techniques like CWT and DWT are used.
Though in FSW, welding flaws are less as compared to conventional technique but complete
killing of weld defects is still left. Problems arise when the welding conditions avert from the
standard optimum parameters. However this is dependent on number of parameters: tool rotation
and welding speeds, tool pin and shoulder design, plunge depth, tool tilt angle, gap between the
plates, plate thickness variation and mismatch and many more. Therefore, due to this complexity,
generalized optimum welding parameters are difficult to achieve for all cases. A defect may
adversely affect any or all of the following properties such as mechanical properties (Ultimate,
Yield, Elongation), dynamic properties (Fracture and Fatigue), corrosion resistance, formability
and ductility and many more. Till date many such literatures tell the different aspects to explore
the types and reasons behind the defects generated in FSW. Some of those are narrated below.
Leonard and Lockyer (2003) [7] studied the different types of flaws encountered in an Al-CuMn-Si-Mg alloy using different welding parameters outside the tolerance box to produce defectfree welds. They validate their studies by using the non-destructive X-ray and ultrasonic
techniques along with macro-graphic analysis. They also narrated the cause and prevention of
such features in their case.
Quin et al (2013) [8] proposed an analytical model to get defect-free weld by optimizing the
traverse speed and the rotational speed. The model was established by balancing the flow of
metal with an optimum temperature flowing from the ahead of the pin to the rear side. They also
validated their results with experimental and literature data.
Kim et al (2006) [9] studied the three different types of defects generated during different tool
plunge forces with optimum FSW conditions on ADC12 aluminum die casting alloys. They
found that excessive flash formation is caused due to excessive heat input with higher rpm. On
the other hand at lower rpm with high welding speed insufficient heat generation caused cavity
or groove like defects. Apart from that one additional defect called abnormal stirring occurred
due to high rpm with higher weld speed, which caused due to the different temperatures over and
below the weld plates during welding.
Chen et al (2006) [10] studied the defects generated in friction stir welding of 5465 aluminum
alloys under different tool tilt angle and material condition. They observed that with the same
parametric condition defects were distinguished at different positions under different tool tilt
angles, which plays a vital role in heat generation. Further they highlighted that with large tilt,
flash formation is more at RS side which cause insufficient deposition of metal in the nugget
zone whereas with low tilt angle, sufficient plastic deformation cannot occur which leads the

down near the end of the pin. Kissing bond is also very difficult to detect by no-destructive
technique, which also occurs due to low tilt angle. Moreover due to the presence of oxide layer,
another defect occurred during welding, called Lazy S i.e. joint line remnant, which affects the
ductility of the weld too.
Cui et al. (2012) [11] used three different ways to produce T-joints using AA6061-T6 aluminum
alloys. Both macro- and micro-analyses along with mechanical behavior were studied to evaluate
the cause behind different sorts of defects like tunnel defects, joint line and jig jag line defect as
well as kissing bond defect. They further reported that different defects mainly dependent on the
mode of blank matching, improper heat input, flow patterns during welding.
Cui et al. (2013) [12] further explored the effect of weld parameters in order to control the extent
of defect generated by optimizing the process parameters in T-lap as well as T-butt joints. By
analyzing both mechanical as metallurgical data they examined the behavior of defect
distribution with respect to the parametric combination.
Soundarajan et al. (2006) [1] used acoustic signals to detect defects in friction stir welding
process. They applied fast Fourier transform and discrete wavelet transform analysis to detect the
change in amplitude of signal from sound weld to defective weld. They showed the variation of
power spectral density with temperature and thermal stress in different frequency ranges. They
also showed occurrence of spikes in approximation plot where there was change in contact
condition between shoulder and work piece. Though they used several processing techniques but
they could not identify all the defects and localize them.
Luis et al. (2010) [2] have developed a new nondestructive technique to detect micro size
superficial defects in metallic joints. They have used eddy current probe to detect the defect. The
process used by them has a limitation as the technique could successfully detect the defect which
is less than 60 micron deep in work piece.
Chen et al. (2003) [3] have implemented wavelet analysis in acoustic signals to detect defects in
FSW of Al 6061 aluminum alloy. They found significant change in the signal during plunging
and pull out of tool. Also, change in band energy was observed when defects were present in the
weld. They were able to localize the gap defects but were not able to localize other types of
defects.
2. Experimental Procedure: Butt configuration of friction stir welded joint of Al1100
aluminum alloy is performed. Work piece of 200mm* 80mm*2.5 mm dimension is used for
FSW process. Cylindrical pin with 5 mm diameter and 2.1 mm height is used in the experiment.
Tool material is Tool steel H13 with flat face 16 mm shoulder diameter. Two sets of experiment
have been conducted. In first set tool rotation speed (2000 rpm) is kept constant and traverse
velocity is varied (75 mm/min and 125 mm/min). In second set traverse velocity is kept constant

at 50 mm/min and tool rotational speed is varied (1000, 2000, 3000 rpm). No tilt angle is
considered and plunge depth is kept constant at 0.05 mm for all experiments.
A 2.0 T NC controlled machine is used to conduct all experiments. Machine consist of load cells
in X and Z direction which measure the force generated in respective directions. Machine is also
capable of measuring spindle torque. Traverse velocity is given through a linear servo motor. All
signals are acquired through an inbuilt LabVIEW program which convert the voltage signal to
desired unit by multiplying with calibration factor.

3. Continuous Wavelet Transform: Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) is the time-scale

representation of the signal. Most of the signals obtained from practical experiments are nonstationary i.e. they have time varying frequency components. For analyzing such signals the
existing techniques like Fourier Transform or Short-Time Fourier Transform do not yield
accurate results. Fourier Transform gives the frequency components present in signal but do not
localize these frequency components with respect to time. Short-Time Fourier Transform is the
windowed Fourier Transform that allows time-localization of frequency components but has
fixed resolution as the window size is constant. Wider window gives better frequency resolution
but poorer time resolution where as narrower window gives improved time resolution but
frequency resolution becomes poor.[]The signals obtained from welding process are generally
non-stationary signals and thus in order to localize coarse and fine frequency components in
signals, such methods are inappropriate. So continuous wavelet transform is used for the analysis
of such signals.

CWT is the convolution of original signal with a set of functions that are generated from the
analyzing wavelet (), also called the mother wavelet. The wavelet family is produced by scaling
and time shifting of the mother wavelet. The CWT constructs a time-frequency representation of
the signal that gives better time and frequency localization. The coefficients of the continuous
wavelet transform of the original signal at a scale and translational value b is expressed by the
following equation (1)[14]

(1)

Where (t ) is the mother wavelet and represents complex conjugate. From the formula it is
evident that CWT of a signal depends on a , the scaling factor and b for translation. The
parameter a controls the window size and b shifts the wavelet so that the details around time
t b is contained in the transformed function.

Scale: Scaling means dilation or compression of the signal without changing the shape of the
original signal. So by changing the scale a family of mother wavelet is generated. When scale
factor is relatively low, value of a is small and signal is contracted resulting in more detailed
graph and when the scale factor is large i.e. value of a is large the signal is stretched out and
graph shows less details. CWT of a signal gives time-scale representation and not time-frequency
representation. The use of scale in CWT is a substitute for frequency which is proportional to its
reciprocal thus frequency in CWT can also be called as pseudo-frequency. Following formula (2)
is used to calculate the frequency of a particular scale
(2)
where a is the scale number, is the number of samples per second, Fc is the center frequency
and Fa is the pseudo-frequency in Hz corresponding to scale a.[13]
4. Result and discussion: To analyze the signal for identification and localization of defects
Daubechis wavelet of order 8 is used to decompose the signal. The result of CWT analysis is
shown in a scalogram which is represented by gray scale image and the defects are localized in
the image with the help of intensity shown by different shades of gray. The statistical features
like variance is also calculated on the CWT coefficients of scale 1 which further helps in the
exact localization of the abrupt change in the signal.
a) Analysis of Z-load acquired:
Force signal is acquired during FSW of the Al plates using strain gauge sensors. The raw signal
is filtered using median filter in which median values of specified sample replaces the existing
sample values thus removing noise from the signal. The analysis is then done on this signal using
CWT technique with the help of MATLAB software package.
At the location of defect an abrupt change in the force signal is observed and the magnitude of
change tells the intensity of the defect. These defects are localized directly with the help of the
gray scale image of the CWT coefficients.
Figure 1(a) shows the original force signal with respect to time, obtained during the welding
process. The original signal is filtered and the filtered signal is shown in Figure 1(b). Further
processing of the signal is done using CWT and the gray scale image of the CWT coefficients is
plotted localizing the defects that occurred during welding. Figure 2 shows the gray scale image
of the CWT coefficients

Fig 1(a): Plot of the original signal (Z-load and X- position plot)

Fig 1(b): Plot of variation of Z-load with X-position (Filtered signal)

Fig 2: CWT coefficients gray scale image localizing the defects

At the position of the defect, the gray scale image of continuous wavelet transform shows high
intensity peaks thus localizing those defects. The intensity of those peaks varies with the
magnitude of CWT coefficients. Figures 3(a) to (c) show the localization of defects in physical
weld. Figure 3(a) shows the gray scale image of CWT coefficients and Figures 3(b) and 3(c)
show the front and rear side of the weld, respectively.

(a)

(b)

(c)
Fig 3: (a) - Plot of CWT coefficient image (b) - Front side of weld,
(c) - Rear side of weld

The variation in intensity of gray scale image can also be seen by RGB values at scale 100, at
different positions on the image. More the RGB values the grater is the intensity and vice versa.
Following table gives the RGB values at scale 100 and the CWT coefficients value at scale 1
showing the change in intensity at the location of faults.

Distance

RGB values at scale 100

19.0
56.0
115
131.5

0.127,0.127,0.127
0,0,0
0.651,0.651,0.651
0.778,0.778,0.778

CWT coefficient values at

scale 1
0.589
0.506
13.24
40.78

At defect free position the force signal is smooth. There are no peaks present in the signal. Since
there are no variations or very small variations in signal at positions where defects are not
present so the frequency in that period of time is low resulting in low variation of intensity of the
CWT coefficients image. Figures 4(a) and 4(b) show the original and filtered Z-load with time,
respectively and Figure 4(c) shows the CWT coefficients gray scale image. Figures 5(b) and (c)
show the defect free region in the front and rare side of the physical weld and Figure 5(a) shows
the corresponding part of the CWT coefficients image. In the defect free part there is no
variation of intensity in the CWT coefficients image.

Fig 4(a): Plot of the original signal (Z-load and X- position plot)

Fig 4(b): Plot of variation of Z-load with X-position (Filtered signal)

Fig 4(c): CWT coefficients gray scale image localizing the defect free region

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig 5: (a) - Plot of CWT coefficient image (b) - Front side of weld, (c) - Rear side of weld
The RGB values at scale 100 on gray scale image and the CWT coefficient values at scale 1
showing vary small or no variation in intensity at defect free region is also verified from the
following table.
Distance

RGB values at scale 100

39.0
73.4
117
139

0.619,0.619,0.619
0.0952,0.0952,0.0952
0,0,0
0,0,0

CWT coefficient values at

scale 1
29.00
4.779
0.255
0.196

a) Study of Z-load signal for defect detection by statistical features:

Figures 6(a) and 6(b) show the original and filtered signals of the weld performed with rotational
speed of 3000 rpm, traverse velocity of 50 mm /min, plunge depth of 0.05 mm and tilt angle as
0,respectively.

Fig 6(a): Variation of Z-load with X-position (Raw signal)

Fig 6(b): Plot of Z-load with X-position of filtered signal

The CWT coefficients at scale 1 are then processed using statistical features like variance. These
features extracted from the scale 1 CWT coefficients show equivalently good results in defect
detection and its localization. Figure 7(a) shows the bar graph and Figure 7(b) shows the plot of the
variance of scale 1 of CWT coefficients image.

Fig 7(a): The bar graph of the variance of scale 1 of CWT coefficients

Fig 7(b): The plot of the variance of scale 1 of CWT coefficients

The variance, of scale 1 of CWT coefficients, helps to identify the position of defects with more
accuracy. Figures 8(a) to 8(c) help to localize the defects on both front and rear sides of the weld,
respectively. The peaks in the variance plot show the position of the defects and are mapped with
the image of the physical weld.

(a)

(b)

(c)
Fig 8: (a) Plot of the variance of CWT coefficients at scale 1 (b) - Front side of weld, (c) Rear
side of weld
d) Advantage of using CWT over other techniques:
In several cases the use of CWT for signal or time series analysis is more favorable as it gives
fine grained resolution. Unlike DWT, CWT operates at every scale from that of the original
signal up to the maximum scale determined according to the need of detailed analysis and during
computation the analyzing wavelet is shifted over the full domain of analyzed function. So some
advantages can be seen while localization of minor defects. With the help of some statistical
features CWT is able to detect even minute defects which may not be visible by bare eyes thus
resulting in better resolution. This advantage can be seen in the bar plot of the variance of the
CWT coefficients at scale 1and DWT coefficients decomposed to third level (D3).

Figures 9(a) shows the original and Figure 9(b) shows filtered signals of the force signal plotted
against
time.

Fig 9(a): Variation of Z-load with X-position (Raw signal)

Fig 9(b): Variation of Z-load with X-position (Filtered signal)

In order to show the difference between the results of variance of scale 1 of CWT coefficient and the
variance of third level decomposed DWT coefficient the gray scale image is of CWT coefficient and
variance of scale 1 is shown in Figures 10(a) and 10(b), respectively. And the third level decomposed
DWT coefficient with time is shown in Figure 11(a) and its variance bar graph is shown in Figure 11(b).
The bar graph is plotted taking the variance of every twenty consecutive coefficients. Variation in the
amplitude of the bar graph shows the location of the defect.

Fig 10(a): CWT coefficients gray scale image localizing the defects

Fig 10(b): The bar graph of the variance of scale 1 of CWT coefficients

Fig 11(a): Plot of detail coefficient D3 with X position

Fig 11(b): The bar graph of the variance of detail coefficient D3 with X position

Exact localization of the defects and also the degree of defects can be relatively easily analyzed
using CWT which is also visible from Figures 12(a) to (d) . Figure 12(a) shows the variance bar
graph of scale 1 of CWT coefficient and Figure 12(b) shows the variance bar graph of DWT
coefficient. On mapping both the variance plots with the physical weld the advantage of using
CWT over DWT for detecting minor defects can be seen. This effect will be more pronounced in
a complicated piece of more complex force signal.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)
Fig 12: (a) Plot of the variance of CWT coefficients at scale 1 (b) Plot of the variance of detailed
coefficients D3 (c) - Front side of weld, (d) - Rear side of weld

Conclusion: This work presents a method for detection and localization of defect in friction stir
welding process. The force signal is collected and filtered signal is decomposed using continuous
wavelet transform and time-scale image of CWT coefficient is plotted, the defected zones are
localized and are prominently visible in the gray-scale image of CWT coefficients. On
implementation of statistical feature like variance of scale 1 of continuous coefficients, localize
the abrupt changes even more evidently. Later part of the paper shows some advantage of
applying continuous wavelet transform over discrete wavelet transform i.e. localization of minor
defects. With the help of some statistical features like variance CWT is able to detect even very
minute defects which may not be visible by bare eyes thus resulting in better resolution than
DWT.

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