Grain Refinement and Phase Transformation of Friction Welded Carbon Steel and Copper Joints

The refinement of microstructure and phase transformation near the interface of pure copper/carbon steel dissimilar metals joints with various friction welding parameters have been studied in this paper. The microstructure of copper and carbon steel joints were changed to be a finer grain compared to those of the base metals due to the frictional heat and plastic deformation. The microstructure of copper side experienced wide range of deformed region from the weld interface and divided into very fine equaxied grains and elongated grains. Especially, the microstructures near the interface on carbon steel were transformed from ferrite and pearlite dual structure to fine ferrite, grain boundary pearlite and martensite due to the welding thermal cycle and rapid cooling rate after welding. These microstructures were varied with each friction welding parameters. The recrystallization on copper side is reason for softening in copper side and martensite transformation could explain the remarkable hardening region in carbon steel side.