Investigating the Feasibility of Joining Wrought Homogenous Armor Steel Using Friction Stir Welding
By William Evans (The Ohio State University), Rafael Arthur Reghine Giorjao (The Ohio State University), Michael Eff (EWI), Martin Mcdonnell Iii (U.S. Army - Ground Vehicle Systems Center), Antonio Ramirez (The Ohio State University)

The United State Army employs several advanced armored combat vehicles, in a wide array of different environments, and applications. Armor steels are required to meet certain conditions to stay within the military’s specifications. Vehicle armor is typically joined using arc welding methods. Joining via arc welding degrades armor material below specification, so alternate joining methods are being explored like FSW. FSW is a solid-state joining technique that utilizes non-consumable tool to stir two materials into a joint. The benefit to using FSW is an increase in joint efficiency and a decrease in joint defects. In this study FSW parameters were developed and used to weld Wrought Homogeneous Armor steel (roughly 400 HV). The welded joints were subjected to mechanical testing and metallography. Through this work it was shown that armor steels can be joined using FSW and the weld stir zone is similar in properties to the base metal.