Feasibility of Orbital Friction Stir Welding on Clad Pipes of Api X65 Psl 2 Steel and Inconel 625

Abstract

In this work, orbital friction stir welding (Orbital FSW) has been now developed in clad pipes, which is certainly of interest to the oil and gas industry. In this context, a system capable of performing sound joints in one pass with full tool penetration was developed. Therefore, orbital FSW was executed in clad pipes of 6 mm thick API X65 PSL2 steel and a 3 mm thick Inconel 625 with a polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (pcBN) tool. Furthermore, the metallurgical properties of the welded joints were investigated and discussed. Sound joints with axial forces of 45–50 kN, rotational speed of 400–500 rpm and welding speed of 2 mm/s were obtained, proving that the developed system can perform joints by orbital FSW without volumetric defects.