The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 28, 2015
Filed:
Oct. 12, 2011
Stephen J Hales, Newport News, VA (US);
Harold Dale Claytor, Newport News, VA (US);
Joel A. Alexa, Hampton, VA (US);
Stephen J Hales, Newport News, VA (US);
Harold Dale Claytor, Newport News, VA (US);
Joel A. Alexa, Hampton, VA (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a process for suppressing abnormal grain growth in friction stir welded aluminum alloys by inserting an intermediate annealing treatment ('IAT') after the welding step on the article. The IAT may be followed by a solution heat treatment (SHT) on the article under effectively high solution heat treatment conditions. In at least some embodiments, a deformation step is conducted on the article under effective spin-forming deformation conditions or under effective superplastic deformation conditions. The invention further provides a welded article having suppressed abnormal grain growth, prepared by the process above. Preferably the article is characterized with greater than about 90% reduction in area fraction abnormal grain growth in any friction-stir-welded nugget.