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Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 6170–6175 www.materialstoday.com/proceedings

ICMPC 2017

Effect of Tool Rotational Speed on Temperature and Impact

Strength of Friction Stir Welded Joint of Two Dissimilar Aluminum
Alloys
a
Umasankar Das*, bVijay Toppo
a,b
Department of Manufacturing Engineering, National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology, Hatia, Ranchi-834003,Jharkhand, India

Abstract

The joining of dissimilar AA6101 T6 and AA6351 T6 aluminium plates of 12mm thickness was carried out by friction stir
welding (FSW) technique. In the present investigation, the aluminum alloys were welded with the tool rotational speed of 900,
1100 and 1300 rpm and at a constant welding speed of 16 mm/min. Temperature profiles were measured near the heat-affected
zone (HAZ) using thermocouples. Charpy V- notch impact test was carried out to analyze the impact strength of the welded
specimen. With increasing the tool rotational speed impact strength behavior shows a substantial change in mechanical
properties. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was used to examine the fracture pattern of impact test samples which was
observed to be a ductile fibrous fracture. The final results indicate that friction stir welding of dissimilar AA6101T6 &
AA6351T6 aluminum alloys may be an alternative to the conventional joining techniques.

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and/or Peer-review under responsibility of 7th International Conference of Materials Processing and Characterization.

Keywords: Aluminium alloys, Charpy V- notch impact test, Friction stir welding, Rotational speed, Impact Fracture.

1. Introduction

Many specific properties of aluminum alloys like light weight, good structural strength and superior corrosion
resistance make them to be used for structural parts. The major demand of aircraft and automotive industries for
lightweight materials is met by aluminum alloys [1]. The joining of aluminum with conventional welding process is

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-9937453537; fax: +91-0651- 2290860.

E-mail address: swetauma@gmail.com

2214-7853 © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and/or Peer-review under responsibility of 7th International Conference of Materials Processing and Characterization.
 Umasankar Das et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 6170–6175 6171

quite difficult. Friction stir welding process (FSW) is a relatively new route for welding of different metals and
alloys in solid state conditions and friction stir welds produce superior properties compared to fusion welds [2]. It is
a patented process with a very simple basic concept in which a non-consumable rotating tool with pin and shoulder
is plunged into edges of the mating plates. The pin traverses along the line of joint and the shoulder touch the plates’
surface. Due to friction, the tool softens the edges of the workpiece and stirs them from one side to the other.
Localized heating softens mating material around the pin and the combination of the pin rotation and translation
produce the joint [3].
In last two decades, a number of research work have been carried out in joining of similar and dis-similar metals
by FSW. The research works mostly include the complete description of process, physical and mechanical behaviour
of joints and process parameters [4,5]. Elangovan and Balasubramanian [6] reported that the welding speed has
greater influence on the tensile strength. In [7, 8] Lee et al. & Lombard et al. focus the attention on the effect of
tool rotation speed, advancing speed and tool geometry on fatigue strength of 5083 alloy. Krishna [9] and Cabibbo
et al. [10] studied the aging kinetics of the weld zone after friction stir welding of AA6061 and AA6056 alloys. Peel
et al. [11,12] carried out dissimilar friction stir welding of AA5083 and AA6082 alloys and studied the impact of
changes in the rotation and traverse speed on the microstructure, hardness and precipitate distribution at joints.
Leitao et al. [13] studied the mechanical behavior of similar and dissimilar friction stir welds of two aluminum alloys
AA5182-H111 and AA6016-T4. Shigematsu et al. [14] investigated friction stir welding of dissimilar AA6061–
AA5083 and reported that the welding properties, such as the hardness distribution and the tensile strength, are
strongly influenced by the material combinations. The research work on the study of joining of dissimilar alloys and
the impact strength behaviour of the weld joint are very few. In the present study, friction stir welding of AA6101T6
and AA6351T6 alloys under various welding conditions has been carried out. The effects of tool rotational speed on
evaluation of impact strength of welded joints and temperature distribution have been investigated.

2. Experimental procedure, tool and process parameters

The two different aluminum alloys AA 6101T-6 and AA6351T-6 have been used for butt weld by FSW using
modified milling machine. The composition and mechanical properties of the two different aluminum alloys are
shown in Table 1 and 2 respectively.

Table: 1 Chemical composition of the aluminum alloys.

Al Alloy Cu Mg Si Fe Mn Al

6101 T6 0.05 0.65 0.5 0.5 0.03 rest

6351 T6 0.10 0.80 0.95 0.60 0.70 rest

Table 2: Mechanical properties of aluminum alloys.

Al Alloy UTS (MPa) Y.S (MPa) Elongation (%) Hardness (VHN)

6101T6 220 195 15 71
6351T6 310 285 14 95
The friction stir welding set up is shown in Fig 1. A FSW tool made of high carbon and high chromium steel
(HCHCr) having taper cylindrical thread (TCT) pin profile with 2º thread angle was used to weld these alloys. The
tool had a shoulder diameter of 25 mm, big diameter of the pin 8 mm, small pin diameter of 6 mm and pin length of
11.7 mm as shown in Fig.2 was fabricated using CNC turning center and Wire-EDM to get the accurate profile. The
tool was oil hardened to an average 63 HRC. Plates with dimensions of 150 mm×50 mm × 12 mm were prepared
from the rolled plates of AA6101-T6 and AA6351 alloys were kept on the advancing side and retreating side of the
joint line. The FSW line was parallel to the rolling direction of the plates. The schematic diagram of AA6101 &
6172 Umasankar Das et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 6170–6175

AA6351 alloy plates used for FSW is shown in Fig. 3. During the experiments, temperature was measured by using
K-type thermocouples. The thermocouples of 1.5 mm diameter wire were employed to measure the temperature
variations at different distances away from the welding line close to the heat-affected zones (HAZ) of AA6101 and
AA6351 side, respectively as shown in Fig. 4. Thermocouples were attached to temperature data recorder for online
temperature measurement. After the welding, the joints were visually inspected for exterior defects and it were
found to be free from any external defects.

Fig.1 FSW experimental Set-up Fig.2. Photograph of Taper Cylindrical Tool Fig.3. The schematic diagram of
AA6101T6 &AA6351 T6 alloy plates
used for FSW

Impact test was carried out on the welded specimens to determine the impact energy absorbed. The impact test
specimens were prepared as per the ASTM E23 standards having 55 mm long and of square section with 10 mm
sides, in the centre of length, a notch V notch of 450 , 2 mm depth with a 0.25 mm radius of curve at the base of
notch placed at the weld centerline. The schematic diagram of impact test specimen is shown in Fig.5. Two
specimens were machined from each joint and average data have been reported. The fractured patterns of impact test
specimens are analyzed with scanning electron microscope.

Fig 4. Thermocouple connection at different Fig 5: Charpy V-notch dimensions Fig. 6. Welded Joints Samples
locations in AA6101T6 &AA6351 T6 alloy plates as per ASTM E23.
used for FSW

The friction stir welding was carried out for the butt joints of the aluminum alloy specimens at three different
rotational speeds of 900, 1100 and 1300 rpm. The welding speed was kept constant i.e. 16 mm/min. The selection
of process parameters for the present work is given in table 3.
 Umasankar Das et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 6170–6175 6173

Table 3: Process parameters for friction stir welding of AA 6101 and AA 6351.
FSW Designation Material Tool rotational speed (rpm) Welding speed (mm/min)
AA6101 T6+
Sample-A 900 16
AA 6351T6
AA6101 T6+
Sample-B 1100 16
AA 6351T6
AA6101 T6+
Sample-C 1300 16
AA 6351T6

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Appearance of joints

The photographs of the welded joints at three rotational speeds are shown in Fig 6. FSW joints are smooth and
without any macroscopic cracks and cavities. The weld surfaces have a little concavity which is due to the FSW tool
plunging in the surface in FSW. There also a little amount of flashes in the weld portion of the work pieces.

3.2. Temperature profiles during FSW

Friction between work pieces and tool shoulder interface during FSW cause extensive heat generation through
plastic material flow. Heating strongly affects the strength of the work pieces and played an important role in the
thermo-mechanical welding process. Most heating occurred between the work piece and the tool. From the thermal
history it was observed that the maximum temperature of about 390°C at rotational speed of 1300 rpm. The
temperature profile with respect to welding time is shown in fig.7. It is observed that the temperature decreases with
increasing in distance from the weld line. This is due to the cooling effect by conduction to the backing plate and
combined effect of convection and radiation to the atmosphere

150 S-A @900 rpm

S-B@1100 rpm
450 1300 rpm
S-C@1300 rpm
1100 rpm
400 900 rpm 120

350
Temperature oC

Impact energy (J)

300 90

250

200 60

150

100 30

50
100 200 300 400 500
0
Welding time (sec)
S-A S-B S-C AA6101 AA6351

Fig.7. Temperature profile at different rotational speeds Fig.8. Comparison of impact energy of parent metals & FSW samples
at different rotational speed of the tool.

3.3. Effect of Tool Rotational Speed on Impact Strength

Impact tests were performed on Charpy Impact test machine (Instron 600 MPX; capacity: 600J) with impact
velocity of 5.28 m/s, as per the ASTM E-23 specifications. Fig. 8 shows the for impact strength of the welded
specimens and the values are compared with the parent materials. The impact energy of FS weld specimen is
minimum at 900 rpm which is due to low friction pressure and friction time which does not provide the sufficient
6174 Umasankar Das et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 6170–6175

frictional heat and time required to form a sound bonding between the two dissimilar metals. When the rotational
speed of the tool increases to 1100 rpm, the impact energy of the joint also increases. With further increase in the
rotational to 1300 rpm, the impact energy decreases. This decrease in the impact energy may be due to the grain
refinement at the weld zone due to high heat generation.

3.4. Fracture morphology of the impact test specimen

The impact test was carried out for the parent materials (AA6101-T6 and AA6351alloys) used for FSW. Fig. 9 (a)
and (b) show the SEM photographs of the impact test specimen. Many dimples with various sizes and depths, which
indicate the good ductility property are observed.

Fig.9(a) Fracture surface of AA6101 Fig. 9(b) Fracture surface of AA6351

(a) at 900 rpm (b) at 1100 rpm (c) at 1300 rpm

Fig. 10. SEM images of fracture surfaces of dissimilar welded alloys at different rotational speed.

The fracture surfaces of impact- test specimens are observed with dimples of varying size and shape (Fig. 10 (a), (b)
and (c)). This shows that all failure are ductile in nature in mixing of these two alloys and fracture mechanism is
micro void coalescence. The joints produced at the low rotational speed (900 rpm) shows a fracture path through the
stir zone with minimum impact energy due to insufficient heat input and low plastic deformation. There may be
insufficient time for proper agglomeration of material. On the other hand, for the joints produced at the medium
(1100 rpm), failure was observed along the HAZ boundary of the AA6101 side with the improvement in impact
energy. This is due to the grain size, controlled by heat input and void formation which decreases with higher plastic
deformation produced by the tool. Another reason is that in weld nugget, impact energy increases at higher
rotational speed due to mixing of high strength materials. With further increase in rotational speed to 1300rpm, the
decrease in the width of weld nugget zone is due to the stirring action of tool pin and softening of material. As a
result impact energy decreases and the failure is observed along the TMAZ boundary of the AA6101 side. Thus the
careful selection of FSW process parameters can eliminate the formation of void, optimization of mechanical
property, change of fracture pattern of FSW joints of dissimilar aluminium alloys.
 Umasankar Das et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 6170–6175 6175

4. Conclusion

The following conclusions arrived from the above experimental investigation on the FSW of dissimilar aluminum
alloys at different rotational speed. The temperature distribution and the impact strength were studied. It has been
observed that temperature generation is a function of tool rotational speed. The temperature rises when the
rotational speed increases. The temperature profile changes with respect to welding time. When the tool reaches the
middle section of the specimen, the highest temperature is observed. The maximum impact strength was observed at
1100 rpm rotational speed. The strength of the weld joint is a function of the friction pressure and the time of
contact. The SEM photographs reveal that the formation of dimples affects the ductility property of the welded
parts.

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