Evaluation of shear force and fractography of friction stir spot welded joints of AA 6082-T6 alloy

Abstract

This experimental work investigates the tensile behavior of friction stir spot welded joints from 3 mm thick aluminum alloy AA6082-T6 sheets. Taguchi L9 Orthogonal array was used for process parameters - Tool rotational speed (TRS), Dwell time (DT) and Shoulder diameter (SD) with consideration of three levels. Friction Stir Spot Welding (FSSW) was performed on vertical milling machine. Tensile shear test was conducted on Universal testing machine (UTM) to find out the tensile shear failure load (TSFL). The optimal combinations of parameters were at tool rotational speed of 2,000 rpm, dwell time of 15 seconds and tool shoulder diameter of 16 mm. Tool rotational speed had a substantial effect on tensile shear strength of FSSW joint. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) tests revealed that the changes in microstructure in different zones of FSSW joint were observed. Tensile shear specimen was analyzed using SEM to observe the behavior of fracture surfaces. Significant ductility in the fracture surface was an evident in the fractography. In this article, attention is focused on the influence of joining parameters on the mechanical behavior of the friction stir spot weld under the tensile shear load condition. Keywords: Fractography; friction stir spot welding (FSSW); heat affected zone (HAZ); scanning electron microscopy (SEM); thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ).