Experimental Investigation of Peak Temperature and Microhardness in Friction Stir Processing of AA6082 T6 using Taguchi GRA

Abstract

Friction stir processing demonstrated tremendous potential for improving mechanical properties and its success relies on the optimal level of process parameters that result in a flawless stir zone. The present study is an experimental investigation of performance characteristics peak temperature and microhardness on FSPed AA6082-T6. The experiments are designed using the Taguchi L16 orthogonal array by considering four different levels of rotational speed, traverse speed, shoulder diameter, and tilt angle. The grey relational analysis is used for multiple responses to optimise the FSP process parameters and analysis of variance is utilised to establish the relevance of parameters for these responses. According to the findings, the shoulder diameter and traverse speed are the most important determinants for peak temperature and microhardness. It is observed from the experimental analysis that the main reasons for defect formation are either excessive or inadequate heat generation. The multi-response optimal condition is attained at a rotating speed of 1400 rpm, transverse speed of 112 mm/min, shoulder diameter of 25 mm, and tilt angle of 1º.