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The aim of this investigation was to study the influence of tool geometry on material flow during heterogeneous friction stir welding in 1 mm thick plates of AA 5182-H111 and AA 6016-T4 aluminium alloys. Two types of tool shoulders were used: a shoulder with a conical cavity and a scrolled shoulder. Pin-driven flow was predominant in welds produced with the conical cavity shoulder, which are characterized by an onion ring structure. The interaction between pin-driven and shoulder-driven flow is restricted to the crown of the weld, at the trailing side of the tool, and extends throughout the weld thickness, at the leading side. Although no onion ring structure was formed in welds done with the scrolled shoulder, extensive mixing of the base materials occurred in a plasticized layer flowing through the thickness around the rotating pin. Shoulder-driven flow is intense and continuous around the tool.

a b s t r a c tThe tensile behaviour of similar and dissimilar friction stir welds in 1 mm thick sheets of two aluminium alloys (AA5182-H111 and AA6016-T4) is analysed in this paper. The heterogeneity in properties across the welds was studied by performing microhardness tests and microstructural analysis. The tensile tests were performed in samples extracted longitudinal and transverse to the weld direction. It was found that the tensile behaviour of the welds depends mainly on the grain size in the TMAZ, for the AA5182-H111 alloy, and on precipitate distribution, for the AA6016-T4 alloy. In all types of welds, the HAZ preserves the same properties of the base materials. The global mechanical behaviour of the AA5182-H111 similar welds is very similar to that of the base material. However, for the AA6016-T4 similar welds and for the AA6016-T4-AA5182-H111 dissimilar welds a 10-20% strength reduction relative to the base materials and important losses in ductility were reported.

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In this paper, the weldability of AA 5083-H111 (non-heat treatable) and AA 6082-T6 (heat treatable) aluminium alloys, which are widely used in welding fabrication, is compared by analysing the welds obtained from both materials under a large range of welding conditions (varying tool dimensions, rotation and traverse speeds, axial loads and tilt angles) chosen to ensure high welding speeds. The differences in friction stir weldability, assessed by weld defect analysis and weld strength characterisation, will be related to the markedly different plastic behaviours of both base materials. Based on the experimental results, a methodology for determining suitable friction stir welding parameters is proposed.

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