Characterization of friction stir welded AA 3003-H24 aluminum alloy plates

Abstract

AA 3003-H24 aluminum alloy plates were butt-welded in order to investigate the effect of friction stir welding process variables on the structural properties of the welded joints. The welded joints were characterized using macro-structural investigations; and tunnel-type defects with varied sizes were detected to occur. At a welding speed of 50 mm/min, tunneltype defects with large size were found to occur in joints welded with the tool rotational speed of 500 and 1000 rpm. The tunnel-type defects were detected to occur in welded joints produced with the process parameters of 80 mm/min welding speed and 500 and 800 rpm tool rotational speed. However, cavity-type defects were observed to occur at both welding speeds. Even, defects were found to occur in the welded joints, all welded joints were detected to fracture between the base metal and the heat-affected zone, except for the joints welded under the process parameters of 50 mm/min welding speed, 500 and 1000 rpm tool rotational speed. The highest ultimate tensile strength among all the welded joints was measured to b e 128 MPa produced under the process parameters of 50 mm/min welding speed and 800 rpm tool rotational speed. It has been revealed that there is a good correlation between the size of the defects and the tensile properties of welded joints. An examination on the fracture surface of the welded joints revealed that welded joints were fractured in ductile manner except the joint produced under the process parameters of 50 mm/min welding speed and 500 rpm tool rotational speed.

Studies on Quality of Joints and Phenomena Therein for Welded Vehicle Components Made of Aluminium Alloy – a Review

“…The FSWed joints of 3003 alloy (Table 5), studied by Chekalil et al [347] were obtained using tool with flat shoulder with diameter of 19.5 mm, and conical pin with diameter varying from 6.8 to 5 mm, and length of 1.7 mm. The FSWed joints of 3003-H17 alloy studied by Xu [349] were obtained using tool with shoulder diameter of 16 mm, and conical threated pin with maximal diameter of 6 mm, length of 4.7 mm, and taper angle of 2.5. Similar joints studied by Goyal et al [350] were obtained using tool with concave shoulder with diameter of 18 mm, and square pin with diameter of 6 mm, and length of 4.75 mm.…”

“…Xu [349] studied FSWed joints of 5 mm thick plates made of 3003-H17 alloy (Table 4) under WS of 1500 and 3000 mm/min and a constant TRS. They found that the UTS of weld joint lowered with an enhancement in the WS from 1500 mm/min to 3000 mm/min at a constant TRS of 2000 rpm and shoulder plunge depth of 0.2 mm.…”

Studies on the Quality of Joints and Phenomena Therein for Welded Automotive Components Made of Aluminum Alloy—A Review

“…The TS of the weld joint was up to 75% of that of the BM. Kasman and Ozan [413] studied the influence of the welding process on the structural properties of the butt FSW joints of plates made of 3003-H24 alloy. They found that the highest UTS among all the welded joints, equal to 128 MPa, was obtained under 50 mm/min WS and 800 rpm TRS.…”

“…Investigating the butt FSW joints of plates made of 3003-H24 alloys (Table 6), Kasman and Ozan [413] reported that, at a WS of 50 mm/min, tunnel-type defects with enormous size appeared in the joints welded with a TRS of 500 and 1000 rpm. The tunnel-type defects also occurred under a WS of 80 mm/min and TRS of 500 and 800 rpm.…”

Microstructure and Properties of Nonlinear Lap Joint of 6061 Aluminum Alloy by Friction Stir Welding

“…Almost all of the aluminum alloys can be joined using FSW. The FSW processes for pure aluminum [4], Al-Li [5,6], Al-Mg [7,8], Al-Mg-Si [9,10], Al-Cu [11,12], Al-Zn [13], and Al-Mn [14,15] aluminum alloys have been widely investigated.…”