Realizing a Novel Friction Stir Processing-Enabled FWTPET Process for Strength Enhancement Using Firefly and PSO Methods

Abstract

The friction welding of tube to tube plate using an external tool (FWTPET) is widely deployed in several industrial applications, such as aerospace, automotive, and power plants. Moreover, for achieving a better tensile strength and hardness in the weld zone, the friction stir processing (FSP) technique was incorporated into the FWTPET process for joining aluminum alloys (AA6063 tube, AA6061 tube plate). Furthermore, it has to be noted that FWTPET was applied for joining the AA6063 tube to the AA6061 tube plate, and FSP was deployed for reinforcing the weld zone with carbon nanotube (CNT) and silicon nitride (Si3N4) particles, thereby attaining the desirable mechanical properties. Subsequently, the Taguchi L25 orthogonal array was used for identifying the most influential input and output FWTPET + FSP process parameters. Furthermore, particle swarm optimization (PSO) and the firefly algorithm (FFA) were deployed for determining the optimized input and output FWTPET + FSP process parameters. The input process parameters include CNT, Si3N4, rotational tool speed, and depth. Furthermore, the tensile strength of the welded joint was considered as the output process parameter. The process parameters predicted by PSO and FFA were compared with the experimental values. It was witnessed that deviation between the predicted and experimental values was minimal. Moreover, it was found that FFA provided a superior tensile strength prediction than PSO.

Friction Stir Welding/Processing of Mg-Based Alloys: A Critical Review on Advancements and Challenges

“…In this way, they concluded that the AZ31-fly ash composite possesses higher wear resistance as compared to AZ31 alloy [150]. It is evident that FSW and FSP techniques could have beneficial impacts on the mechanical behavior of Mg and other metallic alloys [133,[151][152][153][154][155][156][157][158][159][160][161][162][163][164][165][166][167]. Hence, the mechanical properties of some types of magnesium-based alloys before and after FSP are listed in Table 7.…”