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Microstructure and Mechanical Performance of Friction Stir Spot-Welded Aluminum-5754 Sheets

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Abstract

Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) is a recent trend of joining light-weight sheet metals while fabricating automotive and aerospace body components. For the successful application of this solid-state welding process, it is imperative to have a thorough understanding of the weld microstructure, mechanical performance, and failure mechanism. In the present study, FSSW of aluminum-5754 sheet metal was tried using tools with circular and tapered pin considering different tool rotational speeds, plunge depths, and dwell times. The effects of tool design and process parameters on temperature distribution near the sheet-tool interface, weld microstructure, weld strength, and failure modes were studied. It was found that the peak temperature was higher while welding with a tool having circular pin compared to tapered pin, leading to a bigger dynamic recrystallized stir zone (SZ) with a hook tip bending towards the upper sheet and away from the keyhole. Hence, higher lap shear separation load was observed in the welds made from circular pin compared to those made from tapered pin. Due to influence of size and hardness of SZ on crack propagation, three different failure modes of weld nugget were observed through optical cross-sectional micrograph and SEM fractographs.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Prof. Y. Norman Zhou of University of Waterloo, Canada in getting the sheet metals. The authors are thankful to Prof. N. R. Mandal of Department of Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture, IIT Kharagpur for extending the milling machine facility to carry out this research work. The authors are also thankful to Mr. Debayan Saha for his help in preparing metallographic samples.

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  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302, West Bengal, India

    N. Pathak, K. Bandyopadhyay, M. Sarangi & Sushanta Kumar Panda

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  1. N. Pathak
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Correspondence to Sushanta Kumar Panda.

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Pathak, N., Bandyopadhyay, K., Sarangi, M. et al. Microstructure and Mechanical Performance of Friction Stir Spot-Welded Aluminum-5754 Sheets. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 22, 131–144 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-012-0244-x

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