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Improving local formability of 6xxx and 7xxx aluminum alloy sheets using friction stir processing

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Abstract

Friction stir processing (FSP) was performed on four different high-strength commercial aluminum sheets to improve local formability. FSP sheets were bend tested over a safe-to-fracture range by incrementally decreasing the bend radii to find the radius-to-thickness ratio (r/t) at fracture. The processed region showed a formability improvement of 20% in 7075, 37% in 7055, 41% in 7085, and 71% in 6111 compared to the base age-hardened conditions. Local formability improvement is retained even after 2 weeks of natural aging for processed 6111 and 7055 as evidenced elongation-to-fracture values from mini tensile testing. The top and bottom surfaces of the processed sheet were bend tested in tension and compression, and the results showed that specimens processed at higher spindle speeds results in higher formability on both sides. Finally, FSP was incorporated into a robotic platform to evaluate the feasibility of local FSP for commercial applications up to a processing speed of 5 m/min.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank E. Nickerson and A. Guzman for mechanical testing and sample preparation, respectively.

Funding

Funding for this project was provided by the US DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Vehicle Technologies Office, through the Light Metals Core Program (LMCP). The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is operated by the Battelle Memorial Institute for the Department of Energy (DOE) under contract DE-AC05-76RL01830.

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  1. Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd, Richland, WA, 99354, USA

    Wahaz Nasim, Hrishikesh Das, Piyush Upadhyay & Mert Efe

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  1. Wahaz Nasim
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  2. Hrishikesh Das
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  3. Piyush Upadhyay
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  4. Mert Efe
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All authors contributed to this paper. NW made the first draft, and all authors commented and contributed to the final version. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Piyush Upadhyay.

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Nasim, W., Das, H., Upadhyay, P. et al. Improving local formability of 6xxx and 7xxx aluminum alloy sheets using friction stir processing. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 124, 2957–2967 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-022-10569-6

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