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An experimental study on lap joining of multiple sheets of aluminium alloy (AA 5754) using friction stir spot welding

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Abstract

Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) process is widely used in the automotive industry for a range of applications such as battery components, standard wire connectors and terminals. This manuscript addresses two grand challenges in the arena of FSSW, hitherto, unaddressed in the extant literature: (i) lap joining of thin sheets (0.3 mm thickness) of AA 5754 alloy and (ii) lap joining of more than two sheets using FSSW. To accomplish this task, a novel pinless convex-shaped tool was designed to alter the stress state while gradually advancing the tool which led to achieving stress state necessary for obtaining defect-free lap joints. The weld joints were inspected by optical microscopy, SEM imaging and analysed by nanoindentation tests and Vickers microindentation tests for assessment of the quality of the weld interface (WI). Process parameters of FSSW such as torque on the tool and axially applied load were used to analytically obtain the average local measure of peak normal and axial stresses as well as the coefficient of friction in the contact zone. In samples welded at low rotational speeds, the strain-hardening mechanism was seen dominating in contrast to samples welded at higher rotational speeds, which showed thermal softening. As a direct consequence of this, the samples welded at low rotational speeds showed much higher hardness at the weld surface than the samples welded at higher speeds. A strong transition of strain hardening to thermal softening was noticeable beyond an applied strain rate of 400 s−1.

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Abbreviations

CDRX:

Continuous dynamic recrystallisation

CoF:

Coefficient of friction

CFSW:

Conventional friction stir welding

CFSSW:

Conventional friction stir spot welding

DS-FSW:

Double-side friction stir welding

EDS:

Energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis

FE-SEM:

Field emission scanning electron microscope

FFSSW:

Flat friction stir spot welding

FSC:

Friction stir channelling

FSP:

Friction stir processing

FSR:

Friction stir riveting

FSS:

Friction stir surfacing

FSBR:

Friction stir blind riveting

FSCl:

Friction surface cladding

FSIF:

Friction stir incremental forming HD

FSSVW:

Friction stir spot vibration welding

FSSW :

Friction stir spot welding

FSW:

Friction stir welding

HAZ:

Heat affected zone

HD:

Hook defects

HFSC:

Hybrid friction stir channelling

IL-FSSW:

Intermediate layer friction stir spot welding

In-situ SPM:

In-situ scanning probe microscopy

MFSC:

Modified friction stir channelling

RFSSW:

Refill friction stir spot welding

RPM :

Revolutions per minute

RSW:

Resistance spot welding

PFSSW:

Protrusion friction stir spot welding

PLC:

Portevin-Le Chatelier effect

PLT-FSSW :

Friction stir spot welding with pinless tool

SADP:

Selected area diffraction pattern

SEM:

Scanning electron microscope

SFSSW:

Swing friction stir spot welding

SFSW:

Submerged friction stir welding

SPM:

Scanning probe microscopy

SR-FSW:

Self-reacting (bobbin) stir welding

SZ:

Stir zone

TMAZ:

Thermomechanical affected zone

TWI :

The welding institute

USW:

Ultrasonic spot welding

WFSSW:

Walking friction stir spot welding

WI:

Welded interface

μFSW:

Micro friction stir welding

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Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to the DAAD program for the financial support to perform the work. Specific thanks to our collaborators Dr. Vishal Panchal and Dr. Stephen Lewandowski from Bruker, UK as well as the support of the Henry Royce Institute for Ms. Danka Labus Zlatanovic through the Royce PhD Equipment Access Scheme (Dr David Stanley) enabling access to TEM facilities at Royce@Cambridge via UKRI Grant EP/R00661X/1. We also express thanks to the STSM support from Cost Action CA15102 (funded by H2020).

Funding

SG received research support provided by the UKRI (Grants No.: EP/K503241/1, EP/L016567/1, EP/S013652/1, EP/T001100/1, EP/S036180/1 and EP/T024607/1), H2020 (Cost Actions (CA18125, CA18224 and CA16235) and EURAMET EMPIR A185 (2018)), Royal Academy of Engineering Grant No. IAPP18-19\295 (Indo-UK partnership), Royal Academy of Engineering Grant No. TSP1332 (South Africa-UK partnership) and Newton Fellowship award from the Royal Society (NIF\R1\191571). Also, computation calculation work performed on the Isambard Bristol, UK supercomputing service was accessed by Resource Allocation Panel (RAP) grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Production Engineering, Faculty of Technical Science, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia

    Danka Labus Zlatanovic, Sebastian Balos & Leposava Sidjanin

  2. Department of Production Technology, Ilmenau University of Technology, Ilmenau, Germany

    Jean Pierre Bergmann, Tobias Köhler & Michael Grätzel

  3. School of Engineering, London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, London, SE1 0AA, UK

    Saurav Goel

  4. School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield University, Bedford, MK43 0AL, UK

    Saurav Goel

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  1. Danka Labus Zlatanovic
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Correspondence to Danka Labus Zlatanovic or Saurav Goel.

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Labus Zlatanovic, D., Balos, S., Bergmann, J.P. et al. An experimental study on lap joining of multiple sheets of aluminium alloy (AA 5754) using friction stir spot welding. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 107, 3093–3107 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-020-05214-z

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