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Defence Technology 11 (2015) 174e184
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Effect of tool pin profile on microstructure and tensile properties of friction

stir welded dissimilar AA 6061eAA 5086 aluminium alloy joints
M. ILANGOVAN a,*, S. RAJENDRA BOOPATHY a, V. BALASUBRAMANIAN b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai 600025, India
b
Center for Materials Joining & Research (CEMAJOR), Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar 608002, India
Received 24 August 2014; revised 6 December 2014; accepted 20 January 2015
Available online 9 April 2015

Abstract

Joints between two different grades of aluminium alloys are need of the hour in many light weight military structures. In this investigation, an
attempt has been made to join the heat treatable (AA 6061) and non-heat treatable (AA 5086) aluminium alloys by friction stir welding (FSW)
process using three different tool pin profiles like straight cylindrical, taper cylindrical and threaded cylindrical. The microstructures of various
regions were observed and analyzed by means of optical and scanning electron microscope. The tensile properties and microhardness were
evaluated for the welded joint. From this investigation it is founded that the use of threaded pin profile of tool contributes to better flow of
materials between two alloys and the generation of defect free stir zone. It also resulted in higher hardness values of 83 HV in the stir zone and
higher tensile strength of 169 MPa compared to other two profiles. The increase in hardness is attributed to the formation of fine grains and
intermetallics in the stir zone, and in addition, the reduced size of weaker regions, such as TMAZ and HAZ regions, results in higher tensile
properties.
Copyright © 2015, China Ordnance Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Friction stir welding; Dissimilar joint; Aluminium alloy; Tool pin profile; Microstructure; Tensile strength

1. Introduction
AA 5086 is a strain hardenable aluminium alloy and
AA 6061 is an age hardenable aluminium alloy, but both al-
loys exhibit higher strength to weight ratio, good ductility, and
good corrosion resistance [1e3]. The dissimilar joining of
these two materials leads to the combined properties of both
materials, which makes this combination very much required
in military applications such as light combat aircraft (LCA),
light combat vehicle (LCV), future main battle tank (FMBT),
bridge layer tank (BLT), armoured ambulance, submarine
torpedo, etc. Aluminium materials can generally welded using
* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ91 44 22357744.
E-mail addresses: ilaango@gmail.com (M. ILANGOVAN), boopathy@
annauniv.edu (S. RAJENDRA BOOPATHY), visvabalu@yahoo.com (V.
BALASUBRAMANIAN).
Peer review under responsibility of China Ordnance Society.
fusion welded process like gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW)
and gas metal arc welding process (GMAW). However, fusion
welding of dissimilar materials is a greater challenge due to
the differences in chemical composition, melting point, coef-
ficient of thermal expansion and other mechanical properties
[4]. In addition, the problems related to solidification such as
porosity, hot cracking, etc., deteriorate the quality of weld
joint. The formation of coarse grains and large intermetallic
compounds in the weld region results in poor mechanical
properties. The formation of thick tenacious ceramic oxide
layer on the surface restricts the welding arc to weld the
aluminium alloys. This oxide layer restricts many fusion
welding processes to weld the aluminium alloys.
Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid state welding process
invented to weld the aluminium alloys [5,6]. FSW allows the
materials to be welded well below the melting temperature of
the materials. Thus the formation of brittle solidified products
can be reduced and the grain boundary cracking due to

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dt.2015.01.004
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 M. ILANGOVAN et al. / Defence Technology 11 (2015) 174e184
Table 1
Chemical composition (wt %) of aluminium alloys used in this investigation.
Alloys Mg Mn Cu Cr Si Fe Al
AA 6061-T6 1.20 0.15 0.20 0.04 0.6 0.75 Balance
AA 5086 4.12 0.45 0.03 0.10 0.24 0.34 Balance
liquation can be eliminated. Many metallurgical reactions
between the dissimilar materials at the elevated temperature
can be avoided. Thus FSW is a prospective welding process
which can also join the dissimilar materials having in-
compatibilities [7]. The formation of defect free friction stir
processed or weld region is mainly based upon the material
flow behaviours. The dynamic recrystallization in the dis-
similar weld region is characterized by the mixing or complex
intercalation of the dynamically recrystallized fine grains [8].
In FSW, the heat generation is due to the rubbing of tool on
work piece and the plastic deformation of the material. Tool
pin profile has a remarkable effect on the rubbing and the
foremost effect on the plastic deformation. The ratio of swept
volume to pin volume decides the material flow [9]. The
material has to swirl according to tool rotational speed and has
to move with respect to tool travel speed in order to get defect
free weld zone. Thomas et al. developed many pin profiles like
Whorl, MX Triflute, A-skew, etc., for the special purpose [10].
Each pin profile has its own material flow characteristic like
good orbital forging, higher mixing of materials, reduction of
TMAZ, HAZ regions, etc. Lot of research works [11e15] had
been carried out throughout the world to understand the effect
of tool pin profile on microstructure and mechanical proper-
ties. Most of the literatures are focused on similar joints like
Al alloy to Al alloy, Mg alloy to Mg alloy. Few investigations
have been carried out on dissimilar joints. Very few in-
vestigations have been carried out on microstructural charac-
terization and mechanical properties of friction stir welded
heat treatable (AA 6061) alloy and non-heat treatable
(AA 5086) alloy. However, the published information on the
effect of tool pin profile on the above-mentioned combination
of dissimilar aluminium alloy joints is very scanty.
2. Experimental procedure
Rolled plates of AA 5086-O and AA 6061-T6 aluminium
alloys were used in the present investigation. AA 5086-O Al
alloy was placed in the retreating side and AA 6061-T6 Al
plate was placed in the advancing side because AA 6061 has
higher flow strength than AA 5086 aluminium alloy. Due to
high frictional force and high material excavation force created
in the advancing side, the hard AA 6061 aluminium alloy was
placed in the advancing side. 150 mm  150 mm  6 mm
Table 2
Mechanical properties of aluminium alloys used in this investigation.
Alloy 0.2% Yield strength/MPa Ultimate tensile strength/MPa
AA 6061-T6 260 300
AA 5086-O 212 250
175
Table 3
Welding condition and process parameters.
Parameters AA 6061 with AA 5086 (dissimilar joint)
Tool rotational speed/rpm 1100
Tool traverse speed/(mm$min1) 22
Axial force/kN 12
Tool shoulder diameter/mm 18
Tool pin length/mm 5.7
Tool inclination/( ) 1
Tool material High speed steel
joint configuration was used for the fabrication of FSW joints.
Chemical compositions and mechanical properties of the
parent materials were evaluated and presented in Tables 1 and
2, respectively. Many trial experiments were conducted by
varying tool rotational speed (600e1200 rpm) and welding
speed (10e40 mm/min) from the trail experiments. It was
found that the surface defect free joints were fabricated at the
tool rotational speed of 1100 rpm and the welding speed of
22 mm/min, irrespective of tool pin profile. Hence these pa-
rameters were kept constant for making the dissimilar joints
using different pin profiles. The welding conditions and pro-
cess parameters used to fabricate the joints are given in Table
3. Three pin profiles, namely, straight cylindrical (STC),
threaded cylindrical (THC) and tapered cylindrical (TAC),
were used to fabricate the joints (Fig. 1). The tensile samples
were extracted along the transverse direction and prepared as
per ASTM E8M guidelines (Fig. 2(a)). Tensile test was carried
out in 100 kN electro-mechanical controlled universal testing
machine (Make: FIE, India; Model: UNITECH 94001). Three
samples were prepared from each joint and the average value
was taken for analysis. The 0.2% offset yield strength, ultimate
tensile strength, percentage of elongation and joint efficiency
were evaluated from un-notched tensile sample. Notch tensile
strength and notch strength ratio were evaluated from notched
tensile sample. The fractured surfaces of tensile test samples
were analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM). A
Vickers microhardness tester (SHIMADZU, Japan; model
HMV-2T) was employed for measuring the hardness across the
transverse section of the joint with load of 50 g and dwell time
of 15 s.
Microstructural examination was carried out using an op-
tical microscope (MEJI, Japan; model MIL-7100) incorpo-
rating image analyzing software (Metal Vision). The samples
for metallographic examination were polished using various
grades of emery sheets. Final polishing was done using
alumina powder in the disc polishing machine. The samples
were etched with standard Keller's reagent as per the ASTM
standard E407. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was
employed to analyze the microstructure and fracture surfaces
Elongation in 50 mm gauge length/% Average hardness @ 50 N/Hv
19 110
21 75
176 M. ILANGOVAN et al. / Defence Technology 11 (2015) 174e184

Fig. 1. Photograph of tools with different pin profiles.

of tensile samples at higher magnification. The features in the

weld region were characterized using transmission electron
microscope (TEM) (Make: PHILIPS, 120; Model: CM20).

3. Results

3.1. Tensile properties

Three un-notched tensile samples were extracted from each

joint. These samples were tested using universal testing ma-
chine (UTM) as per the ASTME 8-04 guidelines. The average
of three readings is presented in Table 4. Since the population
size is very small, the standard deviation was not calculated.
However all three readings are within ±5% variation. The
results show that the tensile properties of the welded joints are
significantly varied with regard to different pin profiles. A
higher tensile strength of 169 MPa was attained in the joint
made by THC pin profiled tool. A lower tensile strength of
Fig. 2. Dimensions of tensile specimen and photograph of the tensile test
126 MPa was attained in the joint made by STC pin profiled
specimen.
tool, which is 51.54% lower than that of unwelded AA 6061
alloy and 40.57% lower than that of unwelded AA 5086 alloy.
TAC pin profile results in the tensile strength of 163 MPa strength. Higher notch tensile strength of 178 MPa was
which is 35% and 20.29% lower than those of the parent observed in the joint fabricated by threaded cylindrical pro-
material AA 6061 and AA 5086, respectively. The percentage filed pin tool, and lower notch tensile strength of 130 MPa was
of elongation of welded joints was lower than that of the observed in the joint fabricated by straight cylindrical pin tool.
parent materials. The three different pin profiles show rela- The notch strength ratio is greater than 1 which represents that
tively the same percentage of elongation. The effect of notch the failure mode is notch ductile. Fig. 2(a) shows the di-
on the tensile behaviour of weld joints was evaluated. It was mensions of tensile specimens. Fig. 2(b) shows the photograph
found that the tensile strength is higher than the smooth tensile of the tensile test specimen before test and Fig. 2(c) shows the
 M. ILANGOVAN et al. / Defence Technology 11 (2015) 174e184 177

Table 4
Transverse tensile properties of FSW joints.
a b
Tool pin profile 0.2% Yield Tensile Elongation in 50 mm Notch tensile Notch strength Joint
strength/MPa strength/MPa gauge length% strength/MPa ratio/NSR efficiency/%
c
STC 112 126 11 130 1.03 50.4
d
THC 151 169 10 178 1.05 67.6
e
TAC 146 163 13.3 173 1.06 65.2
a
NSR ¼ Tensile strength of notched specimen/Tensile strength of unnotched specimen.
b
Joint Efficiency ¼ Tensile strength of the joint (unnotched)/Tensile strength of the lower strength base metal (AA 5086).
c
STC: joint made by straight cylindrical pin profiled tool.
d
THC: joint made by threaded cylindrical pin profiled tool.
e
TAC: joint made by plain taper cylindrical pin profiled tool.

failure location of the tensile tested samples. The fractures
were observed in the stir zone for the straight cylindrical pin
profile and the advancing side-TMAZ region for threaded
cylindrical and plain taper cylindrical pin profiles.
3.2. Macrostructure
THC profiles exhibit a blunt complex flow of materials. Unlike
two pin profiles above, the limited traces of AA 5086 were
presented in the mid thickness region, and the sharp trans-
formation of material flow was observed in the TAC pin
profile. Relatively lower size of onion ring was observed in the
pin influenced region of TAC pin profile.

Fig. 3 shows the macrostructures for three different pin
profiles. The top surface of the weld region shows defect free
equally spaced material consolidated ripples. The clear in-
terfaces of various regions like unaffected parent metal zone,
heat affected zone, thermo-mechanical heat affected zone and
stir zone were clearly visible. Onion ring formation was found
in the pin influenced regions of all the pin profiles. The
macrostructure of STC pin profile shows defect in the mid
thickness region at the advancing side. A large amount of
single mass extruded material of AA 5086 was observed in the
mid thickness region. Equal amount of AA 6061 and AA 5086
was alternately stacked to form the onion rings in the pin
influenced region. Macrostructure of THC pin profile shows
lower amount of segregated mass of AA 5086 in the mid
thickness region. As like macrostructure of STC pin profile,
the formation of onion ring was not observed in the pin
influenced region. In the mid thickness region, both STC and
3.3. Microstructure
The flow patterns, grain size and its orientation in various
regions of STC pin profile were analyzed using optical mi-
croscope and shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 4(a) shows the shoulder
influenced region near to the advancing side, in which the
grains were finer and oriented towards pin influenced region.
Fig. 4(b) shows the microstructure of shoulder influenced re-
gion at the centre of the stir zone. Dynamically recrystallized
equiaxed grains were observed. Fig. 4(c) shows the micro-
structure of interface in the shoulder influenced region near to
the retreating side. The grains were heavily deformed in the
TMAZ region next to the stir region. Fig. 4(d) shows the
microstructure of mid thickness interface in the stir zone. With
the increase of distance from stir zone to HAZ, the grain sizes
were increased in the TMAZ region. Region e shows that the
grains are orbitally bended in the nugget region. Fig. 4(f) and

Fig. 3. Macrograph.
178 M. ILANGOVAN et al. / Defence Technology 11 (2015) 174e184

Fig. 4. Microstructure of STC joint.

(h) shows the lamellar flow of dissimilar materials in the pin relatively smaller than those in the shoulder influenced region.
influenced region. The thicknesses of two materials in the Fig. 5(a) shows the interface microstructure of the advancing
lamellar structure are almost equal. Fig. 4(g) shows the side shoulder influenced region in which AA 5086 majorly
microstructure of pin influenced region. The grain sizes are contributes to this region. Fig. 5(b) shows the centre of the

Fig. 5. Microstructure of THC joints.

 M. ILANGOVAN et al. / Defence Technology 11 (2015) 174e184 179

Fig. 6. Microstructure of TAC joints.

shoulder influenced region in which both the dissimilar ma-
terials contribute to the region. Fig. 5(d) and (f) shows the
interface microstructures of advancing side mid thickness re-
gion and pin influenced region. The upward flow of TMAZ
materials was observed from both the microstructures. Region
e shows the mid thickness region in which the regular material
patterns at the periphery of the onion rings were altered. The
inherent nature of shoulder influenced region, downward flow
of material, was not significant in the shoulder influenced
region (Fig. 6(a)e(c)). In the mid thickness region, the com-
plex intercalation pattern was observed at the advancing side
(Fig. 6(d)). In the mid thickness region at the retreating side,
the material flow is regular but complexly oriented. Fig. 6(f)
and (g) shows the interface microstructures, and Fig. 6(g)
shows the material flow of onion ring in the pin influenced
region. The material is deformed upward towards the stir zone.
Fig. 7 shows the TEM images of stir zone and TMAZ re-
gion of THC and TAC pin profiles. For THC pin profile, the

Fig. 7. TEM image.

180 M. ILANGOVAN et al. / Defence Technology 11 (2015) 174e184
stir zone of AA 6061 results in q precipitates with 500 nm in
diameter and 100 nm in thickness and the TMAZ region shows
precipitate free zone along with few dislocations. Stir zone of
AA 5086 shows dislocation cell structure throughout the ma-
trix. For TAC pin profile, the stir zone of AA 6061 results in q
precipitates with 500 nm in diameter and 100 nm in thickness,
and the TMAZ region results in a precipitate free zone along
with coarse q precipitates. The stir zone of AA 5086 shows a
dense dislocation cell structure throughout the matrix.
3.4. Microhardness
Fig. 8 shows the microhardness plot of both pin profiles at
the central line along the transverse direction. The hardness
variation of each region was plotted with respect to the
macrostructure. The graph shows the decreasing trend of
hardness from AA 6061 PM to HAZ. The Hardness is further
decreased in AS-TMAZ region. The AS-TMAZ was identified
as the softest region in the microhardness plot for both pin
profiles. The microhardness values in the stir zone result in
higher hardness values than those in HAZ and TMAZ regions.
Nonetheless, the fluctuation of hardness values was observed
in the stir zone. In the retreating side, no such variation in
hardness was observed at the advancing side. The threaded
cylindrical pin profile shows higher hardness than the plain
taper cylindrical pin profile in the stir zone.
3.5. Fractographs
Figs. 9 and 10 show the fractographs of smooth and
notched tensile test samples. The Straight cylindrical fine
dimples with few featureless flat surfaces are shown in
Fig. 9(a). The threaded cylindrical pin profile shows the fine
Fig. 8. Microhardness.
populated dimples oriented towards the loading direction
(Fig. 9(b)). The plain taper pin profile shows the fine populated
dimples but is larger in size than the threaded pin profile
(Fig. 9(c)). Fig. 10(a) and (b) shows the fractographs of
notched tensile samples of straight and threaded cylindrical
pin profiles. It shows large sized dimples along with flat
featureless fracture surfaces. The plain taper cylindrical pin
profile shows the fine dimples along with the cracks on the
fracture surface.
4. Discussion
4.1. Effect of pin profile on tensile properties
The tensile strength of dissimilar welded joints mainly
depends on the existence of the defect in the stir zone, me-
chanical interlocking of material, coarsening of grains in the
non-heat-treatable alloy, size, shape, strain hardening in the
stir zone and distribution of precipitates. The lower tensile
strength of straight cylindrical pin profile is attributed to the
presence of defect in the stir zone. During loading, the tunnel
defects at the advancing side act as the failure initiation site.
The higher tensile strength was observed for threaded pin
profile. From Fig. 10, it was identified that the fracture was
located in TMAZ region at the advancing side. For the heat
treatable aluminium alloy, the strengthening is mainly due to
the presence of precipitates rather than the grain size [16,17].
AA 6061 was strengthened by the presence of Mg2Si pre-
cipitates. Generally during FSW, the temperature generated in
the stir zone is high enough to solidify the region. For the
threaded cylindrical pin, the precipitate is partially dissolved
in the stir zone. In addition, few q0 precipitates is transformed
to stable q precipitates, and few coarser q0 precipitates are
present in the stir zone. The precipitates are covered by the
dislocations which hinder the dislocation motion during tensile
loading [18]. This is the reason why the AA 6061 material in
the stir zone is strengthened. Since AA 5086 is a non-heat-
treatable Al alloy which is strengthened by the strain hard-
ening in the stir zone. The severe plastic deformation due to
intense stir of threaded pin profile results in higher strain en-
ergy relative to the taper pin profile, and AA 5086 also has
dense dislocation in the stir zone [19]. Due to dynamic
recrystallization in the stir region, the fine recrystallized equi-
axed grains are presented in the stir zone. The availability of
the precipitates plays a vital role rather than magnitude of
strain hardening and grain boundary. Since the thermal cycle
prevails, the dissolution of precipitates was observed in the
AS-TMAZ region. Thus the AS-TMAZ region is identified as
the softer region among the various regions of FSW joint.
During tensile loading the strain localization occurred in the
AS-TMAZ region leading to the failure of AS-TMAZ region.
The mixing of dissimilar materials is facilitated more easily by
the threaded pin profile than the plain taper pin profile. Since
meshing of dissimilar materials increases, the mechanical
interlocking between the materials increases. During the ten-
sile loading, the mechanical interlocking acts as self-balancing
for limiting deformation of dissimilar materials [20]. This is
 M. ILANGOVAN et al. / Defence Technology 11 (2015) 174e184
Fig. 9. Fractographs of smooth (un-notched) tensile specimens.
the reason why the strength of threaded cylindrical pin profile
is higher. The ductility's of the three pin profiles are lower than
those of the base materials. The ductility of the weld region is
greatly reduced up to 50%. The reduced ductility of the pre-
cipitation hardenable alloy joints was attributed to strain
localization within the lower strength weld region.
4.2. Effect of pin profile on macro and microstructure
All three pin profiles yielded the surface defect free joints
with tool rotational speed of 1100 rpm and welding speed of
22 mm/min. Under these welding conditions, the heat gener-
ation is almost the same for the three tool pin profile. It is well
known that 2/3 of heat generation is caused by mechanical
friction between tool shoulder and plate to be joined and 1/3 of
heat generation is caused by pin profile by means of defor-
mation included heat generation. Under this condition, the
straight cylindrical pin yielded a defective joint, but the
tapered and threaded cylindrical pins yielded the defect free
181
joints. This may be due to improper flow of plasticized ma-
terial around the tool pin during stirring. This suggests that the
deformation included heat generation (by the pin) is margin-
ally insufficient compared to other pin profiles. From this
investigation, it is found that the straight cylindrical pin is not
preferable to weld the dissimilar grades of aluminium alloys,
especially AA 6061 with AA 5086. In friction stir welding, the
joining of the materials at the weld interface is achieved by the
frictional heat generated between the tool and the work piece
and the material flow. Tool shoulder generates 80% of total
heat generation of FSW and the pin influence up to 20% of
heat generation. In addition, the pin profile has greater effect
on the material flow behaviour. Many researchers concluded
that the heat input decides the formation and location of defect
in the stir zone [21,22]. In spite of the same heat input range,
the different pin profiles alter the material flow, defect for-
mation and its location. From the aspect of heating, the pro-
cess parameters, the ratio of shoulder diameter to pin diameter
(D/d ratio), and the ratio of shoulder diameter to plate
182 M. ILANGOVAN et al. / Defence Technology 11 (2015) 174e184
Fig. 10. Fractographs of notched tensile specimens.
thickness (D/T ratio) are significant, but the stirring and flow
direction of material are greatly influenced by the geometry of
tool pin profile [23e26]. The plasticized material below the
shoulder must be adequately stirred and mixed with the ma-
terial and makes it flow around the pin. The forward motion of
the tool extrudes the stirred material from the front to the back
of the pin. Straight cylindrical pin profile results in tunnel
defects in the advancing side (Fig. 3(a)). During FSW, the
material is excavated from advancing side to retreating side at
the front of the tool and at the rear of the tool, and flows from
retreating side to advancing side to fill a vacancy created
during excavation [27]. This is the reason for the defect for-
mation at the advancing side since the straight cylindrical pin
does not directs the material in such a way to fill the vacancy
created during excavation. The stir zone shows three distinct
regions along the thickness direction, namely unmixed region
(UMR), mechanically mixed region (MMR) and stirring-
induced plastic flow region (SPFR) [28]. Straight cylindrical
pin profile does not result in SPFR region. This was attributed
to that the intense stirring of dissimilar materials was not
created by the straight cylindrical pin profile. The featureless
plain surface of pin profile results in lesser grasp of material
which promotes sliding of materials around the pin. The
microstructure of threaded pin profile shows all the three re-
gions, namely UMR, MMR, and SPFR (Fig. 5). The defect
free joining of dissimilar materials can be achieved using
threaded pin profile. The surface area of threaded pin profile is
larger than those of the other two pin profiles. Thus the
interfacial area subject to contacting with the material is
larger, which increases the frictional heat around the pin in
turn. This creates local softening of materials and enables to
improve the flow around the pin. During plunging of the pin
the materials get extruded vertically. The shoulder prevents the
materials from escaping. Further this material is transported
orbitally downwards following the threads. Thus the helical
flow path of threaded pin profile supports the vertical flow,
rotational flow and translation motion of materials. This is the
reason that the defect free stir zone is formed using threaded
pin profile. The microstructure of plain taper pin profile
(Fig. 6) shows three distinct regions, namely UMR, MMR, and
 M. ILANGOVAN et al. / Defence Technology 11 (2015) 174e184
SPFR, as like as threaded pin profile. Since the material flow is
driven mainly by the pin and no shoulder profile is available,
the dissimilar materials cannot be mixed in the shoulder
influenced region (UMR), but rather are extruded. Due to the
axial force the material flows downwards and gets spread to-
wards the mid thickness region. The pin volume of plain taper
pin is smaller than that of the tool with plain and threaded
cylindrical pins. The pin inclination provides a larger swept
volume, which in turns allows the material to flow around the
pin. The stir zone composed of an unmixed region in the
shoulder influenced region, a rigid disc rotation flow zone as
approached to the mid thickness region and a radially regular
vortex onion ring flow zone (Fig. 5(c)). The onion ring formed
in the pin influenced region of threaded cylindrical and plain
taper pin profiles can be characterized as extrusion of one
layer of semi-cylinder in one rotation of the pin, and a cross-
sectional slice through such a set of semi-cylinder results in
the onion ring like arrangement of materials [29,30]. Since
AA 6061 and AA 5086 have relatively same yield strength, the
pin intensely deformed both the materials equally and orbitally
stacked in the weld nugget region. In the mid thickness region,
the complex intercalated meshing of dissimilar materials are
observed for the plain taper pin profile. The pin influenced
region has sole effect of the pin but in the mid thickness region
the material flow due to shoulder gets altered by the pin effect.
This creates a turbulent flow of materials in the transformation
zone. The intercalated microstructure can be characterized as
the swirls and vortexes of dynamically recrystallized (DRX)
flow of dissimilar material. The intercalated zone (Fig. 5(h))
composed of differently deformed grains and different
elemental compositions. Thus it is appear to be distinct fluid
patterns as like complex flow in gas and liquid turbulent
mixing. Since the threads in the threaded pin profile regulate
the material flow, the intercalated material flow is not observed
for the threaded pin profile.
4.3. Effect of pin profile on microhardness
The complex intercalated microstructure and the orbitally
stacking of dissimilar materials in the stir zone results in the
fluctuation of hardness values in the stir zones of both pin
profiles. The fluctuation of hardness values in the stir zone of
dissimilar materials was also reported earlier [31]. In the
retreating side the hardness values get increased towards the
stir zone from the TMAZ region (Fig. 8). This was attributed
to strain hardening of non-heat treatable AA 5086 aluminium
alloy in the stir zone. In addition to the increased grain
boundaries due to dynamic recrystallization the hardness
values is higher in the stir zone. The hardness values get
deeply decreased at the advancing side of TMAZ region. Since
AA 6061 aluminium alloy is a heat treatable aluminium alloy,
its mechanical properties are highly influenced by the thermal
conditions. Since the heating and cooling cycles prevail during
welding, the precipitates are dissolved in the AS-TMAZ re-
gion. Thus this softened region results in poor hardness values.
Such the softening of weldment in neighbouring region did not
occur during FSW for the non-heat treatable aluminium alloys.
183
Thus not much hardness variations are observed at the
retreating side.
5. Conclusions
The effects of tool pin profile on microstructure and tensile
properties of friction stir welded dissimilar AA 6061-
AA 5086 aluminium alloy joints were investigated and the
following conclusions are derived.
1) Of the three tool pin profile used, the straight cylindrical
pin profile tool yielded cross-sectional macro level defects
in the stir zone and hence is not available for AA 6061 and
AA 5086 dissimilar joints.
2) Threaded and tapered cylindrical pin profile tools yielded
defect free joints (both surface and cross-sectional). The
tensile properties of these joints are more or less similar
(±5% variation). However, the threaded cylindrical pin
profile tool is preferred over the tapered cylindrical pin
profile tool due to the superior performance of the joints.
3) Formation of finer and uniformly distributed precipitates,
circular onion rings and smaller grain are the reasons for
superior performance of joints fabricated by threaded pin
profiled tool compared to tapered pin profiled tool.
Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support extended
by the Centre for Materials Joining & Research (CEMAJOR),
Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Annamalai Uni-
versity, Annamalai Nagar, India to carry out this research.
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