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Friction Stir welding PPT

Presentation · October 2009

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4167.8489

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Experimental Investigation of Impact of
Process Parameters on Mechanical
Properties in Friction Stir Welding Al-Si
Alloy by Taguchi Methods

Dalgobind Mahto1, Harinder Grover2,

1Professor, 2Lecturer,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
GHEC, Solan (Himachal Pradesh), India
1Corresponding Author: Email:mahto123@rediffmail.com
 Abstract

 This paper presents a study of the influence of tool

rotational speed, welding speed, and pin diameter on
mechanical properties i.e. tensile strength, impact
strength and hardness of weld metal in friction stir
welding of Al-Si alloy.
 Mathematical models were developed from the data
generated using the 2 level full factorial technique.
Significance of the coefficients and adequacy of the
developed models has been checked using student’t’ test
and ‘F’ test respectively.
 Developed models have been found to be adequate up to
95% of level of significance. Furthermore, the influences
of welding parameters have been presented in graphical
form for better understanding.
 1. INTRODUCTION
 Friction stir welding, patented by The Welding Institute in
1991, presents a new technique for material joining and
processing. Friction stir welding has enjoyed worldwide
interest since its inception because of its advantages
over traditional joining techniques [1].
 This technology boasts reduction of distortion and
elimination of cracking due to the solid-state joining low
distortion in long welds, excellent mechanical properties
in the weld and heat-affected zone, no fumes or spatters,
low shrinkage, as well as being energy efficient, when
compared to conventional fusion welds.
 The weld zone from FSW has a fine worked or re-
crystallized grain structure, generated by stirring and
forging of the parent alloy [2]. Mechanical properties of
FSW joints are quite good and fatigue properties are
practically the same as the parent metal [3]. Generally,
tensile failures occur well away from the nugget [4].
 1. INTRODUCTION
 Friction stir welding, patented by The Welding Institute in 1991,
presents a new technique for material joining and processing. Friction
stir welding has enjoyed worldwide interest since its inception because
of its advantages over traditional joining techniques [1].
 This technology boasts reduction of distortion and elimination of
cracking due to the solid-state joining low distortion in long welds,
excellent mechanical properties in the weld and heat-affected zone, no
fumes or spatters, low shrinkage, as well as being energy efficient,
when compared to conventional fusion welds. The weld zone from
FSW has a fine worked or re-crystallized grain structure, generated by
stirring and forging of the parent alloy [2].
 Mechanical properties of FSW joints are quite good and fatigue
properties are practically the same as the parent metal [3]. Generally,
tensile failures occur well away from the nugget [4]. To date, the
application fields of FSW are marine (hulls, superstructures),
aerospace (fuselages, wings, fuel tanks), railway (high speed trains,
carriages), automotive (chassis, wheel rims, space frames, truck
bodies), motorcycle, electrical and refrigeration industries. FSW tool
and welding procedures are fully described elsewhere.
 1. INTRODUCTION
 It has been proved that the vertical milling machine can be
utilized for friction stir welding process [5]. To make a linear
weld in a butt joint configuration, the work pieces are
positioned on the backing plate with the edges in contact
[Fig. 1(a)]. To start the process, the rotating friction stir
welding tool is plunged into the weld joint [Fig. 1(b)] until the
shoulder of the tool makes contact
 with the top surfaces of the work pieces [Fig. 1(c)].
Frictional rubbing and visco-plastic dissipation cause the
heated material to soften and plastically flow. By the effect
of the heat and stress state generated by the tool, material
is forced to flow around it to be rejected into the space
behind, due to its continuous forward movement in the
joined plates [Fig. 1(d)].
Fig. 1 Schematic Working of Friction Stir Welding
1. INTRODUCTION
 Due to the combined effects of the tooling Friction stir
welding (FSW) is a promising welding process and is
being extensively studied because it can produce high-
quality joints of aluminum alloys [1].
 A great number of studies have focused on the effects
of the welding parameters on the FSW characteristics,
such as micro structural evolution in the joints [6,7],
thermal cycle histories during welding, residual stress
distributions in the joints and material flow behavior in
the welds [8].
 Only a small number of studies have been involved
with the effects of the process parameters on
mechanical properties i.e. tensile strength, impact
strength and hardness of weld metal.
 2. EXPERIMENTATION
 In this work, the process parameters tool rotational speed
(R), welding speed (S), and pin diameter (D) were taken for
study on mechanical properties i.e. tensile strength, impact
strength and hardness of weld metal. The 2 level Full
Factorial (2n) Method was adopted to design the
experimental work; the number of the experiments (8)
required to be carried out
 The Friction Stir Welding set up was prepared on
conventional Vertical Milling Machine installed in
Mechanical Workshop, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and
Technology, Bathinda (Punjab), India. Two FSW tools of
High Carbon High Chromium steel with 6mm and 8mm
diameter (as welding parameter) were prepared on Lathe
Machine.
 Firstly, some trials were performed to finalize the working
ranges of welding parameters and are given in Table 1.
 Table 1 Welding
Parameters Used

Parameters Upper Lower

Limit Limit
(+) (-)
Tool RPM (R)
1000 630
rpm
Welding Speed (S)
160 100
mm/min
Pin Diameter (D)
8 6
mm
2. EXPERIMENTATION
 Then eight sets of trials with three replications
were carried out as per the design matrix
[Table 2]. After, the samples for tests i.e.
tensile test, Charpy test, and micro hardness
were prepared as per ASTM standards.
 The data was used then to develop
mathematical models using Design and
Analysis of Experiments Method and were
checked by Student‘t’ and ‘F’ Test Distribution
Methods [9].
 Table 2 Design Matrix and their Limits

R S D
S. No.
1 + + +
2 - + +
3 + - +
4 - - +
5 + + -
6 - + -
7 + - -
8 - - -
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

 The final mathematical models for tensile

strength, impact strength, micro hardness
were developed, which are eqn. 1, eqn. 2 and
eqn. 3 respectively. These mathematical
relationship equations have been presented
below:
 T= 108.14 - 8.73R + 6.92S + 4.78RS +0.83RD- 1.42SD
 I= 6.58 - 0.32R + 0.40S + 0.15D - 0.24RS
 H= 52.5 -0.5R+1.3S+0.2D- 0.8RS
 It was concluded that the process parameters
rotational speed, welding speed do affect the
tensile strength of aluminum.
Effect of Tool Rotational Speed on…

 3.1.1 Tensile Strength

 From the mathematical model, it was
concluded that as the rpm increases, the
tensile strength decreases significantly, due
to the reason as at high rpm, high heat is
evolved, due to which the coarse micro
structure is produced, as a result the tensile
strength is decreased. The relationship
between toll rotational speed and tensile
strength has been given in Fig. 2.
Fig 2. Effect of Tool Rotational Speed on Tensile Strength
Effect of Tool Rotational Speed on…
 Also, a higher rotational speed causes excessive
release of stirred material to the upper surface, which
resultantly leaves the voids in the FSW zone. Due to
it, there is decrease in tensile strength of the material.
 When a force is applied to a metal, the layers of
atoms within the crystal structure move in relation to
adjacent layers of atoms. This process is referred to
as slip.
 Grain boundaries tend to prevent slip. The smaller
the grain size, larger will be the grain boundary area.
Decreasing the grain size of the metal tends to retard
slip and thus increases the strength of the metal.
Fig 3. Effect of Tool Rotational Speed on Impact Strength
3.1.2 Impact Strength and .1.3 Micro Hardness

 From the Fig.3 between impact strength and tool

rotational speed, it can be concluded that as the tool
rotational speed increases, the impact strength
decreases. It is due to because as tool rotational speed
increases, more heat is produced, thus lowering cooling
rate and resulting coarse structure. As the final
microstructure is coarse, so the impact strength
decreases.
 Relationship between Micro Hardness and rotational
speed is displayed on Fig 4. It can be concluded as
rotational speed increases, the micro hardness
decreases. It is due to the reason that as rotational
speed increases, high friction and high heat is produced.
It results in lower cooling rate. Due to which there is an
annealing effect, which in turn decreases the micro
hardness.
Fig 4. Effect of Tool Rotational Speed on Micro Hardness
 Effect of Welding Speed on…
3.2.1 Tensile Strength

 The relationship between welding speed and

tensile strength is shown in Fig. 5. It was
concluded that as the welding speed
increases, the tensile strength also increases.
 It is because by increasing the welding speed,
there is slow heat input. The slow heat input
give relatively high cooling rates, which
generates fine grained heat affected zones
and less brittlement. This results in increase
in tensile strength.
Fig 5. Effect of Welding Speed on Tensile Strength
3.2.2 Impact Strength
 Relationship between impact strength and
welding speed is displayed on Fig 6. It can be
concluded as welding speed increases, the
impact strength increases.
 It is due to the reason that as welding speed
increases, low heat is produced. It results in
high cooling rate.
 Due to which there is a fine grain structure
produced, which in turn increases the impact
strength.
Fig 6. Effect of Welding Speed on Impact Strength
3.2.3 Micro Hardness
 Relationship between micro hardness and
welding speed is displayed on Fig 7. It can be
concluded as welding speed increases, the
micro hardness increases.
 It is due to the reason that as welding speed
increases, cooling rate is faster.
 Due to which there is a quenching effect and
a fine grain structure is produced, which in
turn increases the micro hardness.
Fig 7. Effect of Welding Speed on Micro Hardness
3.3 Influence of Pin Diameter on…
3.3.1 Impact Strength

 Relationship between pin diameter and

impact strength is displayed on Fig 8. It can
be concluded as pin diameter increases, the
impact strength also increases.
 It is due to the reason that as pin diameter
increases, more area under recrystallization
comes.
 Due to which there is a fine grain structure
produced in more area, which in turn
increases the impact strength.
Fig 8. Effect of Pin Diameter on Impact Strength
3.3.2 Micro Hardness
 Relationship between micro hardness and pin
diameter is displayed on Fig. 9. It can be
concluded as pin diameter increases, the
micro hardness increases.
 It is due to the reason that as pin diameter
increases, more area under recrystallization
comes, and there is high cooling rate due to
area increase and a fine grain structure is
produced, which in turn increases the micro
hardness.
Fig 9. Effect of Pin Diameter on Micro Hardness
3.4 Interactive Effect of Tool Rotational Speed and
Welding Speed on…
3.4.1 Tensile Strength

 From the Fig. 10, it can be concluded, that by

keeping low rpm, and by increasing the welding
speed, there is no significant effect on tensile
strength, although it increases by little margin.
 But at high rpm, as we increase the welding speed,
there is a significant increase in tensile strength.
 Also by keeping low welding speed and by increasing
the rotational speed, there is sharp decrease in
tensile strength.
 At high welding speed, as we increase the rpm, there
is a little decrease on tensile strength.
Fig. 10 Interactive Effect of Tool Rotational Speed and

Welding Speed on Tensile Strength

 Table 3 Interactive Effect of Tool Rotational Speed and
Welding Speed on Tensile Strength

Tool
Welding Combined
S. No. Rotational
Speed Effect
Speed

Decreases Decreases Increases (A)

Decreases Increases Decreases (B)

Increases Increases Increases (C)

Increases Decreases Increases (D)

 From the Fig. 11, the interaction of both the
parameters can be determined. The
combined effects are tabulated in Table 3.
 Table 3 shows the Interactive Effect of
Tool Rotational Speed and Welding Speed
on Tensile Strength
 Also we can predict the tensile strength at
any combination of the two parameters
welding speed and rotational speed
Fig.11 Surface Plot for Interactive Effect of Tool Rotational
Speed and Welding Speed on Tensile Strength
3.4.2 Impact Strength

 From the Fig 12 and Fig.13 it can be

concluded, that by keeping low tool rotational
speed and by increasing the welding speed,
there is a significant increasing effect on
impact strength. Also at high rpm, and by
increasing the welding speed, there is little
increase in impact strength.
Fig. 12 Interactive Effect of Tool Rotational Speed and
Welding Speed on Impact Strength
Fig. 13 Surface Plot for Interactive Effect of Tool Rotational
Speed and Welding Speed on Impact Strength
 By keeping high welding speed and
by increasing the rotational speed,
there is a decreasing effect in impact
strength.
 At low welding speed, and by
increasing the rpm, there is little
decrease in impact strength.
 The combined effects are tabulated
in Table 4.
 Table 4 Interactive Effect of Welding Speed and
Tool Rotational Speed on Impact Strength

S. No. Welding Speed Tool Rotational Speed Combined Effect

Decreases Decreases Decreases (A)

Decreases Increases Decreases (B)

Increases Increases Increases (C)

Increases Decreases Increases (D)

3.4.3 Micro Hardness
 From the Fig. 14 and Fig.15, it can be
concluded, that by keeping low rpm, and by
increasing the welding speed, there is a
significant increase effect on micro hardness.
 Also at high rpm, and by increasing the
welding speed, there is little increase in micro
hardness.
Fig. 14 Interactive Effect of Tool Rotational Speed and Welding
Speed on Micro Hardness
Fig. 15 Surface Plot for Interactive Effect of Tool Rotational

Speed and Welding Speed on Micro Hardness

 By keeping high welding speed and by
increasing the rotational speed, there is no
effect in micro hardness.
 At low welding speed, and by increasing the
rpm, there is an increase on micro hardness.
 The combined effects are tabulated in Table
5.
 Table 5 Interactive Effect of Welding Speed and
Tool Rotational Speed on Micro Hardness

S. No. Welding Speed Tool Rotational Speed Combined Effect

Decreases Decreases Decreases (A)

Decreases Increases Decreases (B)

Increases Increases Increases (C)

Increases Decreases Increases (D)

3.5 Interactive Effect of Tool Rotational Speed and
Pin Diameter on Tensile Strength

 From the Fig. 16 and Fig.17, it can be

concluded, that by keeping low tool rotational
speed, and by increasing the pin diameter,
there is no significant effect on tensile
strength, although it decreases by little
margin.
 Also at high tool rotational speed, and by
increasing the pin diameter, there is little
increase in tensile strength.
Fig.16 Interactive Effect of Tool Rotational Speed and Pin

Diameter on Tensile Strength

Fig 17 Surface Plot for Interactive Effect of Rotational Speed

and Pin Diameter on Tensile Strength

 Also by keeping small pin diameter and by
increasing the tool rotational speed, there is
sharp decrease in tensile strength. At large
pin diameter, and by increasing the rpm,
there is again sharp decrease on tensile
strength. The combined effects are tabulated
in Table 6.
 Table 6 Interactive Effect of Tool Rotational Speed and
Pin Diameter on Tensile Strength

Tool Rotational
S. No. Pin Diameter Combined Effect
Speed

Decreases Decreases Increases (A)

Decreases Increases Decreases (B)

Increases Increases Decreases (C)

Increases Decreases Increases (D)

3.6 Interactive Effect of Pin Diameter and Welding
Speed on Tensile Strength

 From the Fig. 18 & Fig. 19, it can be concluded, that

by keeping large pin diameter, and by increasing the
welding speed, there is a significant increase in
tensile strength, although it by not large margin, as in
case of by keeping small pin diameter, there is
increase in tensile strength by large margin.
 By keeping small welding speed and increasing the
pin diameter, there is no significant increase in tensile
strength. At high welding speed, and by increasing
the pin diameter, there is slight increase in tensile
strength.
Fig. 18 Interactive Effect of Pin Diameter and Welding Speed
On Tensile Strength
Fig. 19 Surface Plot for Interactive Effect of Pin Diameter

and Welding Speed on Tensile Strength

 Table 7 Interactive Effect of Welding Speed and
Pin Diameter on Tensile Strength

Welding
S. No. Pin Diameter Combined Effect
Speed

Decreases Decreases Decreases (A)

Decreases Increases Decreases (B)

Increases Increases Increases (C)

Increases Decreases Increases (D)

 4. Conclusions
From the study the following inferences have been drawn
 Two Level Factorial Design is found to be an effective tool to
investigate the main, combined and interaction effects of parameters
on the required response.
 Proposed models are adequate at 95% confidence level, thus
justifying the use of assumed polynomials.
 Tensile Strength decreases with increase in rotational speed of tool.
 Tensile Strength increases with increase in welding speed.
 With increase in probe rotational speed, there is decrease in impact
strength.
 Impact Strength increases with the increase in welding speed.
 Impact strength also increases with the increase in pin diameter.
 Micro hardness decreases with the increase in tool rotational speed.
 Micro hardness increases with increase in welding speed.
 Micro hardness also increases with increase in probe diameter
 Interactive effects of any two process parameters can be analyzed on
the mechanical properties.
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