Influence of tool pin profile on the mechanical strength and surface roughness of AA6061-T6 overlap joint friction stir welding

M.H. Osman; Norfauzi Tamin

doi:10.15282/jmes.17.3.2023.4.0758

Authors

M.H. Osman Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Technology, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, 75450 Air Keroh, Melaka, Malaysia
N.F. Tamin Industrial Machining Techology (IM Tech) Focus Group, Faculty of Technical and Vocational Education, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15282/jmes.17.3.2023.4.0758

Keywords:

Friction stir welding, AA6061-T6, Spindle speed, Feed rate, Tensile strength, Surface roughness, Surface appearances

Abstract

This study presents the tensile strength and surface roughness resulting from friction stir welding (FSW) on the lap joint method using AA 6061 –T6. FSW is conducted by comparing three different tool pin shapes: hexagon, thread, and square. Overlap welding using the FSW method is challenging if machine parameters, such as spindle speed and feed rate, are incompatible. The experiment was conducted using a conventional milling machine with a spindle speed of 1400 -1750 rpm and a feed rate of 20 – 30 mm/min. The results show that a spindle speed of 1750 rpm and a feed rate of 30 mm/min using a square tool pin results in 83.5088 MPa ultimate tensile strength and 0.85 µm surface roughness (R_a), which is much better than hexagon and thread type tool pins. In addition, the overall results on all three tool pin shapes show that higher processing parameters increase tensile strength and surface roughness. This study revealed the effect of parameters on AA6061 –T6 and the resulting implications of mechanical strength and surface roughness.

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