Effect of Lateral Pressure on the Strength of Friction Stir Welding (FSW)

Friction Stir welding has been done on low melting and high thermal conductivity metals. Welding is a fabrication process that connects materials, typically metals or thermoplastics, by inducing fusion, which is distinct from lower temperature metal-joining techniques such as brazing and soldering. Extensive research is underway to mature the friction stir welding process. Researchers have performed experiment to find the effect of pin tool geometry on the strength of the welded joints and effects of variables i-e forces, feed rates and rpm. This research comprises the study of lateral pressure effect on friction stir welding and to find the best optimized lateral pressure. whereas, best parameters of welding were chosen. The purpose of this research is just to highlight the effect of different factor parameters on the friction stir welding. Stir welding was performed at 1000 rpm of spindle speed, 8 mm/min of traverse speed, 72, 62, 52 MPa lateral pressures generated by applying torque and 110x50mm plate made up of AA6061-T6 with 5mm thickness. In this work the effect of lateral pressure has been used to influence tensile strength and hardness attributed to friction stir welded AA6061-T6 butt joints. The H 13 tool steel included distinct pin geometry; simple cylindrical (SC) shape was used for welding. Maximum tensile strength and hardness of 79 MPa and 66 HV was achieved at tool rotation 1000 rpm, tool feed 8 mm/min, and pressure 72 MPa. Hardness and tensile strength improved on increasing applied pressure during friction stir welding.