TWI

Friction stir welding (FSW) experiments were undertaken on AA 6061-T6 aluminium alloys to investigate the effects of liquid cooling of tooling on spindle speed, spindle torque, spindle power, forge force, and the amount of material plastically deformed by the tool. FSW was performed at a travel speed of 1500 mm/min using an LS-1 friction stir welder with a tool consisting of a convex scrolled shoulder and modified tri-flute pin. Two different cases were studied: an integrally backed butt extrusion joint (thickness 7 mm) welded with and without tool cooling and appropriate spindle speed adjustment, and bead-on-plate FSW in AA 6061-T6 (thickness 12 mm) using both cooled and uncooled tooling conditions. Macrographs were recorded for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the stir zone. Experimental results were compared with the predictions of analytical models developed by Nunes and Schmidt et al.

10th International Symposium, 20-22 May 2014, Session 4A: Techniques I, Paper 02