TWI

Stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SSFSW) and conventional FSW experiments were undertaken on AA 7050-T7651 alloy plates (thickness 6.3 mm) to demonstrate the advantages of SSFSW with respect to surface finish, thermal profile symmetry, HAZ width and thermal damage reduction. Butt welds were fabricated at a travel speed of 400 mm/min and rotational speeds of 1500 rpm and 700 rpm for SSFSW and conventional FSW, respectively, using truncated cone shape tools with a threaded tri-flat circular probe. Hardness maps were produced across transverse weld cross-sections using an Instron microhardness machine, and a semi-empirical precipitation hardening model was employed to predict the hardness profiles. A laser profiler was used to measure the surface profile and roughness, and digital imaging correlation was applied to calculate the strain map across the transverse cross-section during tensile testing.

10th International Symposium, 20-22 May 2014, Session 5A: Variants, Paper 01