Experimental Study of Hardness by Friction Stir Welding of 6061-T6 Aluminium Pieces

Abstract

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a relatively new joining process that has exhibited many advantages over traditional welding processes, including greatly reducing distortion and eliminating solidification. The present work aims to determine the feasibility to weld of two pieces of aluminum alloy (AA 6061) sheets of thickness 6mm by friction stir welding process and study the effect on hardness of the welding joints with respect to welding speed. special welding fixture fixed on conventional milling machine has been conducted to attempt this welding with three tool rotation speed 1950,3080,4600(r.p.m) with feed rate.20,25,30(mm/sec). Mechanical property (Hardness Number) was investigated using Hardness testing machine. Based on the stir welding experiments conducted in this study results show that aluminum sheet (AA 6061-T6) can be welded by (FSW) processes with maximum welding efficiency in terms of hardness Number, using rotational speed (r.p.m), and Feed rate (mm/sec).