A survey on friction stir welded aluminum composites and their microstructure, hardness, and tensile properties

Abstract

Today's manufacturing industries need tailor-made materials with better performance such as advanced composite materials. Researchers are continuously working on the development of various types of new materials. Sufficient literature is available on the development of composite materials and their characterization. Still, there is scope to research the joining of composite materials. Traditional welding methods such as TIG/MIG leads to get defective welds due to the melting of the parent material. Weld defects could be eliminated by employing novel methods such as friction stir welding (FSW), an alternate solution to obtain defect-free joints for composite material. In this review study, the evolution of the FSW process for joining composite materials is emphasized. A brief review of weld characteristics such as microstructure, hardness, and tensile strength is presented. It is observed that better strength of weld joints could be achieved using FSW. Also, the evolution of microstructure during FSW is elaborated. It is evidenced that the microstructure of weld composites exhibits uniform distribution and grains and reinforcements in the nugget zone. However, certain challenges in the FSW process that need to be addressed are discussed. Especially, the development of suitable FSW tool pins is necessary for the joining of composites. Further, to reduce the weld time and manufacturing cost, integration of the FSW process with artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques is necessary.