Abstract
Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is solid-state process for joining materials by using frictional heat generated due to rotating tool along the weld line. Since its invention about two decades ago, wide spread use of FSW is still restricted due to very expensive purpose built FSW machines available in the market. As an alternative, a milling machine can be used to carry out the FSW depending on the capabilities of the machine. In cases where milling machines have a fixed head, limitation of zero degree tool tilt angle results in substantial defects (e.g. tunnel defect) in weldments. The objective of this study is to design and fabricate an adjustable-angle fixture to incorporate tool tilting in a CNC milling machine with fixed spindle head. The testing of the fabricated fixture is then carried out by running the FSW experiments at different tilt angles.
Highlights
The Friction Stir Welding (FSW) process is solid-state process, invented at The Welding Institute (TWI) in United Kingdom (UK), which involves joint formation below the base material’s melting temperature
Milling machines owing to their rotating tool and traversing ability can be utilized to carry out FSW operations
Material used in this experiment was aluminum alloy 6061, where it was perpendicularly cross sectioned as shown in Fig. 6 after the FSW process in order to examine the quality of the welded joint
Summary
The actual FSW machine can reach the price around one million US dollar [3]. This is not favourable for the small industries, university laboratory or any personnel to invest this amount of money for expensive FWS machine. Many researchers have reported the effect of tool tilting angle and optimum tool tilting angle for their studies[3].
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