Abstract
6063-T4 aluminum alloy plates were friction stir butt and lap welded using three different backing plate materials: mild steel, stainless steel, and asbestos. Effects of backing plate material on macrostructure, peak mid-section temperatures in heat affected and weld nugget zones, and weld mechanical properties were obtained for each of the cases. Effect of backing plate material was seen to be more significant in lap than butt welding. While lap welds obtained even at a low welding speed, for mild steel and stainless steel backing plates, contained multiple weld defects leading to failure in lap shear tests from weld nugget zone, corresponding welds obtained with asbestos backing plate were defect free resulting in failure from base metal region. In butt as well as lap configuration, asbestos backing plate which had the lowest thermal diffusivity was observed to provide the largest process window within which defect free welds could be obtained.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
