Establishing Mathematical Relationships to Study Tensile Behavior of Friction Stir Welded AA5086-H32 Aluminium Alloy Joints

Abstract

In the present work, 5 mm thick rolled plates of AA5086-H32 alloy were friction stir butt welded, varying the six input process parameters, namely rotational speed, welding speed, tool shoulder diameter, tool hardness, tilt angle, and tool pin profile. Response surface methodology was used to establish mathematical relationship between the input parameters and the joint performance parameters, namely Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) and Tensile Elongation (TE). Six factor-five level, rotatable central composite matrix, having 52 experiments, was used for the design of experiments. The developed models are checked for the adequacy using ANOVA. The models were used to explore the individual and interaction effect of input factors on the UTS and TE of the fabricated joints. The optimal combination of studied input parameters was identified to maximize the responses.