Influence of Water Cooling and Post-Weld Ageing on Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of the Friction-Stir Welded 6061 Aluminium Alloy Joints

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A 6061-T6 aluminium alloy was friction stir welded in submerged water as well as in air cool at a constant traverse speed and different rotational speed in order to investigate the microstructural characterization and mechanical behaviour of the joints. In order to improve the tensile strength of the joints, weldments were studied at different heat treatment processes such as post weld aged condition and solutionized condition. It is observed that, water cooled joints are resulted in enhancing of both strength and ductility with the lower strain hardening ability than the air cooled joints. The width of the hardness distribution varies with the different cooling process of the joints. The highest hardness peak observed to be located in the heat affected zone of the joints. The maximum tensile strength of the joints achieved for welds under water cooled conditions in contrast to air cooled conditions. Moreover, a combination of water cooling and post weld ageing is proven to be the optimal path to improving the microstructural and mechanical properties of the joints with a maximum efficiency of 89.87% of the base metal strength. The microstructural observations of the joints revealed the presence of voids defects for the low rotational speed joints due to the insufficient heat input. The nugget of the higher tensile strength joints were free from defects and showed the fine grained material flow patterns which are constructive to obtain better mechanical properties.