Abstract
Joining of aluminium and magnesium alloys frequently pose significant challenges to the extent where joining may seem impossible, due to differences in the physical, metallurgical, and chemical properties of the materials. Friction stir welding is a solid-state welding technique which uses a non-consumable tool to join metals. This study examines the dissimilar friction stir welding of 3 mm thick AA1050 and AZ91D alloy sheets. Successful defect-free joints were achieved at rotational speeds of 400 rpm and 600 rpm, and a constant traverse speed of 50 mm/min. The metallurgical investigations used to characterize the microstructure of the welds are optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The microstructures of the samples show distinct morphology attributed to their different rotational speeds. However, Al3Mg2 intermetallics (IMCs) phase was detected in the white bands present in both weld samples. The IMCs were formed through solid-state diffusion. The mechanical properties characterizations includes the microhardness profiles and tensile testing. The variation in the rotational speeds do not have a significant effect on the microhardness distribution of the weld samples. The tensile strength of the dissimilar weld improved substantially with the presence of an interpenetration feature (IPF).
Highlights
There has been recent increase in demand for innovative lightweight structures in the transportation industry for safety, efficiency, fuel economy and attaining strict emissions reduction regulations, especially in the automobile and aerospace industries [1,2]
It is worthy to take note that the Mg alloy is on the advancing side (AS) while Al alloy are located on the retreating side (RS) in all the welds
3 mm thick AA1050 and AZ91D alloys has been successfully joined with absence of structural defects through friction stir welding within the range of welding conditions employed
Summary
There has been recent increase in demand for innovative lightweight structures in the transportation industry for safety, efficiency, fuel economy and attaining strict emissions reduction regulations, especially in the automobile and aerospace industries [1,2]. The reduction in automobile and aircraft weight has been the most critical measure of design efficiency assessment in these industries as CO2 emission is directly proportional to fuel consumption and efficiency [4]. This continuous demand and strive for weight reduction have led to the increasing trend of substituting existing materials with alternative existing or newly developed materials with lower density but same, close or improved mechanical performance and requirements of the original components. Among the various alternative lightweight materials, joining of magnesium (Mg) to aluminum (Al) in proper portion is an alternative that has been considered as suitable potential for mitigating the challenges of weight reduction in the automobile and aircraft manufacture. Full description and details of this technique has been widely reported in various literatures [8,9,10,11]
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