Optimization of Friction Stir Welding of AA6062-T6 Alloy

Abstract

Friction stir welding (FSW) process is solid state welding technique used to weld soft alloys. It is the solid state welding in which a rotating tool in plunged into the plates and joint is made by passing the tool across the adjoining edges of the pates. The increasing use of aluminum alloys in aviation, marine and transport industries gives raise the development of new solid state joining process. The prime objective of this paper is to optimize the process parameters in order to obtained better mechanical properties. The process parameters considered are tool tilt angle, tool rotation speed and welding speed. Taguchi L9 orthogonal design of experiments is used to reduce the number of experiments. A statistical tool (ANOVA) has been used to analyze results. ANOVA tools clearly indicate the percentage contribution of each parameter. Analysis of variance revealed that the tool rotation speed effect more 57.95 % followed by welding speed has the contribution of 23.22 % and tool tilt angle has lesser contribution 3.12 % for deciding soundness of the joint