Temperature Distribution Study of Friction Stir Welded Aluminum Alloy 7075-T6 joints Reinforced with SiC Powders

Abstract

Abstract Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a unique process of joining two similar or dissimilar materials by generation of heat between two surfaces (tool shoulder and plate). The bonding made between two materials was achieved by a tool pin profile which makes the material to flow from the advancing side to retreating side. The main advantage of FSW is that during the welding process, the materials are joined with less heat and increased bond strength, due to reduced heat generation it results in better material properties when compared with other conventional welding processes. The experiments were conducted with SiC powders by varying the process parameters by keeping axial load as similar for all the trials. The tool used in the experiments is a high carbon steel D3, with a straight flat cylindrical pin. In the present work, we made an attempt to predict the theoretical temperature distribution for the joints made with FSW process using ANSYS. The temperature profiles were measured across different zones of welded sample for better understanding of temperature flow during the joining process. Metallurgical study was also carried outacross different zones and it is correlated with the theoretical temperature values for better understanding of process parameters and the effect / influence of adding SiC powders in material. From the results it is inferred that both temperature distribution and metallurgical study showed a good agreement due to its refined / coarse grain boundary development. The generation of higher temperature profile proves better mixing of SiC powders during the joining process. However, this work revealed that the process parameters and addition of SiC powders leads a major role in deciding the temperature profile across various zones of the FSW process.