A presentation on

WELDING PROCESS FOR ALUMINIUM

By Ummen Sabu
13ETMMO8
M.Tech Materials Engineering

School of Engineering Sciences and Technology UNIVERSITY OF HYDERABAD

CONTENTS

What is friction stir welding

Theory of FSW
FSW process
Difficulties of welding aluminium by fusion welding
Microstructure details of FSW
Advantages of the process
Dis-advantages of the process
Applications of FSW
Main FSW machines in India
Need for indigenously developed machineries
Conclusion
Reference

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WHAT IS FRICTION STIR WELDING

 Friction stir welding is a solid state welding process

 Weld is created by means of friction heating and mechanical deformation

 Unlike fusion welding here no filler material is used

 Commonly used for aluminium and its alloys

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 THEORY OF FSW

 Friction Stir Welding transforms the metals from a solid state into a plastic state
( For Al a temperature of 350-450 ℃ is required )

 The tool mechanically stirs the materials together under pressure to form a
welded joint.

 FSW uses a rotating, non consumable tool moved along the length of the joint.

 The rotation of the tool heats up and plasticizes the materials in contact with tool

 A substantial forging force is applied to the weld region by the tool

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FRICTION STIR WELDING PROCESS

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 TOOL USED
FSW tools must be made out of material that is significantly harder and stronger than
the material to be joined to maintain rigidity

shoulder
Ds

H probe
Dp
COMMONLY USED TOOL MATERIALS
High speed steel
EN Steel
PCBN
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EFFECT OF ROTATIONAL SPEED ON WELD QUALTY

An optimum range of rotational speed exists for better quality of the weld
(For commercial aluminium 1200-1400 RPM is the range)

If the speed is lower than this value the friction heat produced is less sufficient
and quality of weld decreases

If the speed is higher than the optimum range excessive heat produced results
in cracking and quality of weld decreases

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DIFFICULTIES OF WELDING ALUMINIUM BY FUSION PROCESS

 Oxide formation at the surface

 High thermal conductivity of Aluminium

 High solidification shrinkage on cooling

 Absence of color change on heating

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 Aluminium reacts with oxygen in the air to produce a thin film of Aluminium
oxide on the surface

 Aluminium oxide melts at about 2050oC, which is almost three times the melting
point of pure Aluminium, 660oC

 Due to high thermal conductivity of aluminium it is difficult to concentrate the

heat on a local area near the weld

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 Aluminium welds decrease about 6% in volume when solidifying from the
molten state on cooling

 Aluminium is different from steels it does not exhibit color as it approaches

its melting temperature

 It requires good skilled and experienced operator to weld Aluminium by

fusion welding process

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MICRO STRUCTURE FEATURES

A. Unaffected material
B. Heat affected zone (HAZ)
C. Thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ)
D. stir zone (Part of thermo-mechanically affected zone)
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 The friction stir welded joints possess four mutually distinct microstructural regions.

UNAFFECTED ZONE

Region starting from outside towards the center of the weld, this region is the un-
affected zone i.e. the base metal.

No microstructural changes occur in this zone.

HEAT AFFECTED ZONE

It is called heat affected zone or HAZ.

A very little microstructural changes occur in the HAZ due to the heat of welding

No plastic deformation of base takes place in this zone.

The microstructure in this zone consists of coarse grained structure.

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 THERMOMECHANICALY AFFECTED ZONE

It is the region adjacent to weld zone

TMAZ undergoes plastic deformation but no recrystallisation occurs

The grains are elongated in nature

STIR ZONE

The weld region that has direct interaction with the tool probe

Extreme strain and elevated temperature cause recrystallisation of material

Therefore this region consists of very fine equi-axed grains.

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 Microstructural Variation of 6061 Al Alloy Joints by Friction Stir Welding
Won-Bae Lee, Yun-Mo Yeon and Seung-Boo Jung
Department of Advanced Materials Engineering,Sungkyunkwan, Korea

Parent metal HAZ

TMAZ Stir zone

Materials Transactions, Vol. 45,No.5pp. 1700 to 1705 The Japan Institute of Metals 15
ADVANTAGES

Welds a wide range of alloys

Eliminates consumables and common fusion weld defects

Welds in all positions and creates straight or complex-shape welds

Does not create hazards such as welding fumes, radiation, high voltage,
liquid metals, or arcing

Environmentally clean process

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DIS-ADVANTAGES

Work pieces must be rigidly clamped

Keyhole at the end of each weld

Cannot make joints which required metal deposition

Initial cost of the machine is very high compared to fusion welding

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APPLICATIONS OF FSW

Aerospace applications

Ship building and automotive works

Structural fabrication works

Personal computers

Apple applied friction stir welding on the 2012 iMac to effectively join
the bottom to the back of the device.

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MAIN FSW MACHINES IN INDIA

1. HAL, Aerospace division, Bangalore

2. BHEL, Thiruchirapally

3. Indian Institute of Science, IISC Bangalore

(locally designed and fabricated)

4. Center for materials joining and research, Annamalai university

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 NEED FOR INDIGENOUSLY DEVELOPED FSW AND
OTHER MACHINERIES

After POKHRAN 2 and AGNI 2 was tested United Nations Security

Council Resolution was imparted on India

 India was called to stop nuclear weapons programmes, development

of ballistic missiles and fissile materials

All countries were urged to prohibit, export of machineries, equipments,

materials and technology that assist research programmes in India

To overcome similar situations in future and to smoothen working of

defence and space organisations India should be capable of producing
advanced machineries and materials

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CONCLUSION

Friction stir welding is:

 An alternative welding process to fusion welding of aluminium

Safe and eco friendly operation is ensured in FSW

FSW can used for a wide variety of applications

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REFERENCES

[1]. Richard.L.Little, Welding and Welding technology, Tata McGraw hill

[2]. O.P.Khanna, A Text book of welding technology,Dhanapath Rai publications

[3] http://www.twi.co.uk/technical-knowledge/published-papers/friction-stir-
welding-of-aluminium-alloys/

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Thank you