Effect of tool shoulder diameters on surface quality of friction stir welded joints of aluminum alloy 6061

• Published in: IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering
• Main Author: Maideen N.C.; Budin S.; Ibrahim D.; Shahrol Azlan A.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing Ltd 2020
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85098523440&doi=10.1088%2f1757-899X%2f932%2f1%2f012114&partnerID=40&md5=c7cbe5f7e1a4c2293f455695580ccbec

In friction stir welding process, shoulder diameter of stirring tool plays an important role. The role is to provide enough soften region along the process to produce a good quality of weldment. In this work, three variations of stirring tool shoulder diameter are produced which are stirring tool 1 (16mm), stirring tool 2 (20mm), and stirring tool 3 (24mm). Reconfigured milling machine (Cheng Yin - CY-GH 260) is used to performed friction stir welding process using the fabricated stirring tool. The stirring tools are made of H13 steel (chromium-molybdenum) with constant pin height of 3mm, and pin diameter of 5mm. Welding parameter used are 1270 RPM for rotating speed and 248 mm/min for welding speed. Then, all stirring tools are used to joined two similar plates AA 6061 with butt joint. The surface quality is determined from physical appearance, surface roughness, and welding strength of AA 6061 welded samples using fabricated strring tools (16mm, 20mm, and 24mm). From the result, smallest diameter stirring tool 1 (16mm) produced the best surface quality of weldment. Stirring tool 1 produced a free defect sample, smoothest surface with surface roughness value of 1.92 µm, and highest welding strength (119.28 MPa). However, the wear rate of the stirring tool 1 is the highest recorded from the stirring tool 1 material deposited at the sample. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.