Mechanical Properties and Microstructural Characterization of Dissimilar Friction Stir Welded AA5083 and AA6061 Aluminium Alloys

Solidification is one of the major issues that was faced during the fusion welding of dissimilar non-heat treatable and heat treatable aluminium alloys. To overcome this issue Friction Stir Welding played a very vital role, since it is a solid state welding process. In current study, dissimilar friction stir welding was carried out between non heat-treatable aluminium alloy AA5083-H111 and heat-treatable aluminium alloy AA6061-T6. The microstructural analysis and the mechanical properties of the dissimilar friction stir welded aluminium alloy AA5083-H111 and AA6061-T6 have been investigated. Both optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy was used to evaluate the microstructural features. The elemental analysis was carried out using SEM-EDX. The tensile properties are studied using Universal Testing Machine. Hardness at various zones of the welded joints was measured using Vicker's Hardness Testing Machine. The mechanical properties of the friction stir welded joints were correlated with the microstructure of the dissimilar welded joints.