Friction stir welding of Al 6061-T6 thick plates: Part I - Experimental analyses of thermal and mechanical phenomena

In friction stir welding (FSW), heat is generated by two mechanisms: (1) the friction between the rotating tool and the workpiece at the interface, and (2) the plastic shear deformation of the material in the vicinity of the pin tool. The amount of heat generated is crucial to the quality of the weld. In addition, the mechanical force and torque developed in the process dictates the life of the tool as well as the design of the fixture. In this paper, a butt joint was made by FSW on two thick plates (thickness 37.6 mm) of aluminum alloy 6061-T6. The joining was conducted by load control mode (applying a controlled vertical plunging force). Two different tests were performed, one using a long probe pin (24.3 mm in length) and the other using a very short pin (3.5 mm in length). The objectives of the research were to Study the heat generation process from the shoulder, the pin, and the mechanical process parameters. In this Part I, we report on the welding process parameters, i.e. tool RPM, welding speed, tool plunge-in depth, force, torque, and power history, and the transient temperature history measured from thermocouples. It was found that (a) a quasi-steady state existed after the tool moved about 82.2 mm from the starting point, during which the tool forces, torque and generated heat reached an equilibrium state in the neighborhood of the tool, (b) the highest temperature measured in the weld seam was less than the melting temperature of the workpiece material, (c) the tool pin plays an important role in the heat input to the process, and (d) the heat generated from the pin strongly depends on its length. The comprehensive test data could be used by researchers interested in numerical modeling of the FSW process without duplicating the complicated tests.