Microstructure and mechanical behaviour of pinless friction stir spot welded AA2198 joints

In this study, pinless friction stir spot welding of 1.8 mm thick 2198-T8 aluminium-lithium alloy plates was carried out. The change of the angle between the nugget edge and the surface, and the relationship between this angle and joint mechanical property were analysed. The results show that the angle increases rapidly initially and then approaches 45 degrees, which is due to the extrusion of nugget material and its flow along the surrounding 'cold' metal during welding. The tensile strength is determined by the nugget edge angle and hook defect. Tensile loads reach a higher value when the nugget edge angle approaches 458 but have a slight decrease with the hook angle changing from obtuse to acute. The maximum tensile/shear strength could be 8.57 kN at the rotation speed of 1500 rev min(-1) and the dwell time of 12 s.