Art of friction stir welding to produce weld joint without rotation of shoulder with narrow heat-affected zone and high corrosion resistance

Abstract

This present study uses an indigenously designed non-rotating shoulder friction stir welding (NRSFSW) tool to weld AA2014 aluminium alloy. This tool is harnessed with a penetrated material removal mechanism. Generally, the heat-affected zone (HAZ) is the most severely affected region in the conventional FSW (CFSW) joint of heat-treatable aluminium alloys. The prime novelty of this work is to reduce the width of most corrosion susceptible region of the FSW joint using a non-rotating shoulder tool. The corrosion behaviour of the NRSFSW joint has been investigated and compared to the CFSW joint. The NRSFSW tool resulted in focused heat input which eventually reduced the width of the HAZ and improved corrosion resistance as compared to the CFSW tool.