Thinning in friction stir lap joints and its relation with the process variables was investigated. Friction stir welds were made on 1 mm thick AA6111 aluminium alloy sheets in order to study the effects of rotation rate, traverse speed, plunge depth, tilt angle and pin height on faying surface defects. Sheet thinning on the advancing and retreating sides was quantified and the lap shear strength of the joints was evaluated. A decrease in the pitch of the runs at constant rotation rate increased the sheet thinning and reduced the joint strength in a linear manner. Process pitch and pin height were found to be the most critical factors in determining the faying surface lift up. A pin of the same height as the sheet thickness resulted in maximum lap shear strength. Tool tilt did not show a significant effect on the sheet thinning.
ThomasW. M., NicholasE. D., NeedhamJ. C., MurchM. G., TemplesmithP. and DawesC. J.: GB patent application no. 9125978·8, December 1991.
2.
ThomasW. M., KalleeS. W., StainsD. G. and OakleyP. J.: ‘Friction stir welding – process variants and developments in the automotive industry’, Proc. SAE 2006 World Cong., Detroit, MI, USA, April 2006, SAE, Document no. 2006-01-0555.
3.
MurphyA., McCuneW., QuinnD. and PriceM.: ‘The characterisation of friction stir welding process effects on stiffened panel buckling performance’, Thin-Walled Struct., 2007, 45, 339–351.
4.
MishraR. S. and MaZ. Y.: ‘Friction stir welding and processing’, Mater. Sci. Eng. R, 2005, R50, 1–78.
5.
MishraR. S. and MahoneyM. W.: ‘Friction stir welding and processing’; 2007, Materials Park, OH, ASM International.
6.
NandanR., DebRoyT. and BhadeshiaH. K. D. H.: ‘Recent advances in friction-stir welding – process weldment structure and properties’, Progr. Mater. Sci., 2008, 53, 980–1023.
7.
DracupB. J. and ArbegastW. J., ‘Friction stir welding as a rivet replacement technology’, Proc. 1999 SAE Conf. on ‘Aerospace automated fastening’, Memphis, TN, USA, October 1999, SAE, Document no. 1999-01-3432.
8.
KumarK. and KailasS. V.: ‘An experimental analysis on a friction stir welding defect (Joint-line-remnant)’, Proc. Symp. on ‘Joining materials’, Tirichirapalli, Tamilnadu, India, December 2008, BHEL, Paper 4, 1085.
9.
CederqvistL. and ReynoldsA. P.: ‘Factors affecting the properties of friction stir welded aluminum lap joints’, Weld. J. Res. Suppl., 2001, 80, (12), 281–287.
10.
ElrefaeyA., GoudaM., TakahashiM. and IkeuchiK., ’Characterization of aluminum/steel lap joint by friction stir welding’, J. Mater. Eng. Perform., 2005, 14, (1), 10–17.
11.
KimapongK. and WatanabeT.: ‘Effect of welding process parameters on mechanical property of FSW lap joint between aluminum alloy and steel’, Mater. Trans., 2005, 46, (10), 2211–2217.
12.
YadavaM., MishraR. S., ChenY. L., GaydenX. Q. and GrantG. J.: ‘Study of friction-stir-lap-welds of AA6111 Al alloy’, in ‘Friction stir welding and processing IV’, 203–212; 2007, Warrendale, PA, TMS.
13.
LiT., RitterG., KapustkaN. and LederichR.: ‘‘Friction stir lap joining of Al 7075 with Sealant’, in ‘Friction stir welding and processing IV’, 193–201; 2007, Warrendale, PA, TMS.
14.
LeeC., LeeW., KimJ., ChoiD., YeonY. and JungS.: ‘Lap joint properties of FSWed dissimilar formed 5052 Al and 6061 Al alloys with different thickness’, J. Mater. Sci., 2008, 43, 3296–3304.
15.
SoundararajanV., YarrapareddyE. and KovacevicR.: ‘Investigation of the friction stir lap welding of aluminum alloys AA 5128 and AA6022’, J. Mater. Eng. Perform., 2007, 16, (4), 491–496.
16.
EricssonM., JinL. and SandstromR.: ‘Fatigue properties of friction stir overlap welds’, 2007, 29, (1), 57–68.
17.
CantinG. M. D., DavidS. A., ThomasW. M., Lara-CurizoE. and BabuS. S.: ‘Friction Skew-stir welding of lap joints in 5083–0 aluminium’, Sci. Technol. Weld. Join., 2005, 10, (3), 268–280.
18.
ReynoldsA. P.: ‘Flow visualization and simulation in FSW’, Scr. Mater., 2008, 58, 338–342.
19.
GuerraM., McClureJ. C., MurrL. E. and NunesA. C.: ‘Metal flow during friction stir welding’, in ‘Friction stir welding and processing’, 25–34; 2001, Warrendale, PA, TMS.
20.
MishraR. S. and MahoneyM. W.: ‘Friction stir welding and processing’, 16–18; 2007, Material, Park, OH, ASM International.
