TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

I ABSTRACT 06
II LIST OF TABLES 07
III LIST OF FIGURES 08
IV LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS 09

1 INTRODUCTION 10
1.1 OVERVIEW OF FRICTION STIR WELDING 10
1.2 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION 11
1.3 MICROSTRUCTURAL FEATURES 12
1.4 IMPORTANT WELDING PARAMETER 13
1.5 ADVANTAGES 22
1.6 DISADVANTAGES 23
1.7 APPLICATIONS OF FSW 23

2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 LITERATURE SURVEY 26

3 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE 38

3.1 INTRODUCTION 38

3.2 FSW MACHINE 38

3.3 MATERIALS CHARACTERISTICS 40

 3.4 PLATE PREPARATION 40
3.5 TOOL DESIGN 41
3.5.1 TOOL DIMENSIONS 41
CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.
3.6 FRICTION STIR WELDING PROCEDURE 42
3.6.1 FSW PROCESS PARAMETER 42
3.6.2 EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 42

3.7 FRICTION STIR WELDED SPECIMENS 43

3.8 MECHANICAL STUDIES 44
3.8.1 TENSILE STUDIES 44
3.8.2 MICRO HARDNESS 44

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 49

4.1 MACRO 49
4.2 OPTICAL MICRO STRUCTURE 49
4.3 RADIO GRAPHY 50
4.4 MICRO HARDNESS 52
4.5 TENSILE TEST 55

5 CONCLUSION 57

6 REFERENCES 58
 ABSTRACT

This this presents work the investigations on joining 6mm plates of aluminum matrix
composites reinforced with both SiC and B 4C particles by friction stir welding (FSW) process.
This study majorly focuses on the metallurgical characterizations to explore the micro-structural
behavior of the welded specimen subjected to constant load of 10KN, rotational speed of
1000rpm and travelling speed of 75mm/min of the FSW tool. Further, tensile and hardness
properties of the welded specimens are investigated and related to the micro-structural variations.
The results reveal vital information on the distribution pattern of the elements in the Al MMC in
the weld region leading to variation in the mechanical strength. The feasibility of joining Al
MMC with FSW is also established through this study.
 LIST OF TABLES

TABLE TITLE PAGE

NO. NO.

3.1 Friction Stir Welding Machine Specification 39

3.2 Chemical Properties of Aluminum composite 40

3.6 Experimental Layout of L9 Orthogonal Array 43

4.1 Orthogonal Array and Output Characteristics 52
(Hardness strength)
4.2 Orthogonal Array and Output Characteristics 54

(Tensile strength)

4.3 Main Effects of Tensile Strength 54

(Stress Vs strain)

4.4 Main Effects of Tensile Strength 55

(load Vs Displacement)
 LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE. TITLE PAGE.

NO NO

1.1 Schematic Diagram of the FSW Process (A) 11

1.2 Schematic Diagram of the FSW Process (B) 12
1.3 A Drawing Showing the Plunge Depth And 15
Tilt of the Tool Moving To the Left
1.4 Joint Designs 17
3.1 FSW Machine 39
3.2 Tool Pin Profile of Straight Cylinder 41
3.3 Dimensions for Straight Cylinder 42
Tool Pin Profile
3.4 FSW of aluminium composite 44
3.5 Schematic representation of double wall exposure, 46
double view technique.
Radiography testing of Friction stir welded plates

3.6 Friction stir welded plates after removal of flash 47

 3.7 Figure Image analyzer used for capturing 48
Macro image 48
3.8 Figure Macrograph of FRICTION STIR WELD 49
(Specimen)

4.0 X-ray film indicating no pores at the joint 51

(with reinforcement)
4.1 Specimens Tensile Test as Per ASTM E8 Standard 53
4.3 A photograph of Specimen after finding tensile 53
strength

LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

FSW - Friction Stir Welding

AA - Aluminum Alloy
MPa - Mega Pascal
KN - Kilo Newton
Rpm - Revolutions per minute
- Tool rotational speed
- Tool traverse speed
mm / min - millimeter per minute
TWI - The welding Institute
% - Percentage
TMAZ - Thermo Mechanical Affected Zone
HAZ - Heat-affected zone
SZ - Stir Zone
AS - Advancing Side
RS - Retreating Side
HSS - High speed steel
HCHCr - High carbon high chromium
DOF - Degrees of freedom
WNZ - Weld Nugget Zone
UTM - Universal testing machine
ASTM - American standard testing material
KW - Kilowatt
#S - Sample specimen