FRACTURE MECHANISM OF ALUMINIUM FRICTION STIR WELDED

ABSTRACT: The fracture mechanism of friction stir welded blanks is studied in this paper. An extensive test matrix comprising ten different weld configurations is designed for the study. The welds are produced with ten combinations of different alloys and thicknesses. The selected alloys are 2024-T3 and 7075-T6 and the thickness ratio varies between 1 and 1.7. Welding parameters are optimized for each of the studied configurations. Tensile tests are conducted on some samples of the welds. The fracture surfaces are inspected by SEM to determine the type of mechanism governing the fracture of the specimens. The results of the study are compared with the literature and are extensively discussed to determine whether or not the thermomechanical evolutions taken place during the welding process change the fracture mechanism of the studied alloys