OPTIMIZATION OF PROCESS PARAMETERS OF FRICTION STIR WELDING BY TAGUCHI-GREY METHOD FOR WELDED DISSIMILAR AZ91D-AZ31B MG ALLOYS.

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state welding technique used primarily for joining non-ferrous metals and alloys. It has many advantages when compared to traditional methods, as it is pollution free and no consumable materials are involved. In this study, the FSW of AZ91D with AZ31B plates was carried out to optimize the process parameters. For the investigation, experiments were conducted using the Taguchi (L18) orthogonal array and to optimize the process parameters, grey based Taguchi techniques have been adopted. The Analysis of variance was used to find out the significant parameter that affects the mechanical properties. A second order model has been developed between the process parameters and performance characteristics using the response surface methodology. The predicted optimal conditions were validated by conducting a confirmation test