Prediction of Optimum Welding parameters for Friction stir welding of Aluminium Alloy AA5083 Using Response Surface Method

Abstract

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is carried out on armour grade aluminium alloy AA 5083 with dimensions of 100X50X6.35 mm. The process parameters like tool profile play a significant role to enhance the welding. Many processing conditions influence the microstructure progression and mechanical behaviour of the produced joints. The main parameters involved in the welding process is discussed under this work. Various parameters such as welding speed, tilt angle, spindle speed and various tool profile are used. Analysing the mechanical behaviours of joints welded like tensile strength and hardness is investigated. In this work tool profiles are designed according to the specific dimensions and the tool material chosen is H13. The tool profiles which are chosen are Cylindrical, Tapered and Hexagonal. So, for this profile, the welds are made accordingly. The Study involves the process which is going to take place are Tensile strength, Impact strength, Hardness, and Microstructure. After the finished AA5083 welded aluminium alloy, it is cut in using the EDM machine according to the ASTM standard. The experiment is designed to determine the major factors affecting the hardness and tensile strength of the joints. For the speed of the tool, tool profile and forward movement of the tool tensile strength and hardness are studied. The contribution of each factor is determined from RSM; For the nine samples, the different factors which are used in this process are compared and investigated. These sample values are compared and analysed by using ANOVA. Based on the values obtained from the test the graph is plotted and based upon the speed of the tool from 1000 to 1500 rpm and forward motion of the tool from 18 to 24 mm/min values is investigated.