Study of The Effect of Friction Stir Welding Parameters for Joining Nylon and Aluminum Plate and Comparative Study of TIG Welding Method

Abstract

Friction stir welding has shown positive outcome in joining thermoplastics, aluminum, surpassing traditional methods due to the heat generated by the friction than a direct flame. This experimental study explores the possibility of joining different materials through various criteria such as position alteration, tool rotation and offset. Tig welding of aluminum and friction stir welding (FSW) of nylon were used to create the butt joint of aluminum and nylon with a plate thickness of 6 mm. We conducted an experiment wherein we varied the tool's rotating speed from 180 to 360 rpm while maintaining a consistent traverse speed and a constant feed rate of 25 mm/min to 40 mm/min. It was observed that effective jointing significantly depends on process parameters. The aluminum joint is obtained by changing rotational speed of tool from 900 rpm to 1900 rpm and the microstructure analysis is carried out along with the mechanical properties study of material. The microstructure analysis of weld is done using optical microscope and mechanical properties of weld is obtained using UTM. The obtained tensile strength of the Aluminum weld using FSW is higher in comparison to the TIG welding. The welding strength regained is nearly 41.3% by the FSW and 15.6% by TIG welding. Coarse grain is obtained at the weld nugget in the FSW and finer grain is obtained in case of TIG Welding. Weld is less brittle in FSW than TIG Welding as the % elongation is 3.24 in FSW and 0.76 in TIG welding