Effect of Preheating in Hybrid Friction Stir Welding of Aluminum Alloy

The controlled energy input into the system by introducing an extra heat source to enhance the material flow along with reduction of the plunging force remains a potential area of considerate for the development of hybrid friction stir welding (FSW) process. Hence, the effect of preheating on the weld joint properties is evaluated using plasma-assisted friction stir welding (P-FSW) process for joining aluminum alloy. A comparative study of mechanical and macro-microstructural characterizations of weld joint by FSW and P-FSW has been performed. Transverse tensile strength of weld joint is approximately 95% of base metal produced by P-FSW and is 8% more than conventional FSW welds. The effect of preheating enhances material flow and dissolution of fine oxide particles by plasma arc results in increase of strength and marginal modification of deformation behavior. The preheating brings uniformly distributed hardness in weld zone and the magnitude is higher in the advancing side with overall increase in average hardness value. Grain sizes are much finer due to the pinning effect of Al₂O₃ particles that retarded grain growth following recrystallization during P-FSW and thus led to more pronounced reduction in grain size and relatively brittle fracture during tensile loading of welded joint. Overall, the influence of preheating acts quite homogeneously throughout the structure as compared to conventional FSW. However, the results reveal that the development of P-FSW is still in initial stage and needs to improve in various aspects.