Effect of Shoulder Size on Weld Properties of Dissimilar Metal Friction Stir Welds

This article reports a research study that shows the effect of shoulder diameter size on the resulting weld properties of dissimilar friction stir welds between 5754 aluminum alloy (AA) and C11000 copper (Cu). Welds were produced using three different shoulder diameter tools: 15, 18, and 25 mm by varying the rotational speed between 600 and 1200 rpm and the traverse speed between 50 and 300 mm/min to achieve the best result. Each parameter combination was chosen to represent different heat input conditions (low, intermediates and high). The welds were characterized through microstructural evaluation, tensile testing, microhardness measurements, x-ray diffraction analysis, and electrical resistivity. Microstructural evaluation of the welds revealed that the welds produced consisted of all the friction stir welding (FSW) microstructure zones with organized flow lines comprising mixture layers of aluminum (Al) and copper (Cu) at the Stir Zones. The average Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) of the welds considered ranged from 178 to 208 MPa. Higher Vickers microhardness values were measured at the joint interfaces of all the welds because of the presence of intermetallic compounds in these regions. The x-ray diffraction analysis revealed the presence of Al₄Cu₉ and Al₂Cu intermetallics at the interfacial regions, and low electrical resistivities were obtained at the joint interfaces. An optimized parameter setting for FSW of Al and Cu was obtained at the weld produced at 950 rpm and 50 mm/min with the 18-mm shoulder diameter tool.