A study on friction stir welding of AlSi1MgMn aluminium alloy plates

Original scientific paper Presented in this paper are an experimental investigation and numerical simulations of the Friction Stir Welding (FSW) process. The aim was to determine thermo-mechanical and kinematic parameters of the process of joining two AlSi1MgMn aluminium alloy plates with the thickness of 7,8 mm. Experimental study was designed based on the 2-level multifactorial design of experiment (DoE), with centre points. Parameters varied in the experiment were: welding speed, rotation speed, angle of pin slope, pin diameter and shoulder diameter. Based on the adopted geometric parameters, the family of tools was designed and manufactured for the experiment. The experiment was performed in laboratory conditions, which were similar to production environment. Numerical simulation of the FSW process was carried out using DEFORM-3D software. Detailed analysis of the process as well as comparison between experimental and numerical results is presented.