New Partial Repair Technique for Deformed Yoke

In the aluminum industry, repairing anode rods, instead of replacing them with new rods, is increasingly being preferred as it reduces production costs. This work discusses an attempt to weld the anode yoke using friction stir welding. The traditional welding creates an air gap at the welding interface resulting in an additional voltage drop. The parameters affecting this welding method were studied. It includes welding speed, friction pressure, forging pressure, and materials type. The results obtained proved that the welded yoke pin samples have better mechanical properties, with the tensile strength of the welded joint increasing from 182 to 271 MPa and electrical samples equivalent to those of the original steel casting without welding. The results show that not only the new voltage drop had decreased, but additional improvements are achieved with a better contact pressure at steel/carbon interface. It decreases the cast iron thickness as a result of easily replacing the deteriorated pins with new ones. Consequently, it improves the energy efficiency of the process.