Experimental Study on the Effects of Friction Stir Spot Welding Process Parameters on AL2024T3 Joint Strength

In this study, effects of process parameters of Friction Stir Spot Welding were investigated on Al2024T3 which has poor weldability. Several spot welds were performed by the FSSW process on the 2mm aluminium sheets. The effects of main process parameters such as tool Rotational Speed (RS), Normal Plunge Depth (NPD), and Dwell Time (DT) on the joint strength were investigated. By increasing the tool rotational speed, the joint strength increased, consequently. The mean failure load improved 52% when the tool rotational speed increased from 800 rpm to 1120 rpm, whereas increasing the rotational speed from 1120 to 1600 did not have significant effect on the failure load. The results showed, increasing the normal plunge depth from 1.5 to 1.75 millimetre led to an increase in the failure load of spot welds by about 1.62 times. Also, the 3 seconds dwell time showed higher failure load compared to 2 and 5 seconds dwell time.