Abstract
0.8-mm-thick alclad 2024-T4 aluminum alloy sheets were friction stir butt welded. A 15-mm diameter shoulder tool was used to guarantee sufficient heat input during welding. A 0.08-mm shoulder plunge depth was adopted to reduce sheet thickness reduction. Sound joints were obtained at rotating speeds from 400 to 1000 rpm and welding speeds from 50 to 150 mm/min. A thickness reduction of 6% was achieved at 1000 rpm and 50 mm/min. Secondary phases firstly precipitated at the black lines in the stir zone (SZ). The hardness of the SZ showed a decrease about 6% compared with the base metal. A maximum tensile strength of 399.5 MPa and an elongation of 5.6% were achieved at 1000 rpm and 150 mm/min. The fracture morphologies showed typical ductile fracture mode.
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Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2016M590821) and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding Technology for Ships (2017B030302010).
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Highlights
1. 0.8-mm-thick 2024-T4 aluminum alloy sheets were successfully friction stir butt welded.
2. A thickness reduction of 6% was achieved.
3. Secondary-phase particles firstly precipitated at the black lines in SZ.
4. The maximum tensile strength of 399.5 MPa and elongation of 5.6% were obtained.
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Yue, Y., Wang, G., Yang, K. et al. Friction stir butt welding thin aluminum alloy sheets. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 96, 3139–3147 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-018-1798-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-018-1798-z