Vertical Compensation Friction Stir Welding of 6061-T6 Aluminum Alloy

Vertical compensation friction stir welding (VCFSW) was proposed in order to solve the adverse effect caused by a big gap at the interface between two welded workpieces. VCFSW was successfully applied to weld 6061-T6 aluminum alloy with the thickness of 4 mm, while 2024-T4 aluminum alloy was selected as a rational compensation material. The results show that VCFSW is difficult to get a sound joint when the width of strip is no less than 1.5 mm. Decreasing the welding speed is beneficial to break compensation strip into pieces and then get higher quality joint. When the width of strip is 1 mm, the tensile strength and elongation of joint at the welding speed of 50 mm/min and rotational velocity of 1,800 rpm reach the maximum values of 203 MPa and 5.2%, respectively. Moreover, the addition of 2024-T4 alloy plays a strengthening effect on weld zone (WZ) of VCFSW joint. The fracture surface morphology of joint consisting of amounts of dimples exhibits ductile fracture.