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Effect of Process Parameters on Tensile Strength of Friction

Stir Welded Cast LM6 Aluminium Alloy Joints
M. Jayaraman1) , R. Sivasubramanian2) and V. Balasubramanian3)
1) Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India
2) Department of Mechanical Engineering, Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
3) Centre for Materials Joining & Research (CEMAJOR), Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Annamalai
University, Annamalainagar, Tamil Nadu, India
[Manuscript received September 22, 2008, in revised form February 20, 2009]

This paper reports the effect of friction stir welding (FSW) process parameters on tensile strength of cast
LM6 aluminium alloy. Joints were made by using different combinations of tool rotation speed, welding
speed and axial force each at four levels. The quality of weld zone was investigated using macrostructure
and microstructure analysis. Tensile strength of the joints were evaluated and correlated with the weld zone
hardness and microstructure. The joint fabricated using a rotational speed of 900 r/min, a welding speed
of 75 mm/min and an axial force of 3 kN showed superior tensile strength compared with other joints. The
tensile strength and microhardness of the welded joints for the optimum conditions were 166 MPa and 64.8 Hv
respectively.
KEY WORDS: LM6 aluminium alloy; Friction stir welding; Tool rotation speed; Welding speed;
Axial force; Tensile strength

1. Introduction
Al-Si alloys are one of the most commonly used
cast alloys because they offer many advantages such
as excellent castability, high strength to-weight ratio,
wear and corrosion resistance, pressure tightness and
good weldability[1] . Applications of these alloys have
included automotive cylinder heads, engine manifolds,
aircraft components and housings. Conventional fusion welding of cast aluminium alloys is generally difficult due to some common defects such as porosity,
oxide inclusion, hot cracking which in turn reduce the
weld strength[2] . In recent years, friction stir welding
(FSW) was found to be very effective for the welding
of various wrought aluminum alloys. FSW was also
employed on cast aluminium alloys in order to improve the strength of the weldments. FSW was used
for joining cast Al alloy A413 and found that there is
no weld zone degradation[3] . Dissimilar plate welding
was made with Al 6061-T651 rolled plate and A356T6 cast plate by FSW. The elongation of the joint
was found lower than that of the uni- alloy joint[4] .
Friction stir processing (FSP) technique was developed based on FSW for improving the mechanical
properties of cast Al alloys. The mechanical properties of cast A356 Al alloy was improved by FSP due
to the elimination of porosity and refinement of the
microstructure[5] . More over the superplasticity and
fatigue properties are also improved considerably[6] .
The mechanical properties of cast A319 Al alloy
was improved by FSP because of reduction in the size
of second phase particles, uniform distribution of Si
particles and reduction of percentage porosity volume
due to the intense stirring[7] . The tensile strength and
hardness of ADC12 aluminum die casting alloy were
improved by FSP which is attributed to the elimination of cold flake, uniform dispersion of Si particles and the grain refinement of aluminium matrix[8] .
There is significant effect of tool rotation rate and
Corresponding author. Prof., Ph.D.; Tel.: +91 4144239734;
Fax: +91 4144 238080/238275; E-mail address: visvabalu@yahoo.com (V. Balasubramanian).

traverse speed on microstructure and macrostructure

of friction stir processed cast A356 Al alloy[9] . The
strength and ductility of the multi pass FSP nugget
zone in A356 are similar to those achieved in the
single-pass FSP sample[10] .
It is already known that the joint between cast
Al alloys has a potential for expanding the usage of
economic casting in aircraft and automotive applications. However, the investigations on FSW of cast
aluminium alloys are limited. Most of the reported literature on FSW of cast aluminium alloy have focused
on microstructure, hardness and tensile properties of
FSP region alone. To widen applications of FSW to
cast aluminium alloys, it is necessary to study joint
properties of the cast alloys. Hence, an attempt was
made to understand the effect of FSW process parameters on tensile strength of cast LM6 (also known
as A413) aluminium alloy.
2. Experimental
Castings of commercial LM6 aluminium alloy were
made by sand casting method and they were machined
to rectangular plates of 175 mm75 mm6 mm in
size. The chemical compositions of LM6 alloy are presented in Table 1. Square butt joint configuration as
shown in Fig. 1 was prepared to fabricate FSW joints.
Table 1 Chemical compositions of LM6 (A413) aluminium cast alloy (wt pct)
Si
11.6

Fe
0.32

Cu
0.03

Mn
0.04

Mg
0.05

Zn
0.01

Al
Bal.

The initial joint configuration was obtained by securing the plates in position using mechanical clamps.
Non-consumable tool made of high carbon steel was
used to fabricate the joints. An indigenously designed
and developed friction stir welding machine (15 hp,
3000 r/min; 25 kN) was used to fabricate the joints.
Joints were fabricated using different combinations of
tool rotation speed, traverse speed and axial force.

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Table 2 FSW process parameters and tool dimensions

Values
Process parameters
Tool rotation speed/(r/min)
800,900,1100,1300
Welding speed/(mm/min)
22,40,75,100
Axial force/kN
2,3,4,5
Pin length/mm
5.7
Tool shoulder diameter, D/mm
18
Pin diameter, d/mm
6
D/d ratio of tool
3.0
Tool pin geometry
Thread
Tool material
high carbon steel
Fig. 3 Optical micrograph of LM6 aluminium alloy

fabricate the joints, rotational speed of 900 r/min produced defect free weld. Similarly, the joint fabricated
using a welding speed of 75 mm/min contains no defect. An axial force of 3 kN yielded defect free joint. It
is also observed that the macrograph consists of WZ,
TMAZ and BM regions and absence of HAZ region.
Fig. 1 Dimensions of square butt joint

Fig. 2 Dimensions of tensile specimen

The process parameters and their levels and tool dimensions are presented in Table 2. Tensile specimens
(as shown in Fig. 2) were machined in the traverse
direction from the welded joints. Tensile test was carried out in 100 kN, servo controlled Universal Testing Machine (UNITEK-94100 FIE-Bluestar, India).
Macro and microstructural analyses were carried out
using an optical microscope (MIL-7100 MEJI, Japan)
incorporated with an image analyzing software (Metal
Vision MVLx1.0). The specimens for metallographic
examination were sectioned to the required sizes from
the joint comprising weld zone (WZ), thermo mechanically affected zone (TMAZ), heat affected zone
(HAZ) and base metal (BM) regions. Usual metallographic procedures were followed to polish the specimen and Keller0 s reagent was used as an etchant to
reveal the microstructure.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1 Macrostructure
During FSW, the material flows around the
tool pin due to the heat generated by the friction and stirring action. FSW joints are prone to
defects like pin hole, tunnel, cavity, kissing bond,
cracks etc due to insufficient and excess heat input in the stir zone[11] . All the joints fabricated
in this investigation were analysed at low magnification (10X) by optical microscopy to reveal the
quality of weld zone. The macrographs of the weld
nugget for four levels of rotational speed, welding speed and axial force are presented in Tables
35.
Of the four tool rotation speeds used to

3.2 Tensile strength

Transverse tensile strength of FSW joints are presented in Figs. 46. Three specimens were tested at
each condition and the result in average of three specimens is presented. From the figures, it can be inferred
that the tool rotation speed, welding speed and axial
force have significant influence on tensile strength of
the FSW joints of LM6 aluminium alloy. Of the four
joints, the joint fabricated with a tool rotation speed
of 900 r/min showed higher tensile strength compared
with the other joints (Fig. 4). Similarly, the joint fabricated with welding speed of 75 mm/min (Fig. 5) and
the joint fabricated with an axial force of 3 kN (Fig. 6)
exhibited superior tensile strength compared to their
counter parts.
3.3 Microstructure and microhardness
During the tensile test, most of the specimens
failed in the weld nugget (Tables 3-5) and hence
the microstructure analysis and microhardness measurements were made in the weld nugget to identify the reasons. Microhardness values in the weld
nugget of FSW joints are presented in Figs. 79.
The microstructure of base metal (LM6 aluminium
alloy) consists of acicular eutectic Si embedded in aluminium matrix (Fig. 3). Figures 1012 show optical micrographs of weld nugget of all the joints. There
is significant breakup of Si particles, subsequently
creating a uniform distribution of finer Si particles
in the -aluminium matrix. It is due to the stirring action at plastic condition of the metal during
FSW. This phenomenon was also reported by other
investigators[12,13] .
4. Discussion
From the experimental results of macrostructure, microstructure, hardness and joint strength,
it is found that the joint fabricated at 900 r/min,
75 mm/min and 3 kN exhibited superior tensile
strength compared with the other joints. The reasons for the better performance of these joints are
explained below.

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Fig. 4 Effect of rotation speed on tensile strength (welding speed =75 mm/min; axial force =3 kN)

Fig. 7 Effect of rotation speed on microhardness (welding speed =75 mm/min; axial force =3 kN)

Fig. 8 Effect of welding speed on microhardness (rotation speed =900 r/min; axial force =3 kN)
Fig. 5 Effect of welding speed on tensile strength (rotation speed =900 r/min; axial force =3 kN)

Fig. 9 Effect of axial force on microhardness (rotation

speed =900 r/min; welding speed =75 mm/min)
Fig. 6 Effect of axial force on tensile strength (rotation
speed =900 r/min; welding speed =75 mm/min)

4.1 Effect of tool rotation speed

In FSW, tool rotation speed results in stirring and
mixing of material around the rotating pin which in

turn increase the temperature of the metal. It appears to be the most significant process variable since
it tends to influence the transitional velocity. It is
known that the maximum temperature was observed
to be a strong function of rotation speed. When the
rotational speed increases, the heat input within the
stirred zone also increases due to the higher friction
heat which in turn result in more intense stirring and
mixing of materials[14] . For the given welding speed

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Fig. 10 Effect of tool rotation speed on microstructure of weld nugget (welding speed =75 mm/min; axial force
=3 kN)

Fig. 11 Effect of welding speed on microstructure of weld nugget (rotation speed =900 r/min; axial force =3 kN)

and axial force, the increase in rotation speed beyond 900 r/min produces tunnel defect in the retreating side due to abnormal stirring. The turbulence
of softened metal is not consolidated in the retreating side (Table 3). Similar phenomenon was reported
by Ma et al. for the rotation speed of greater than
700 r/min[15] . Tensile strength of the joint made with
900 r/min was higher because of the sound joint with
optimum heat input in the stir zone, whereas the
strength was reduced with the increase in the rotation speed due to the formation of defects. The higher

tensile strength is also attributed to the uniform distribution of fine eutectic Si particles in the aluminium
matrix of the stir zone (Fig. 10(b)) whereas the reduction of the strength is due to the coarse eutectic
Si particles and nonhomogeneous distribution in the
matrix[16] . This is due to the turbulence of softened
metal at higher rotation speeds in which the broken
Si particles are clustered to be coarse and segregated
(Fig. 10(c) & (d)). The fracture occurred at the base
metal region during tensile test for the joint made
with rotation speed of 900 r/min due to the enhance-

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Fig. 12 Effect of axial force on microstructure of weld nugget (rotation speed = 900 r/min; welding speed
=75 mm/min)

ment of the strength and hardness of the stir zone.

But the location of the failure for other joints is invariably at the TMAZ of retreating side due to the
presence of defects.

Si particles (Fig. 11(b)). The optimum heat input

and the distribution of fine Si particles are the reasons for the enhancement of joint strength at welding
speed 75 mm/min under constant rotation speed of
900 r/min.

4.2 Effect of welding speed

4.3 Effect of axial force
The translation of tool moves the stirred material from the front to the back of the pin. The rate
of heating in a thermal cycle during FSW is a strong
function of the welding speed[17] . During FSW thermal cycle, most of the Mg2 Si precipitates, the primary strengthening phase in A356, are dissolved into
the aluminium matrix. Fast cooling of FSW thermal
cycle retains these solute atoms. Lim et al.[18] investigated the tensile behaviour of AA6061 aluminum alloy
and showed that the main cause of the change in the
tensile behaviour of friction stir welded AA 6061-T651
alloy with varying welding condition was the amount
of plastic flow per unit time rather than the heat generated during the solid welding. Severe clustering of
coarse Mg2 Si precipitates was observed in the tensile
fractured area for each welding condition and the clustering was more significant for the specimens joined
at low welding speed.
Of the four joints fabricated using different welding speeds, the joints fabricated using a welding speed
of 75 mm/min exhibited superior tensile strength due
to the formation of fine eutectic Si particles uniformly
distributed in the aluminium matrix and also absence
of defects in the stir zone (Fig. 11(c)). The joints
fabricated at welding speed of 22 mm/min consist
of coarser Si particles and banded structure in the
stir zone (Fig. 11(a)) which in turn, reduces the joint
strength. Similarly, the joints fabricated at welding
speed of 40 mm/min consist of channel defect at the
retreating side of the stir zone and consist of coarser

Material flow in the weld zone is influenced by the

extrusion process, where the applied axial force and
the motion of the tool pin propel the material after it
has undergone the plastic deformation. The shoulder
force is directly responsible for the plunge depth of the
tool pin into the work piece and load characteristics
associated with linear friction stir weld[19] . As the axial load increases, both hydrostatic pressure beneath
the shoulder and the temperature in the stir zone will
increase.
It is well known that the lower axial load resulted
in defects in the weld because of insufficient coalescence of transferred material[20] . Ouyang et al.[21] reported that at steady state, the shoulder force varies
depending upon the rotational speed. Increase in rotation speed resulted in drop in initial axial force with
increasing time. The difference in the measured forces
is due to the decrease of the material flow stress at
elevated weld temperature. Krishnan[22] studied the
mechanism of onion ring formation in the friction stir
welds of aluminium alloys and found that the degree
of material mixing and inter-diffusion, the thickness of
deformed aluminium lamellae, and material flow patterns highly depend upon the geometry of the tool,
welding temperature, and material flow stress in turn
depends on the axial force. Hence, the axial force
must be optimized to get FSP zone with good consolidation of metal and without thinning of the base
material[23] .

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Of the four axial force levels used to fabricate

the joints, the joint fabricated with an axial force
of 2 kN resulted tunnel defect at the middle of the
weld zone due to insufficient material flow and the
microstructure consists of coarse eutectic Si particles
(Fig. 12(a)), even though uniform distribution in the
aluminium matrix. But the joint fabricated with 4 kN
axial force resulted in nonuniform distribution of Si
particles and thinning of weld nugget due to the excess
axial force (Fig. 12(c)). Due to the high heat input the
metal gets softened and extruded as flash. Similarly
the joint fabricated with 5 kN exhibited the same pattern (Fig. 12(d)). But the joint fabricated with 3 kN
axial force consists of fine, eutectic Si particles with
uniform distribution throughout the aluminium matrix (Fig. 12(b)) due to the sufficient flow of softened
material. This may be the reason for higher tensile
strength of the joints fabricated with 3 kN axial force
compared to their counterparts.
4.4 General discussion
The heat input and material flow behaviour decides the quality (defective or defect free) of FSW
joints. The heat input and material flow behaviour
are predominantly influenced by the FSW process parameters such as tool rotation speed, welding speed
and axial force. The heat input increases with increase in rotation speed and axial force and decreases
with the increase in welding speed. At lower rotation
speed, the heat input is not sufficient and also improper stirring causes a tunnel defect at the middle
of the retreating side. Higher rotation speeds could
raise the strain rate and turbulence (abnormal stirring) in the material flow caused a tunnel defect at
the weld nugget. As the rotation speed increases, the
strained region widens, and the location of the maximum strain finally moves to the retreating side from
the advancing side of the joint. This implies that the
fracture location of the joint is also affected by the
rotation speed.
Low welding speeds resulted in higher heat input
and excess turbulence of the plasticized metal which
caused a tunnel defect at the top of weld nugget.
Higher welding speeds are associated with low heat inputs, which result in faster cooling rates of the welded
joint. This can significantly reduce the extent of metallurgical transformations taking place during welding and hence the local strength of individual regions
varies across the weld zone.
Material flow in the weld zone is influenced by the
extrusion process, where the applied axial force and
the motion of the tool pin propel the material after it
has undergone the plastic deformation. The shoulder
force is directly responsible for the plunge depth of
the tool pin into the work piece and load characteristics associated with linear friction stir weld. Recent
investigation on various FSW alloys has shown that
the tensile fracture site is dependent on the alloy type
and also on the welding parameters[24] . For this alloy the retreating side of the weld zone was found to
be the major fracture site where strain localization
occurred.
If the joints are defective, then the failure will take
place along the defects. If the joints are defect free,
then the failure will take place along the lowest hard-

663

Fig. 13 Microhardness profile across the weld nugget (rotation speed 900 r/min, welding speed 75 mm/min
and axial force 3 kN)

ness region. In this case, base metal is having lower

hardness compared to the weld nugget region due to
presence of porosity and coarse silicon needle like particles. The hardness profile across the weld nugget
shown in Fig. 13 clearly depicts that the unaffected
base metal is having lower hardness compared to other
regions.
During microstructure analysis, it was observed
that the weld nugget region (stir zone) and a very narrow TMAZ region ran across the weld cross section.
After TMAZ region, only the unaffected base metal
region alone was observed. Similar observations were
made by the previous investigators also[25,16] . The
material flow behaviour will be different for cast alloys
and wrought alloys due to large difference in ductility.
Usually cast alloys will have lower ductility compared
to wrought alloys due to the presence of porosity, inclusions and higher amount of silicon. This will reduce the ductility of cast alloys and subsequently affect the material flow behaviour under the action of
rotating FSW tool. Moreover, the heat distribution
(heat transfer) from the weld nugget region to adjacent regions will also be influenced by the above said
factors. So, low ductility and low heat conduction of
cast alloys will lead to the formation of very narrow
TMAZ region alone adjacent to the weld nugget region and this may be one of the reasons for absence
of HAZ region in FSW of cast alloys.
To get defect free joints, the heat input must
be optimized by optimizing FSW process parameters
such as the rotation speed, welding speed and axial force. In this investigation, the maximum tensile
strength of 166 MPa was attained for the joint fabricated using the welding parameters of 900 r/min,
75 mm/min and 3 kN and this may be due to the
optimum heat generation under these welding conditions, which led to the fabrication of defect free joint.
5. Conclusions
(1) Of the twelve joints fabricated, the joint fabricated using the process parameters of 900 r/min (tool
rotation speed), 75 mm/min (welding speed) and 3 kN
(axial force) yielded higher tensile strength compared
to other joints.
(2) Defect free weld nugget, higher hardness of
weld nugget and very fine, uniformly distributed eutectic Si particles in the weld nugget are found to be
the important factors responsible for the higher tensile strength of the above joints.

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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Tamil Nadu, India for extending the facilities
of Metal Joining Laboratory and Materials Testing Laboratory to carry out this investigation.
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