Effect of process parameters on the corrosion characteristics of friction stir welded aluminum alloy AA2014-T6

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a method of solid-state welding used to connect difficult-to-weld materials, such as aluminium alloy and magnesium alloy that cannot be joined using conventional welding techniques. This paper investigates the impact of FSW parameters on the corrosion characteristics of friction stir-welded AA2014-T6 aluminium alloy. Experiments were conducted in accordance with the Taguchi L9 orthogonal array by varying tool rotation speed, weld speed, and axial force across three levels. The FSW joints of the aluminium alloy AA2014-T6 were subjected to corrosion test using the electro-chemical workstation CHI660C. The Tafel plots and the corrosion rates were obtained from the corrosion tests. It was observed from the analysis of variance (ANOVA) results of the corrosion rates, that the tool rotation speed is the most persuading factor in controlling the corrosion rate. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the corroded samples were analysed for the presence of pitting spots and its density.