Preliminary study on effect of inertia and continuous friction welding on mechanical properties of SS 316-Zn alloys friction welded joint

The effect of inertial friction welding and continuous drive friction welding in joining SS 316 with Zn alloy is discussed in this article. Scanning electron microscopy was utilized to investigate the microstructure of the welding interaction. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy was utilized to identify the chemical composition of the element distribution at the interface. The findings reveal that a continuous drive friction welding process may produce SS 316 welded joints with Zn alloy. With a friction time of 35 s, the joint's tensile strength may reach 60 MPa. During the tensile test, all friction-welded samples failed at the interface. The fracture surface shows an almost flat surface and is not fibrous or brittle. Meanwhile, a new reaction layer from the intermetallic compound layer is not formed at the joint interface. The decrease in hardness in Zn alloys is due to the thermal softening effect caused by continuous heat from friction.