Investigations on the effect of friction crush welding parameters in joining 6061 aluminium alloy to 304 stainless steel

Solid state welding processes are one of the growing principal technologies used to join similar and dissimilar materials. Friction crush welding (FCW) is a recently developed solid state welding process to overcome the difficulties in fusion welding of thin sheet metal workpieces. In this communication, dissimilar aluminium and stainless steel (Al - SS) welds prepared by FCW technique at different levels of process parameters, i.e., feed rate (15, 30, 45 mm/min) and tool rotation (2000, 3000, 4000 rpm) are investigated in terms of mechanical properties and micro-structural features. Tensile test investigation along with microscopic study gives the optimum welding conditions. Optical inverted microscopic study shows that deformation of material increases with increase in feed rate and tool rotation. Energy dispersive spectroscope (EDS) indicates the formation of intermetallic compounds, i.e., FeAl2, FeAl3 and Fe2Al5 in the weld zone. The successful demonstration of joining Al - SS dissimilar materials justifies the potential of FCW process.