Ultra-thin Friction Stir Welding (FSW) between aluminum alloy and copper

Rapid development in electrical and electronic technology had reached the level where the size of a part is produced in miniature size. Therefore, there is a need in joining of similar and dissimilar materials with these scaled down components with economical cost. One of the joining techniques that can be used to joint dissimilar material is friction stir welding (FSW). In this study, ultrathin sheets of aluminum alloy (AA5052) and pure copper (99.999%) with 0.8 mm thickness were successfully butt joined using friction stir welding (FSW) technique. The tensile test was conducted to the joined samples utilizing different FSW welding parameters. From the tensile test result, it was found that the joint with combination of 2100 rpm tool rotation speed and 100 mm/min welding speed produced highest strength with the value of 49.9 MPa. The microstructures of the welded samples with different welding parameters were analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) couple with EDX system. It was also observed that, a complex flow and mixture of both materials formed in nugget zone. No intermetallic compounds were significantly found in the nugget zone.