Influence of Welding Parameters on Aluminum Tubes AA6063 by the CDFW Process

This paper presents a study of the interactions between the variables of the friction welding process, known as Continuous Drive Friction Welding (CDFW), at the junction of AA6063 aluminum tubes, with a diameter of 12.7 mm and a thickness of 1.59 mm. The influence of the variables: rotation, friction pressure and friction time on the final dimensions of the flash and length of piece welded is studied. The number of experiments performed was defined by full factorial design (3k), where each input variable received three levels. The specimens were produced according to the combinations of parameters and measured to obtain the final values of the length and flash dimensions. The data were analyzed by statistical software tools, using Pareto chart, analysis of interactions and variance. It was observed that the input variable that presented the smallest influence on the results was the rotation speed. The best results, which occurred in the specimens with lowest reduction in length and more uniform flashs, were obtained with combinations of the lowest pressure value with reference values for time and pressure.