Effect of Welding Speed on Joint Features and Lap Shear Properties of Stationary Shoulder FSLWed Alclad 2024 Al Alloy

Using alclad 2024-T4 aluminum alloy as the research object, stationary shoulder technology was used in friction stir lap welding process to investigate its performance in this study. Joint features and mechanical properties of the lap joints were mainly investigated. Results show that lap joint with smooth surface, without shoulder marks and inner defects can be obtained using the stationary shoulder technology. With increasing the welding speed from 40 to 130 mm/min, effective sheet thickness (EST) at the advancing side (AS) shows rather stable values (from 1.17 to 1.31 mm), EST at the retreating side (RS) increases from 0.57 to 1.13 mm, and stir zone width decreases from 4.95 to 4.44 mm. Lap shear failure load of the SSFSLW joints firstly increases and then decreases with increasing the welding speed. Using 100 mm/min, the maximum failure loads of 15.85 and 9.01 kN were obtained when the RS and AS of the joint bear the main load during the lap shear test. Shear fracture mode and tensile fracture mode can be obtained during the lap shear test. All joints present ductile fracture mode.