Residual stresses measurement in the butt joint welded metals using FSW and TIG methods

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state process, where the objects are joined together without reaching their melting point. It has been shown that this method is a suitable way to join dissimilar aluminium alloys. The current article employed hole drilling technique to measure the residual stress distribution experimentally in different zones of dissimilar aluminium alloys AA6061-T6 and AA7075-T6 Butt welded using FSW. Results are compared with those of similar AA6061-T6 plates joined using a conventional fusion welding method called tungsten inert gas (TIG). Also, the evolution of the residual stresses in the thickness direction was investigated, and it was found that the maximum residual stresses are below the yield strength of the material in the shoulder region. It was also revealed that the longitudinal residual stresses in the joint were much larger than the transverse residual stresses. Meanwhile, Vickers micro hardness measurements were performed in the cross-section of the samples. The largest hardness values were observed in the stir zone (SZ) adjacent to the advancing side whereas low hardness values were measured at the HAZ of both alloys and the SZ adjacent to the retreating side.