article · Materials
This study compared tungsten inert gas (TIG), metal inert gas (MIG), and friction stir welding (FSW) techniques for joining 5 mm thick AA5083-H111 aluminium alloy. The research aimed to identify an economically suitable welding method that produces high-quality joints, addressing a challenge in expanding the use of 5xxx aluminium alloys. Joint quality was assessed through visual inspection, radiographic testing, macrostructure evaluation, hardness, and tensile tests, with fracture surfaces examined by scanning electron microscopy. An economic analysis of the welding techniques was also conducted. FSW consistently produced defect-free joints and showed the highest enhancement in hardness and ultimate tensile strength, particularly at a travel speed of 400 mm/min. In contrast, TIG and some MIG joints exhibited internal defects.
Selecting the right welding technique for aluminium alloys like AA5083-H111 is crucial for industrial applications, impacting both joint quality and cost. This research provides comparative data on different welding methods, helping industries make informed decisions to improve product performance and manufacturing efficiency.
The findings suggest that friction stir welding (FSW) offers superior quality and efficiency for joining AA5083-H111, particularly for applications requiring high integrity, such as shipbuilding. This indicates a potential for FSW to be adopted by industries currently using TIG or MIG for similar materials, offering a more robust and efficient joining solution. The research is applied and provides direct comparative data for industrial process selection.
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Selecting an economically suitable welding technique and optimizing welding parameters to obtain high joint quality is considered a challenge for expanding the 5xxx aluminum alloy series in various industrial applications. This work aims to investigate the effect of applying different welding techniques, tungsten inert gas (TIG) and metal inert gas (MIG), as fusion welding processes compared to friction stir welding (FSW), a solid-state joining process, on the joint performance of the produced 5 mm thick similar AA5083-H111 butt weldments at different welding conditions. Different methods were used to evaluate the quality of the produced joints, including visual inspection, radiographic testing (RT), and macrostructure evaluation, in addition to hardness and tensile tests. The fracture surface of the tensile-failed specimens was also investigated using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Furthermore, the current study ended with an economic analysis of the welding techniques used. The results showed that, for the friction stir-welded joints, the radiographic films revealed defect-free joints at the two applied travel speeds of 100 mm/min and 400 mm/min and a constant tool rotating speed of 400 rpm. In addition, only one joint was welded by MIG at a welding current of 130 Amp, with a 19 L/min flow rate of pure argon. In contrast, the radiographic films showed internal defects such as lack of fusion (LOF), lack of penetration (LOP), and porosity (P) for the two joints welded by TIG and one joint welded by MIG. The hardness of the welded joints was enhanced over the AA5083-H111 base material (BM) by 24-29, 31-35, and 46-50% for the MIG, TIG, and FSW joints, respectively. The maximum ultimate tensile strength was obtained for the FSW joint welded at a 400 mm/min travel speed. Adopting FSW in shipbuilding applications can further produce the AA5083-H11 joints with higher quality and efficiency than fusion welding techniques such as MIG and TIG processes. In addition, time and cost comparisons between TIG, MIG, and FSW were performed for five-millimeter-thick and one-meter-long AA5083-H111.
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DOI: 10.3390/ma16145124
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