Optimization of Friction Stir Welding Parameters for Improved Ultimate Tensile Strength

Friction stir welding process is a solid-state welding process, use non-consumable rotating tool to produce joints, it has been widely used for joining of similar and dissimilar materials in automobile, aerospace, railway and other industries. In the present work, Taguchi methodology based on L16 orthogonal array has been used to investigate the influence of rotational speed (rpm), welding speed (mm/min), axial force and water head (mm) on the UTS (Ultimate Tensile Strength) of the weld joints during the FSW (friction stir Welding) of AA 7039 alloy plates. The results shows that rotational speed is the most significant FSW condition that affect the UTS followed by welding speed, water head and axial load. Also, for the developed model, R2 value has been achieved as 0.999 and adjusted R2 value is equal to 0.997, which indicate excellent agreement between experimental and predicted values.