A study of the parameters influencing mechanical properties and the fatigue performance of refill friction stir spot welded AlMgSc alloy

Abstract

Friction spot welds of 1.6-mm-thick AlMgSc alloy were investigated in this work. A design of experiment method was used to evaluate the effect of process parameters on the shear static strength. The optimized condition of parameters was employed in the assessment of the fatigue behavior. The typical hook feature was minimized by restricting the tool penetration into only the upper sheet. As a consequence, shear strength was sensitive to the extension of the welded region rather than the hook morphology. The fatigue performance was affected by the multiple crack initiation sites that resulted from a complex stress state during the axial loading. Striations were observed in practically the entire crack propagation region, suggesting that unstable fatigue crack growth did not take place in this specific weld configuration.