Predicting tensile strength of double side friction stir welded 6082-T6 aluminium alloy

This work presents the formulation of a mathematical model with process parameters and tool geometry to predict the response, joint strength, of double side friction stir welded aluminium alloy 6082-T6. The welding was carried out on 8 mm aluminium alloy plates. The process parameters considered were tool rotational speed or spindle speed, welding speed and shoulder penetration, and the tool geometries considered were pin profile and shoulder profile. A five-factor, five-level central composite design was used to determine the number of experiments. The tensile strength of the welded specimens was tested, and its correlation with process parameters was assessed. A mathematical model had been developed to predict the tensile strength using response surface methodology at 95% confidence level, and it was validated using analysis of variance.