Friction Stir Welding of Oxygen Free Copper and 60%Cu-40%Zn Copper Alloy

Abstract

The mechanical properties of the friction stir welds of the oxygen free copper (OFC) and 60%Cu-40%Zn copper alloy(60/40 brass) were investigated. The defect-free welds were obtained in a relatively wide range of welding conditions; the tool rotation speed had rpm of 1000 to 2000 in the OFC and 1000 to 1500 in the 60/40 brass, with the welding speed of 500 to 2000 mm/min. The SZ hardness values of the OFC welds were almost the same or slightly lower than those of the base metal. However, the SZ hardness values of the 60/40 brass in all welding conditions were much higher than those of the base metal. The SZ hardness values of both metals increase with a decrease in heat input. The tensile properties of the all-SZ showed relative correspondence to the variation of the SZ hardness values.

Wear Behavior of Ceramic-Metal Composites as Tool Material for FSW of Copper

“…However, it is difficult to join pure Cu by fusion welding because of its high thermal conductivity and high oxidation rate at melting temperatures [1]. A relatively new solid state process, friction stir welding (FSW) can be appeared to produce defect-free joints from Cu and its alloys successfully [2][3][4][5][6][7]. However FSW of pure copper and its alloys has not been until present time investigated extensively if compared to FSW of low melting point metals such as aluminium and magnesium alloys.…”

“…However FSW of pure copper and its alloys has not been until present time investigated extensively if compared to FSW of low melting point metals such as aluminium and magnesium alloys. The primary attention has been paid to the study of the effect of welding regimes [2][3][4][5][6][7] and tool geometry [4,8] on structure, mechanical properties and quality of FSW welds. Although FSW tool wear leads in addition to shorter tool life also to unexpected weld properties (structure, mechanical properties) only few studies have been addressed tool wear mechanism and tool materials selection [7,[9][10][11].…”