Joint strength evaluation of friction stir welded Al-Cu dissimilar alloys

Friction stir welding has been successfully employed to fabricate dissimilar thickness AA1050 and oxygen free copper (Cu-OF). The highest value of the joint tensile strength obtained was 91% of the AA1050 alloy strength with the tensile fracture path on the aluminum side. At the Al-Cu interfacial microstructure, a layer of Al₄Cu₉ and Al₂Cu intermetallic compounds (IMCs) with thickness of 2.2 μm–0.26 μm was developed at different welding speeds. The voluminous IMCs have an adverse impact on the tensile characteristics of the joint. The IMCs (0.26 μm−0.77 μm) at welding speeds of 160 mm/min and 213 mm/min with 1 mm tool offset, has trivial effect on the tensile property. The mechanical property of the joint was significantly affected by the tool offset and welding speed. Image processing techniques such as Gaussian blur, histogram normalization and binarisation were utilized to understand the distribution of copper in the weld stir zone.