Comparative Study of Joining Processes of High Conductivity Electrolytic Tough Pitch Copper used in Automotive Industries

In this paper the effects of conventional Gas Tungsten Art Welding (GTAW) process with constant current and pulsed current and Friction Stir Welding (FSW) process on Electrolytic Tough Pitch (ETP) copper which is used as bus bars and rotors in automotive industries are investigated. Autogenous welding was carried out on 4mm thick 99.9% pure ETP copper using GTAW process with constant and pulsed current. Another set of plates of size 300mm75mm4mm were welded using FSW process. The tensile strength, micro hardness and micro structure of the joints were studied. The studies indicated that FSW joints were having better strength and hardness than GTAW joints with constant current and pulsed current due to the formation of fire equalled grains.