Developing Empirical Relationship to Predict the Strength of Friction STIR Lap Welded Joints of AA2014-T6 Aluminum Alloy

AA2014 aluminum alloy (Al-Cu alloy) has been widely utilized in fabrication of lightweight structures like aircraft structures, demanding high strength to weight ratio and good corrosion resistance. The fusion welding of these alloys will lead to solidification problems such as hot cracking, alloy segregation, partially melted zone, and porosity. Friction stir welding is a new solid state welding process, in which the material being welded does not melt and recast. Lot of research works have been carried out by many researchers to optimize process parameters and establish empirical relationships to predict tensile strength of friction stir welded butt joints of aluminum alloys. However, very few investigations have been carried out on friction stir welded lap joints of aluminum alloys. Hence, in this investigation, an attempt has been made to develop empirical relationship to predict strength of friction stir lap welded (FSLW) joints of AA2014 aluminum alloy using statistical tools such as design of experiments (DoE), analysis of variance (ANOVA). The developed empirical relationship can be effectively used to predict the strength of friction stir welded lap joints of AA2014 -T6 aluminum alloy at the 95% confidence level.