Effect of process parameters on corrosion resistance of AA 6101 T6 Al alloys welded by Friction stir welding
Keywords:
pitting corrosion, friction stir welding, cyclic polarization, TMAZ, HAZ.Abstract
Corrosion is always a limiting factor for deciding life of a material. The 6xxx series Al alloys are considered
to have better corrosion resistance compare to other grades. Even then welded samples has some effect of pitting in salt
bath. In present paper the welding of plates was carried out using a well-known solid state welding process called as
Friction Stir Welding (FSW). The process is widely used for joining Al alloys in marine, aerospace, automobile and
railway industries. The welding was carried out on conventional milling machine with different tool rotational speeds
and traversing speeds. The corrosion tests of base metal and welded samples were carried out in 3.5% NaCl solution at
room temperature using cyclic polarization measurement. The pitting effect at different zones like heat affected zone
(HAZ) and thermo mechanically affected zone (TMAZ) was studied and results were presented graphically. The impact of
process parameters was observed on corrosion resistance after FS welding than base metal. The material
characterization of welded samples was also done.
