Experimental and numerical investigation of AA6082-T6 thin plates welding using Concentrated Solar Energy (CSE)

In the present study Concentrated Solar Energy (CSE) was used in order to weld thin plates (3 mm thickness) of the 6082 aluminum alloy in the T6 condition. A specially designed vacuum chamber and a cooling system were utilized in order to create the inert atmosphere and the heat dissipation required, respectively. The experiments resulted in the production of a sound butt weld between the aluminum plates which presented a 23% and 32% reduction of the microhardness and the Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) respectively compared to the base metal but are in good correlation with other fusion welding methods of the same material. Finally, based on the experimental results, a finite element 3D thermal model of the process was developed that can be used for the design and optimization of welds of aluminum alloys using the same experimental set-up.