Microstructure examination and microhardness of friction stir welded joint of (AA7020-O) after PWHT

This paper studies the microstructure and microhardness of the welded joints of the annealed aluminum alloy AA7020-O produced by friction stir welding (FSW) technique. The material was applied to post weld heat treatment (solution treatment and artificially aged, T6). The traverse speed and the rotational speed are the most important process parameters of FSW, and have great influence on the heat input of the welding operation which governs the welded joints quality. To investigate their effect, the welding operation was performed using three traverse speeds, 20, 40 and 60 mm/s with two rotational speeds of 1125 and 1400 rpm, and other welding parameters were kept constant to produce comparable joints. It was found that the two rotational speeds are accepted with lower traverse speeds to produce sound joints. Microstructure of the welded joints was significantly affected by the FSW process parameters, and slight effect was reported for the grain size. Microhardness examination showed high weld joint quality with respect to the base metal hardness, which proves the reprecipitation of the hardening phase in the weld zone. The microhardness profile was strongly dependant on the rotational speed, and the average values of the joints hardness have increased with the decrease in the rotational speed, where it have been slightly affected by the welding speed.