High-cycle fatigue behavior of friction stir butt welded 6061 aluminium alloy

Friction stir welding (FSW) of 6061 aluminium alloy butt joint was carried out at each rotation speed of 600, 800, 1000, 1200 r/min for two different travel speeds, 80 and 100 mm/min, at a constant probe depth of 1.85 mm. The calculated energy input based on the FSW parameters studied shows that the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the butt joint is obtained within a certain range of energy input of 297 kJ to 354 kJ out of total range of energy input studied from 196 kJ to 405 kJ. The fatigue behaviors of high-strength and low-strength joints performed at different stress ratios, i.e., 0.5, 0.3, 0.1, −0.3, −0.5, indicate that the fatigue behaviors of both the welds are sensitive to the microstructural features, such as stir zone (SZ), thermo mechanically affected zone (TMAZ) and heat affected zone (HAZ). The observed fatigue strengths were discussed in terms of the microstructure, crack path behavior and fracture surface.