Mechanical behaviour of similar and dissimilar AA5182-H111 and AA6016-T4 thin friction stir welds

The tensile behaviour of similar and dissimilar friction stir welds in 1 mm thick sheets of two aluminium alloys (AA5182-H111 and AA6016-T4) is analysed in this paper. The heterogeneity in properties across the welds was studied by performing microhardness tests and microstructural analysis. The tensile tests were performed in samples extracted longitudinal and transverse to the weld direction. It was found that the tensile behaviour of the welds depends mainly on the grain size in the TMAZ, for the AA5182-H111 alloy, and on precipitate distribution, for the AA6016-T4 alloy. In all types of welds, the HAZ preserves the same properties of the base materials. The global mechanical behaviour of the AA5182-H111 similar welds is very similar to that of the base material. However, for the AA6016-T4 similar welds and for the AA6016-T4-AA5182-H111 dissimilar welds a 10–20% strength reduction relative to the base materials and important losses in ductility were reported.