Thermoelasticity and CCD analysis of crack propagation in AA6082 friction stir welded joints

The advantages of friction stir welding (FSW) process compared to conventional fusion welding technologies have been clearly demonstrated in recent years. In the present study, AA6082 FSW joints were produced by employing different welding parameters. The principal aim of this work is to apply thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA) to study crack propagation characteristics of friction stir welded aluminum sheets, during cyclic fatigue tests. The crack propagation experiments were performed by employing single edge notched specimens; fatigue tests were performed under tension with load ratio R = 0.1. All the mechanical tests were conducted up to failure. The TSA measurement system allowed crack evolution to be observed in real-time during fatigue cycles and stress fields to be derived on the specimens from the measured temperature variation. The thermoelastic data were used to analyse principal stresses and principal strains on the specimens surface and the crack growth rate during tests. In addition, it was possible to evaluate all the joints defects effects, as a function of welding parameters, correlating effects on different crack growth rate and instabilities. The achieved results were compared with those obtained by classical CCD camera monitoring of crack front propagation during cyclic loading and all the results were validated by employing finite element analysis performed with ABAQUS software.