Residual stress, tensile strength, and macrostructure investigations on ultrasonic assisted friction stir welding of AA 6061-T6

In recent decades, ultrasonic vibrations are used in manufacturing processes because they can improve tool life, material performance, and quality. One of them which can be integrated with ultrasonic vibrations is friction stir welding called ultrasonic assisted friction stir welding. In previous studies, the effect of ultrasonic vibrations on the mechanical, metallurgical, and thermal properties was investigated and there is not any residual stress investigations on ultrasonic assisted friction stir welding. Since residual stress plays an important role in performance and stability of components, the influence of ultrasonic power on the longitudinal residual stress in friction stir welding is investigated in this work. In spite of residual stress, tensile strength and quality of weldment were investigated as complementary terms to ensure successful performance of ultrasonic assisted friction stir welding. The findings indicated that high-frequency vibrations with power of 200 W can reduce the maximum tensile residual stress about 45% and significantly increase tensile strength. Also, ultrasonic vibrations prevent defect such has voids and tunnel in weld zone due to peening effect in ultrasonic assisted friction stir welding.