Influence of friction stir processing parameters on the mechanical properties of commercially available aluminium tubes

‘Friction Stir Processing (FSP)’ is an unconventional grain refinement technique. This metallurgical process is derived from a welding technique known as ‘Friction Stir Welding (FSW).’ FSP changes various mechanical properties of the base material, including ductility/elongation, fatigue properties, static mechanical properties, corrosion properties, hardness, etc. This study focuses on determining the effect of FSP on mechanical properties of commercially available square aluminium tubes. Different combinations of processing parameters namely, tool rotation speed and tool travel rate are considered during the experimentation. In all five different combinations of processing parameters are tested here. Other parameters such as tool depth, tool path, tool geometry etc. are not altered in the entire course of this investigation. The tensile strength was measured to evaluate mechanical properties of the tube material. Tensile specimens are sectioned from the friction stir processed side-walls of aluminium tubes in such a way so that the processed area occupies the central region along the length the tensile specimen. All the specimens are tested for their tensile behaviour under uni-axial quasi-static tensile loading using Universal Testing Machine (UTM). An appreciable difference is observed in tensile behaviour of specimens due to friction stir processing.