STUDY ON WELDABILITY OF CU (OFC) BY FRICTION STIR WELDING

The microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded OFC plates with 2mm in thickness were examined with the changing welding parameters such as welding speed, rotation speed in this study. The sounding welding conditions was acquired at the optimum welding conditions of the 41mm/min to 61mm/min of welding speed at 1250 rpm of rotation speed. The microstructure of weld zone was divided into four parts such as the base metal region (EM), thermal mechanical affected zone (TMAZ), heat affected zone (HAZ), stir zone (SZ). The grain size in the SZ and the width of weld nugget were increased with increasing welding speed. The hardness profiles of the base metal were distributed about 80HV. The HAZ is a slightly softened region of about 60~75 HV relative to the base metal. The hardness profiles of the SZ were higher than that of base metal. The tensile strength was increased with increasing welding speed. In case increasing rotation speed, tensile strength was decreased. The maximum tensile strength was about 220:MPa which was 110% of joint efficience of that of base metal at 41mm/min of welding speed, 1250rpm of rotation speed.