Process evaluation and optimisation of friction welding parameters on aluminium grade 6061 by direct drive friction welding method

The expansion of joining processes is very essential in the field of manufacturing to satisfy the industrial needs and customer expectations. Friction welding processes is one of the solid-state welding processes in which similar/dissimilar materials are joined without the use of filler materials. In this experimental investigation, aluminium grade 6061 is used as the test specimen for the welding process because of its wide variety of applications in manufacturing and automobile industries. In this research work, a radial drilling machine is used for joining the similar combination materials of aluminium grade 6061. The input process parameters such as specimen diameter, upset time and spindle speed are used to evaluate the output response like axial shortening, hardness and impact strength. The input process parameters are selected and investigated using the Taguchi design of experiments (DoEs) method based on L9 orthogonal array and particle swarm optimisation (PSO) techniques. The major plan of this investigational work is to optimise the friction welding process parameters on axial shortening, impact strength and hardness of the friction bonded specimen.