Improvement Friction Welded 6063 – T6 Aluminum Alloy Joint Properties

This study aims to investigate the effect of shot peening on the mechanical characteristics and microstructure of an aluminum alloy 6063 friction welded joints. 6063 bars with 12mm diameters and 70mm lengths were prepared; some of them were shot peened by steel balls (diameters 1.25 mm) for 15 minutes before the friction welding was carried out on a traditional lathe machine at 1200 rpm. X-ray radiography was used to identify the various internal defects like porosity, concavities, and cracks. The quality of each welded joint was evaluated by hardness test, microstructure analysis, X-ray diffraction, tensile test, and bending test. It was discovered that the fine grain structure of the aluminum alloy weld connection matrix results in a strong and reliable shot peening, contributing to improving the tensile and bending strength of weld joints with a percentage of 63.6% and 12.5 %, respectively.