Fatigue Studies on Cryogenic Treated Dissimilar FSW AA6066-T6 and AA1060-T6 Aluminium Alloys

The present research investigates the fatigue life of dissimilar friction stir welding (FSW) of AA6066-T6 and AA1060-T6 aluminium alloys that have undergone deep cryogenic treatment (DCT). The DCT-FSW alloy has fine, dense intermetallic phases, as evidenced by the microstructures of the welded zones of FSW. The uniaxial fatigue experiment was done to measure the number of cycles for failure and to plot the S-N curve. The fatigue fractures of both samples have been examined by SEM to investigate the fracture mode. Moreover, the fatigue life of the FSW and DCT-FSW joints was predicted using the Basquin method and the Acceleration Life Test (ALT). The predicted results revealed that the ALT method is more accurate than the Basquin method.