Effect of Ultrasonic Power on the Performance of Dissimilar Al Alloy Friction Stir Lap Welds

Ultrasonic-assisted friction stir lap welding (FSLW) was employed to join dissimilar aluminum alloys, namely Al-7075 and Al-5052. The effect of ultrasonic power on the weld performance was systematically investigated. Increasing the ultrasonic power enhanced the material flow, resulting in a significant reduction in the cavity area in the nugget zone, from 0.37 mm2 to 0.01 mm2, as the ultrasonic power was increased from 0 W to 600 W. Simultaneously, increasing the ultrasonic power accelerated the dynamic recrystallization in the nugget zone, refining the grain size by 46%. This grain refinement consequently enhanced the hardness of the nugget zone, yielding an increase of approximately 10 HV. However, the excessive ultrasonic power level of 600 W also amplified the ultrasonic punch effect, inducing interfacial crack formation between Al-7075 and Al-5052 on the advancing side. These defects (cavity and interfacial crack) significantly influenced the joint failure behavior: the non-ultrasonic-assisted FSLW joints failed at the cavity, while the 600 W-ultrasonic-assisted FSLW joints failed along the interfacial crack. Comparatively, an ultrasonic power of 300 W suppressed both the cavity and interfacial crack, producing FSLW joints with the highest shear strength among all tested ultrasonic power levels (0 W, 300 W, and 600 W).