MATERIALS TESTING, cilt.56, sa.10, ss.818-825, 2014 (SCI-Expanded)
Friction stir spot welding is a newly developed joining technology which is expected to be used in the automotive industry for joining body parts made of aluminum sheets. The effect of the rotational speed and dwell time on the mechanical properties of dissimilar friction stir spot welded aluminum sheet alloys was investigated in this study. In the experimental studies, macro-structural characterization, micro-hardness tests and tensile shear tests were conducted. The experimental results showed that the tensile shear load and tensile deformation of the friction stir spot welded joints decreased roughly by 20 % and 25 %, respectively, when the rotational speed increased from 1000 rpm to 2000 rpm. On the other hand, when the dwell time increased from 3 s to 11 s, the tensile shear load increased roughly by 7 %, while the tensile deformation decreased roughly by 19 %, respectively.