Micro friction stir welding of copper electrical contacts

Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of micro friction stir welding (μFSW) of electrolytic tough pitch copper (CuETP) in a lap and butt joint. Experimental plan was done in order to investigate the influence of tool design and welding parameters on the formation of defect free joints. The experiments were done using universal milling machine where the tool rotation speed varied between 600 and 1 900 rpm, welding speed between 14 and 93 mm/min and tilt angle between 3° and 5°. From the welds samples for analysis of microstructure and samples for tensile tests were prepared. The grain size in the nugget zone was greatly reduced compared to the base metal and the joint tensile strength exceeded the strength of the base metal.

Keywords

• micro friction stir welding (μFSW)
• Cu ETP
• tensile test
• microstructure