CHARACTERIZATION OF FRICTION WELDED TITANIUM ALLOY AND STAINLESS STEEL WITH A NOVEL INTERLAYER GEOMETRY

The main purpose of the current research work is to identify and investigate a novel method of holding an intermediate metal and to evaluate its metallurgical and mechanical properties. Copper was used as an interlayer material for the welding of this dissimilar Ti–6Al–4V (Ti alloy) and 304L stainless steel (SS). The study shows that the input parameters and surface geometry played a very significant role in producing a good quality joints with minimum heat affected zone and metal loss. A sound weld was achieved between Ti–6Al–4V and SS304L, on the basis of the earlier experiments conducted by the authors in their laboratory, by using copper rod as intermediate metal. Box–Behnken method was used for performing a minimum number of experiments for the study. In the present study, Ti–6Al–4V alloy and SS304L were joined by a novel method of holding the interlayer and new surface geometry for the interlayer. Initially, the drop test was used for determining the quality of the fabricated joint and, subsequently, non-destructive techniques like radiography and C-scan were used. Further optical micrograph, SEM–EDS, hardness and tensile test were done for understanding the performance of the joint.