Nanoparticle Emission in Friction Stir Welding of Aluminium Alloys

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is now well established as a welding process capable of joining some different types of metallic materials, because it has proved itself to be a reliable and economical way of producing high quality welds, and is considered a “clean” welding process as it does not involves the fusion of metal like other traditional welding processes. Nevertheless, this study confirms the emission of particles in the nanorange during FSW of the most commonly used aluminium alloys, AA 5083 and AA 6082, which are originated from the aluminium alloy itself, due to friction of the welding tool against the workpiece. Also, significant values of alveolar deposited surface area were measured during FSW of the tested aluminium alloys. Nanoparticles dimensions are, mainly, within 40 and 70nm. This study also showed that microparticles are emitted during FSW, due to tool wear.