Experimental investigations for mechanical and metallurgical properties of friction stir welded recycled dissimilar polymer materials with metal powder reinforcement

Friction stir welding (FSW) is one of the established processes for joining of polymers, metals and alloys. In the recent past many applications of this process have been explored. But hitherto very less has been reported on the friction stir welded joints with dissimilar polymer/plastic (DP) materials (with metal powder reinforcement). In the present work investigations have been made to perform FSW of two DP materials namely: low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE). The present study of FSW for DP (LDPE and HDPE) has been performed on vertical milling machine. The effect of FSW process parameters on mechanical and metallurgical properties (such as: Shore D hardness, tensile strength and porosity of weld joint) has been investigated for structural engineering applications. The results are supported by photomicrographs.