Investigation on Tensile Strength of Friction Stir Welded Joints in PP/EPDM/Clay Nanocomposites

Polymer-based nanocomposites due to their advantages such as corrosion resistance,adequate mechanical properties and low cost are widely used in modern technologies. The increasing application of these nanocomposites, and hence their welding seems unavoidable. In this paper, a novel hottool in friction stir welding process is used for butt welding nanocomposite plates of 5 mm thick containing polypropylene , ethylene-propylene diene monomerand Cloisite 15A. Response surface method is used to design experiments and determine the effect of process parameters such as tool rotational speed, welding speed, tool shoulder temperature and clay content on weld tensile strength. The results show that although increasing clay content in the base material increases its tensile strength but decreases the weld tensile strength; such that in the specimens with 0, 3 and 6% clay content, the weld tensile strength equals to 94, 80 and 61 percent of the respective base materials.