Conventional fusion welding of aluminum alloys results in coarse-grained structure, inevitable defects, and significant softening in the welding region. Friction stir welding with bobbin tool is a technique of friction stir welding method that has a great potential for developing applications of friction stir welding method in marine, aerospace, and automotive industries due to having an extra shoulder. Sheets of 5083 aluminum alloy with a thickness of 3 mm were welded using the bobbin tool friction stir welding method to assess the feasibility of similar joining. The effect of different process variables such as shoulder pinching gap, transverse speed and tool rotation speed was investigated. The results showed that a sound joint is achieved at a transverse speed of 13 mm / min and a tool rotation speed of 1350 rpm. The results of tensile test showed that the obtained joint efficiency is 94.5%, which is higher than the joint efficiency of fusion methods and comparable to the joint efficiency of conventional friction stir welding. Microscopic evaluation of the fracture surface of welded specimens showed that for similar joints, the dominant fracture mechanism is ductile fracture.

Keywords: Friction stir welding, bobbin tool, aluminum alloy, joint efficiency, microstructure

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