Thermal Analysis for Joining of Dissimilar Polymeric Materials Through

Friction Stir Welding

Rupinder Singh, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, India
Ranvijay Kumar, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, India and Punjabi University, Patiala, India
Inderpreet Singh Ahuja, Punjabi University, Patiala, India
r 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1 Introduction 1
2 Materials and Methods 2
2.1 Materials 2
2.2 TSE 2
2.3 FSW 3
3 Experimentation 3
3.1 Melt Flow Indexing 4
3.2 DSC 4
3.3 TSE Process 5
3.4 FDM 5
3.5 Welding Operations 7
4 Results and Discussions 9
4.1 Joint of ABS þ ABS 9
4.2 Joint of ABS-40%Fe þ ABS-40%Fe 10
5 Conclusions 11
Acknowledgments 11
References 11
Further Reading 13

1 Introduction

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is an experimental thermoanalytical practice for investigating the difference in the amount
of heat required to increase the temperature of a sample and reference is measured as a function of temperature. The glass
transition temperature, degree of crystallinity, degree of polymerization, melting points, and solidification points are some of the
important physiognomies of metals, alloys, thermoplastics, and composites that are generally measured by DSC analysis. Thermal
analysis is liable to examine the thermal properties of any material, including thermoplastic or thermosetting polymer matrix, as
well as to determine the effect of micro- or nanocomposite added to polymers (Mei and Chung, 2001; Zhang et al., 2006; Siregar
et al., 2011; Khongtong et al., 2015; Poddar et al., 2016). DSC is an effective tool for examining the change in the specific heat after
reinforcing nanoparticles to the polymer matrix. A study reported for DSC analysis reveals that 0.01% graphene to polyester and
0.01% graphite improved the specific heat to 334% and 264%, respectively (Bastiurea et al., 2014). The thermal analysis can be
helpful for those application areas where it is required to determine the thermal degradation of the polymer or resins (Santana
et al., 2011). One study highlighted that increase in the barium titanate as filler to the poly (methyl methacrylate) matrix from 5%
to 20% resulted in an increase in the thermal degradation (Elshereksi et al., 2014). It can be understood from the thermal analysis
that for some of the polymer, the specific type of filler contributed to the thermal degradation and change in the rheological
properties (Liu and Lelievre, 1992). Modulated temperature differential scanning calorimetry (MTDSC) is a variant of DSC.
MTDSC is an evaluation technique that can analyze the effect of temperature and other thermal properties on the specific heat of
the sample. It has been established that the heat capacity is more strongly dependent on the temperature than the thermal
conductivity. Crystallinity is the one of the thermal analyses that can be helpful to check the affectivity of the fiber on the
polypropylene (PP) composites (Panda and Das, 2007; Mengeloglu and Kabakci, 2008); lignocellulosic fiber obtained from
orange wood reinforced to PP resulted in the improved crystallinity as analyzed by DSC (Reixach et al., 2015). It was reported for
DSC that a hydrophobic drug, phenacetin, added to the polyethylene glycol (PEG) at defined proportion of 1–4:1 was liable to
produce a solid dispersion phase (crystalline structure) (Gerasimov et al., 2013). In relation to the constitute variation analyses of
polymers, DSC is applicable to the examinations of the thermal variations occurring in polymer arrangements during chemical
reactions (e.g., polymerization), oxidative degradation, vaporization, sublimation, and desorption (Gregorova, 2013). The DSC
results are justified by way of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy to explore the
affectivity of the nanoparticle on the polymer nanocomposite (Corcione and Frigione, 2012; Mutlur, 2004). A recent study
reported an analysis of the rabies virus by DSC for the application of vaccine productions (Toinon et al., 2015). Friction welding is
a process of joining of materials and structures below their melting points. When these materials come in contact with relative

Reference Module in Materials Science and Materials Engineering doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-803581-8.10390-X 1

2 Thermal Analysis for Joining of Dissimilar Polymeric Materials Through Friction Stir Welding

motion to each other, with the action of friction, heat is produced and deformation takes place, due to the fact that this
intermolecular diffusion is occurring between their faces and thus welding is performed. The friction welding concept was
originally for similar metal joining, but it was further applied for similar thermoplastic composites (Taylor et al., 1989). Later on
this concept was used for dissimilar materials like steel–aluminum and steel–copper and aluminum–magnesium cylindrical piece
joining (Yilbas et al., 1995; Kostka et al., 2009), and for dissimilar plastic welding of acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) to high
density polyethylene (HDPE) (Gao et al., 2015). A number of studies have been reported to check the mechanical, thermal, and
metallurgical properties of friction welded pieces (Sluzalec, 1990; Stokes and Hobbs, 1993; Stokes, 1993). Interface properties are
examined to check the fusion, deformation mechanisms, and microstructure characteristics of the friction welded interface (Kostka
et al., 2009; Yılmaz et al., 2002; Rotundo et al., 2010). ABS and Nylon 6 are commonly used thermoplastics with excellent
mechanical properties and are used generally for friction welding application (Gao et al., 2015). The joining of ABS or Nylon 6 to
itself or welding of ABS to HDPE is feasible (Panneerselvam and Lenin, 2014) but there is a limitation of joint strength (for friction
welded joints) of these thermoplastics that hinders its use in different engineering applications. Friction stir welding (FSW) is one
of the variants of solid-state joining/friction welding technique that uses a nonconsumable tool to join two facing workpieces
without melting the workpiece material (Pabandi et al., 2017; Pengliang et al., 2017). Thermal analysis with the DSC setup
explored the heat affectivity of the FSW process of the different welding zones (Qin et al., 2017; Li et al., 2017; Uday et al., 2012).
DSC measurements investigated the relation of the crystallinity with the heat treatment of base material; an observation has been
made for decrease of B41% in the crystallinity of the PP in joints made using the pretreated alloy compared with B10% for the
untreated alloy (Aliasghari et al., 2017). Studies highlighted the DSC analysis carried out with a differential scanning calorimetry
(DSC) to investigate the conversion of precipitates in different regions; the heat flow was observed to be greater in thermo-
mechanically heat affect zone (TMAZ) as compared to the other heat zones (Junior et al., 2014; Du et al., 2016; Prabu et al., 2017).
DSC evaluation was conducted to examine the evolution of precipitates in the nugget zone (NZ) and the heat affected zone (HAZ);
the larger is the proportion of precipitates in respective zones lowered the tensile strength of the joints (Li et al., 2015; Martinez
et al., 2017). An interesting observation has been reported that FSW of the Al alloys, DSC test performed for per 3-mm distance
from base material to HAZ resulted in increased peak temperature of the welded piece (Malard et al., 2015). Recently a study has
been carried to evaluate the effect of welding parameters and weld depth on precipitation kinetics in FSWed metal alloys (Sidhar
et al., 2017; Martinez et al., 2017). The study suggested that fine and dense precipitation of precipitate led to full recovery of
strength in welding (Sidhar et al., 2016; Sidhar and Mishra, 2016).
Previous studies highlighted the use of DSC as a thermal analysis tool for different areas of application. Various researchers
have reported on the mechanical, metallurgical, rheological, and thermal properties evaluation of friction stir welded joint of
metals and alloys in the past 20–25 years. But hitherto only a few studies have described the DSC as a thermal analysis tool for
friction stir welded joints of polymeric material. In the present study, attempts have been made to evaluate the thermal char-
acteristics of the friction stir welded joints in base polymer (BP), HAZ, and thermomechanically heat affected zone (TMAZ).

2 Materials and Methods

The process starts with the selection of the material for twin-screw extrusion (TSE) followed by fused deposition modeling (FDM)
and FSW on a computerized numerical control (CNC) milling machine. Melt flow index (MFI) analysis has been investigated to
enhance the weldability of two dissimilar polymers.

2.1 Materials
For the present study, ABS and polyamide 6 (PA6) polymer have been selected. ABS and PA6 are two different characterized
polymers based upon their thermal, mechanical, chemical, and metallurgical properties. Commercial grade of ABS (Grade EX58)
and PA6 (Grade PX99848) were purchased from Batra Polymers Pvt Ltd., India. The ABS and PA6 granules were tested through the
DSC to check their melting characteristics. The melting points for ABS and PA6 were obtained as 209.47 and 223.291C. Table 1
shows the mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties of the ABS and PA6 polymers.

2.2 TSE
A TSE process was developed for continuous production of highly uniform and finely structured products. The main aim of TSE
processing is to mix two or more materials with homogeneity and produce a very high quality shaped product with accurate
control of process conditions. There are a wide range of barrel and screw designs; various process functions and screw profiles are
to be setup according to process needs.
There are a variety of screw extrusion processes available for producing feedstock filament for FDM. Single screw extrusion is a
conventional process for producing feedstock filament but defects like tiny pores and blowholes and problems like nonmixing are
the major drawbacks associated with this process. TSE has emerged as an advanced technique for producing feedstock filament free
from defects. Twin-screw extruders are capable of ensuring mixing, shearing, cooling, heating, compressing, transporting, shaping,
pumping, etc. with very high level of flexibility. The main advantages of twin-screw extruders (intermeshing corotating) are their
 Thermal Analysis for Joining of Dissimilar Polymeric Materials Through Friction Stir Welding 3

Table 1 Mechanical, chemical and thermal properties of acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene

(ABS) and polyamide 6 (PA6)

Properties ABS PA6

Tensile strength (kgf/mm2) 3.51–5.27 4.21–16.87

Flexural strength (kgf/mm2) 189.88–267.24 274.27–773.59
Chemical resistance Poor to fair Good to excellent
Glass transition temperature (1C) 105 46
Melting point (1C) Amorphous 2151C
Chemical formula (C8H8  C4H6  C3H3N)n (C6H11NO)n
Density (g/cm3) 0.9–1.53 1.084
Specific heat capacity (J/kg K) 1300 1600

Sources: Harris, F.W., Livengood, B.P., Ding, H., Lin, F.L., Cheng, S.Z.D., 1996. Mechanical reinforcement and
thermal transition behaviors in nylon 6-b-polyimide-b-nylon 6 triblock copolymers. Thermochimica Acta 272 (1),
157–169; Kang, T.-K., Kim, Y., Cho, W.-J., Ha, C.-S., 1997. Effects of amorphous nylon on the properties of nylon 6.
Polymer Testing 1 (1), 391–401; Kudva, R.A., Keskkula, H., Paul, D.R., 1998. Compatibilization of nylon 6/ABS
blends using glycidyl methacrylate/methyl methacrylate copolymers. Polymer 39 (12), 2447–2460; Fu, S.-Y., Lauke,
B., 1998. Characterization of tensile behaviour of hybrid short glass fibre/calcite particle/ABS composites. Composite
Part A 29 (1), 575–583; Hale, W., Lee, J.-H., Keskkula, H., Paul, D.R., 1999. Effect of PBT melt viscosity on the
morphology and mechanical properties of compatibilized and uncompatibilized blends with ABS. Polymer 40 (1),
3621–3629.

Fig. 1 Corotating and counterrotating types of twin-screw extrusion (TSE). Reproduced from Wang, J., Olah, A., Baer, E., 2016a. Continuous
micro-/nano-fiber composites of polyamide 6/polyethylene oxide with tunable mechanical properties using a novel co-extrusion technique. Polymer
82 (1), 166–171.

exceptional mixing capability, which gives remarkable characteristics to the extruded products. In the TSE process, the raw
materials may be solids (granules, powders, and flours), slurries, liquids, and possibly gases (Wang et al., 2016a,b). Fig. 1 shows
the available screw extrusion processes and their variants for producing feedstock filament.

2.3 FSW
FSW is another variant of friction welding in which a consumable or nonconsumable tool is taken and rotates in between two
dissimilar polymeric sheets to create the friction between workpieces to ascertain the formation of heat input for welding of
workpieces. Tool geometry and shoulder cross section area are the factors that are most important for weld characteristics. A CNC
vertical milling cutter was selected as the tooling apparatus in the present study. Fig. 2 shows the mechanism of FSW of two
dissimilar plastics.

3 Experimentation

The pilot experimentations have been conducted to weld the ABS and PA6 material without any reinforcement. The FSW was
carried out on a CNC milling machine at 1200 RPM of 30 mm  30 mm  6 mm dimensions of the ABS and PA6 sheets. The
welding was unsuccessful and it was experienced that the material was not compatible as there were flowability differences
between both polymers. So it is first required to make similar the flowability of the two different polymers to be welded. The melt
flow analysis was performed to ensure the similarities in the flow characteristics.
4 Thermal Analysis for Joining of Dissimilar Polymeric Materials Through Friction Stir Welding

Fig. 2 (A) Schematic of friction stirs welding. (B) Top view of process. Reproduced from Kumar, N., Yuan, W., Mishra, R.S., 2015. Friction Stir
Welding of Dissimilar Alloys and Materials. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann (Chapter 2).

Fig. 3 Basic construction of melt flow tester.

3.1 Melt Flow Indexing

MFI of any thermoplastic material is defined as a deposition/10 min through the melt flow tester at certain standard temperature
and load conditions (i.e., 2351C and 3.8 kg load in the present case). The MFI is an indicator of the flowability of the thermoplastic
materials. This is a well-known melting property of thermoplastic material checked by equipment called a melt flow tester. Fig. 3
shows a schematic diagram of a melt flow tester. Many researchers have investigated and established the relationship of MFI with
numerous mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties, such as yield stress, viscosity, molecular weight distribution, and shear
rate (Shenoy et al., 1983; Bremner et al.,1990; Teresa Rodríguez-Hernández et al., 2007; Ariff et al., 2012). The ASTM D1238 is
applicable for most of the thermoplastic materials. The 3.80 kg load is applied at 2301C through a piston and material is collected
per 10 min for determination of MFI (see Fig. 3).
The melt flow tester shown in Fig. 3 consists of a cylindrical barrel, which is wrapped and surrounded by a heater coil. The
heater has an outer periphery of insulation material to restrict the losses of heat and this heater is controlled automatically by a
process control box. This setup also consists of a standard weight applied through the piston, a piston head, and dies to deposit the
materials. The MFI has been investigated by reinforcing the Fe percentage from 5% to 50% incorporated in ABS and PA6 polymer
matrix. Initially the MFI of ABS and PA6 without reinforcement of Fe was 8.898 and 9.972 g/10 min; the addition of Fe powder
varied the MFI of the polymer and very similar was achieved at 40%Fe level. At 40%Fe percentage the MFI of the ABS matrix was
15.076 and PA6 matrix was 15.006. Fe powder at 40% level was selected for the final experimentation as MFI achieved almost
similar for both polymers. Table 2 shows the MFI of ABS and PA6 with different Fe metal powder reinforcement.

3.2 DSC
DSCs measure temperatures and heat flows associated with thermal transitions in a material. Common usage includes investiga-
tion, selection, comparison, and end-use performance evaluation of materials in research, quality control, and production appli-
cations. Properties measured by TA Instruments’ DSC techniques include glass transitions, “cold” crystallization, phase changes,
melting, crystallization, product stability, cure/cure kinetics, and oxidative stability. For thermal analysis, METTLER TOLEDO,
Model DSC3, Swiss make with STARe (SW 14.00) software was used in a N2 gas environment. The typical DSC setup determines
the behavior of applied samples by taking references from a standard sample, both enclosed in a metallic crucible (Al or platinum).
As shown in Fig. 4, the DSC sensor uses two crucibles for heating and cooling, one for reference and another for the sample.
 Thermal Analysis for Joining of Dissimilar Polymeric Materials Through Friction Stir Welding 5

Table 2 Melt flow index (MFI) with Fe metal powder reinforcement

Wt% of Fe filler MFI with acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) MFI with Nylon 6

0 8.898 9.972
10 10.344 11.249
20 11.973 12.615
30 13.681 14.208
40 15.075 15.006
50 16.141 16.786

Fig. 4 (a) Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) setup and (b) heating chamber for sample.

The DSC evaluation was performed under controlled experimental environment conditions of continuous heating (endo-
thermic changes, 101C/min) and continuous cooling (exothermic changes, 101C/min) in 30–2501C temperature range through
two consecutive cycles at 50 mL/min of N2 gas supply. Natural grain of commercial ABS was evaluated under said conditions of
DSC, because ABS comes under the amorphous thermoplastic category, so a melting range was fetched in between 196.15 and
212.531C in first cycle of heating and 207.23–209.361C during the second cycle of heating (see Fig. 5). Peak melting was achieved
very similar in both of the melting cycles so it was considered that ABS polymer matrix was thermally stable. After reinforcement of
Fe metal powder at 40% level the peak melting was raised from 209.47 (ABS) to 216.421C (ABS-40%Fe) in the first cycle and
208.11–213.261C in the second cycle. Fig. 5 is the comparative DSC curve for natural grains of ABS and ABS-40%Fe.
As DSC analysis was conducted for ABS and ABS-40%Fe, similarly DSC analysis was performed for PA6 and PA6-40%Fe matrix.
The melting peak of PA6 was obtained as 221.661C in the first heating cycle and 218.851C in the second heating cycle whereas for
PA6-40%Fe it was 223.29 and 219.351C. The minor degradation of melting peak was under consideration that the PA6 and PA6-
40%Fe polymer matrix was thermally stable (see Fig. 6).
The most important conclusion is that peak melting of ABS-40%Fe and PA6-40%Fe was found to be very similar, i.e., 216.42
and 223.291C in the first heating cycle and 213.26 and 218.851C in the second cycle. Making similar flowability by Fe powder
reinforcement also led to the similarity in melting behavior in the present case of ABS and PA6 matrix.

3.3 TSE Process

After fixing the polymer and metal proportions at the desired level by MFI characterization the desired mixtures have been
extruded through a twin-screw extruder. The screw extrusion was processed at fixing the input process parameter based upon pilot
experimentations. Table 3 shows the input process parameters and their desired value for the TSE process.

3.4 FDM
After preparation of feedstock filament by TSE at the abovementioned process parameters, the FDM setup was used to fabricate the
parts of ABS, ABS-40%Fe, and PA6-40%Fe. Parts of ABS and ABS-40%Fe were used for the workpiece plate with dimensions of
30 mm  30 mm  6 mm whereas PA6-40%Fe was used for fabrication of tool profile with 10 mm diameter and 50 mm length.
Parts were fabricated under the conditions shown in Table 4.
The commercial FDM setup runs under the mentioned process parameter conditions were set to prepare the parts of selected
polymer–metal composition. Fig. 7 shows the commercial FDM setup and parts fabricated of desired compositions. FDM consists
of the two nozzle configurations and build platform. In this setup one nozzle was used for the building material and another was
used to construct the support platform for the building geometry.
 6
Thermal Analysis for Joining of Dissimilar Polymeric Materials Through Friction Stir Welding
Fig. 5 DSC of ABS and ABS-40%Fe. ABS, acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene; DSC, differential scanning calorimetry.
 Thermal Analysis for Joining of Dissimilar Polymeric Materials Through Friction Stir Welding 7

Fig. 6 DSC of PA6 and PA6-40%Al. ABS, acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene; DSC, Differential scanning calorimetry; PA6, polyamide 6.

Table 3 Process variables and their level for extrusion

Input process variable Operating condition

Screw speed 100 RPM

Screw temperature 2501C
Applied load 10 kg

Table 4 Fused deposition modeling (FDM)

process parameter and level for part fabrication

Process variable Operating condition

Nozzle diameter 0.3 mm

Filament diameter 1.75 mm
Layer height 0.4 mm
Perimeter 3
Solid layers Top: 3, bottom: 3
Fill density 0.8
Fill pattern Honeycomb
Perimeter speed 30 mm/s
Infill speed 60 mm/s
Travel speed 130 mm/s
Extruder temperature 2501C
Bed temperature 551C

3.5 Welding Operations

The semiconsumable tool of PA6-40%Fe was chosen as the cylindrical pin profile configuration whereas ABS and ABS-40%Fe
for workpieces have square profile. The welding operations were conducted with keeping the milling process parameter
8 Thermal Analysis for Joining of Dissimilar Polymeric Materials Through Friction Stir Welding

ABS

ABS-40%Fe

Fig. 7 FDM setup and fabricated parts of ABS and ABS-40%Fe. ABS, acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene; FDM, fused deposition modeling.

Table 5 Process parameter and their level for welding operations

Parameter Operating condition

Tool rotation speed 1200 RPM

Table speed 30 mm/min
Tool consumption rate 0.5 mm/10 mm of table movement

Fig. 8 Friction stir welding (FSW) setup and its configuration.

condition as stationary. The tool rotation speed, tool consumption rate, and table movement were kept as the values shown in
Table 5.
As per the above operating conditions, first, the parts of ABS and ABS plates were joined by applying semiconsumable tool of
PA6-40%Fe and then ABS-40%Fe and ABS-40%Fe parts were joined using the same tool. Fig. 8 shows the FSW setup of the milling
machine.
The welded parts of ABS þ ABS and ABS-40%Fe þ ABS-40%Fe are shown in Fig. 9. The parts of ABS þ ABS welded with pin of
PA6-40%F appeared visually as a rough and defected joint whereas ABS-40%Fe þ ABS-40%Fe welded with PA6-40%Fe appeared
as a sound and elegant joint. The joint of ABS þ ABS was less mixed due to the large difference in the MFI. The similar MFI of
ABS-40%Fe and PA6-40%Fe enables it to make an elegant and less defective joint of ABS-40%Fe þ ABS-40%Fe.
There are three separate heat zones that appeared after the welding process. The welded zones have been chosen as appearance
of the surface changes due to the heat. The zones appeared on the welded surface are TMAZ, HAZ, and BP.
 Thermal Analysis for Joining of Dissimilar Polymeric Materials Through Friction Stir Welding 9

ABS-40%Fe+ABS-40%Fe ABS+ABS

Fig. 9 Welded joints of ABS-40%Fe þ ABS-40%Fe and ABS þ ABS by pin of PA6-40%Fe. ABS, acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene; BP, base polymer;
HAZ, heat affected zone; PA6, polyamide 6; TMAZ, thermomechanically heat affected zone.

• TMAZ: the term TMAZ technically refers to the entire deformed/stirred area. The combination of thermal and mechanical
influences is directed to the TMAZ to ascertain the weld quality. The characteristics and mixing of the polymer plates are
dependent on TMAZ quality.
• HAZ: it is common to all welding processes. As described by its name, this region is subjected to thermal influences
but is not deformed during welding. The temperatures are lower than those in the TMAZ. The HAZ is also an indication
of the weld quality of the joints. The HAZ is neither too short nor too large to appear on the weld surface. In the
present case the HAZ is detected visually as small changes in the visual appearance occurs on the defined region of the
plates.
• BP: it is the rest of the region of the weld surface where neither TMAZ nor HAZ occurs. It is the heat unaffected zones where
there is no significance of heat and is treated as the BP.

4 Results and Discussions

As the welding operations have been conducted for the ABS þ ABS and ABS-40%Fe þ ABS-40%Fe by pin of PA6-40%Fe
with semiconsumable pin of PA6-40%Fe, further investigations have been performed to test the samples of the ABS-40%Fe þ
ABS-40%Fe and ABS þ ABS by the help of DSC. The DSC test will be the indicator for the mixing/stirring behavior of the
final weld quality. The deposition of PA6-40%Fe on the ABS matrix joint can also be judged with the DSC results. So, for
the present case study, the samples of both the welded joints were taken from the desired region of TMAZ, HAZ, and BP to
evaluate it by DSC. Fig. 10 shows the sample welded surface taken from different regions of the welded piece (arranged in the
crucibles).

4.1 Joint of ABS þ ABS

In the case of ABS–ABS joints the TMAZ, HAZ, and BP samples were tested through the DSC and the series of DSC curves merged
together to see the effect of the heat and reinforcement in the welded samples. Fig. 11 shows the merged DSC series of (1) BP, (2)
HAZ, and (3) TMAZ. It was observed from the series that material from the TMAZ region gained the highest melting peak of
220.491C and gained lowest melting at HAZ with 220.301C. The series for the TMAZ shows the perfect melting curve for PA6,
which can be a consideration of deposition of PA6-40%Fe at the joint area. The line of HAZ and BP are similar to the ABS series,
which is an indication that there has been no mixing of consumable material deposited on the joint. As in the case of the TMAZ
curve, the solidification occurs as 190.681C, which is very close to the PA6 matrix confirming the mixing/stirring of the PA6 with
the ABS surface. The TMAZ curve has the highest melting peak due to the presence of the PA6 matrix on the TMAZ sample. One of
the most important observations that can be seen from the merged series is that the heat flow was maximum for the base BP and
minimum for the TMAZ as during heating the curve for BP on the top. The BP took 2.91 mJ energy to melt whereas TMAZ took
45.08 mJ energy to melt. This energy differences show that the TMAZ zone is the highest heat stable as compared to the HAZ
and BP.
10 Thermal Analysis for Joining of Dissimilar Polymeric Materials Through Friction Stir Welding

Fig. 10 Samples taken from different region of weld joints. ABS, acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene; BP, base polymer; HAZ, heat affected zone;
TMAZ, thermomechanically heat affected zone.

Fig. 11 DSC results for TMAZ, HAZ, and BP of ABS þ ABS joints. ABS, acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene; BP, base polymer; DSC, differential
scanning calorimetry; HAZ, heat affected zone; TMAZ, thermomechanically heat affected zone.

4.2 Joint of ABS-40%Fe þ ABS-40%Fe

A similar operation is now conducted for the ABS-40%Fe þ ABS-40%Fe joint to check the effect of reinforcement and deposition
nature of the PA6-40Fe pin tool. Similarly in the present case for the TMAZ zone the melting curve was introduced by heating an
indication of mixing/stirring of ABS with PA6. Reversed to the ABS þ ABS joints the heat flow rate was maximum for the TMAZ
 Thermal Analysis for Joining of Dissimilar Polymeric Materials Through Friction Stir Welding 11

Fig. 12 DSC results for TMAZ, HAZ, and BP of ABS-40%Fe þ ABS-40%Fe joints. ABS, acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene; BP, base polymer; DSC,
differential scanning calorimetry; HAZ, heat affected zone; TMAZ, thermomechanically heat affected zone.

sample whereas it was minimum for the BP zone; this phenomenon may occur due to the better mixing/stirring of the PA6 with
the ABS matrix. The reinforcement of the Fe particle led to the rise in heat needed to melt the material. The heat taking capacity
with 67.70 mJ for TMAZ was experienced maximum as compared to the other zones. There was a true melting and a true
solidification curve occurred, which has significance for the deposition of the PA6 on the TMAZ zone. Fig. 12 shows the merged
line of DSC for TMAZ, HAZ, BP, and their integral melting behavior.

5 Conclusions

From the present study of the thermal analysis for the FSW process, the following conclusions can be made.

• The FSW with use of the semiconsumable pin profile has different areas of applications. The similarities in the MFI of the two
different polymers lead to the enhancement in weldability. Joining of ABS-40%Fe þ ABS-40%Fe with the pin of PA6-40%Fe
resulted in better joining characteristics as compared to the ABS þ ABS with PA6-40%Fe pin. This may have occurred due to the
similar characteristics of flowability by fixing MFI with Fe reinforcement.
• From the DSC point of view, the joint of ABS-40%Fe þ ABS-40%Fe in TMAZ shows the attainment of maximum heat capacity
rate of 67.70 mJ, which is an indicator of the enhanced mixing as compared to the ABS þ ABS joints. In both joints, at TMAZ the
melting peak that emerged for the PA6 matrix shows that mixing of PA6 occurred with ABS and was obtained better in the case
of ABS-40%Fe þ ABS-40%Fe due to similar MFI.

Acknowledgments

The authors are highly thankful to the Board of Research in Nuclear Science (BRNS) and University Grant Commission (UGC),
GOI for providing financial assistance to carry out the research work.

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Further Reading

Kalogiannakis, G., Van Hemelrijck, D., Van Assche, G., 2004. Measurements of thermal properties of carbon/epoxy and glass/epoxy using modulated temperature differential
scanning calorimetry. Journal of Composite Materials 38 (2), 163–175.