**Velaphi Msomi \* and Nontle Mbana**

Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Mechanical Engineering Department, P.O. Box 1906, Bellville 7535, South Africa; nontle.mbana@gmail.com **\*** Correspondence: msomiv@gmail.com; Tel.: +27-21-953-8627

Received: 10 December 2019; Accepted: 25 January 2020; Published: 3 February 2020

**Abstract:** Welding of dissimilar aluminium alloys has been a challenge for a long period until the discovery of the solid-state welding technique called friction stir welding (FSW). The discovery of this technique encouraged different research interests revolving around the optimization of this technique. This involves the welding parameters optimization and this optimization is categorized into two classes, i.e., similar alloys and dissimilar alloys. This paper reports about the mechanical properties of the friction stir welded dissimilar AA1050-H14 and AA5083-H111 joint. The main focus is to compare the mechanical properties of specimens extracted from different locations of the welds, i.e., the beginning, middle, and the end of the weld. The specimen extracted at the beginning of the weld showed low tensile properties compared to specimens extracted from different locations of the weld. There was no certain trend noted through the bending results. All three specimens showed dimpled fracture, which is the characterization of the ductile fracture.

**Keywords:** tensile strength; flexural strength; friction stir welding; microstructure; dissimilar aluminium alloys
