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5083-O aluminium alloy sheets (thickness 3 mm) were butt welded using a gate-type friction stir welding (FSW) machine to investigate tolerance to deviations in butt-line/tool-travel line, gap spacing and tool roll angle, and the welded joints were evaluated by cross-sectional microstructure observations, tensile testing and fractography. Tensile butt joint specimens were prepared under various operational deviation conditions. FSW experiments were conducted at a tool rotation speed of 800 rpm and a welding speed of 100-500 mm/min. The influence of butt-line/weld-line deviation, gap spacing and tool roll angle on tensile strength was determined by static tensile tests and fracture surfaces were examined by SEM.

6th International Symposium, 10-13 Oct 2006, Session 11A: Process II, Paper 03