TWI

Thermodynamic modelling and experimental measurements were employed to investigate the influence of intermetallic compound formation on the shear strength of dissimilar joints between an aluminium alloy and ultra-high strength steel fabricated by fr…

A 3D fully coupled computational fluid dynamics model was established to investigate the heat generation and material flow during friction stir welding, and the measured tool torque and axial force were used to characterise the contact conditions (f…

Dissimilar lap joints between ASTM A36 low carbon steel and Inconel 625 (Ni, 21.4%Cr, 9.65%Mo, 3.2%Nb, 2.6%Fe) were fabricated by friction stir welding (FSW) and the effects of process parameters on microstructure and hardness were investigated. FSW…

A qualitative and discrete quantitative approach was adopted to develop a generalised electronic NDE (e-NDE) algorithm for identifying erratic friction stir welding (FSW) indications contained in the tool force feedback signals as low and high frequ…

With regard to the dependence of welded joint properties on tool probe shape during friction stir welding (FSW) of dissimilar butt joints between aluminium and steel, an investigation was undertaken into the interface formation mechanism by conducti…

A simplified friction stir welding (FSW) tool equipped with an adjustable probe was developed, FSW trial results with prototype tools were obtained and were analysed in terms of weldability. The simplified tools were realised by devising shoulders f…

A high rotational speed friction stir welding (FSW) procedure based on the use of a fixed shoulder tool was developed to facilitate the production of strong metallurgical joints at comparatively low process forces, and microstructural observations a…

To understand the influence of dwell time in friction stir welding (FSW) and thus to optimise its value, spot welds were produced between superposed sheets of 6008 aluminium alloy and industrial steel (thickness 2.5 and 2 mm, respectively), and thei…

An investigation is presented into the fatigue properties of welded joints in various structural aluminium alloys prepared by friction stir welding (FSW) and the results are compared with those measured on MIG welded joints. The experimental specime…

The tolerance of operational accuracy and optimum tool control in 3D friction stir welding (FSW) was investigated in relation to joint mechanical properties. A five-axis controlled FSW machine was developed for 3D welding. The material studied was a…

A flat heat pipe with Al2O3 nanofluid or deionised water as the working medium was designed, the relationship between pipe parameters and heat transfer characteristics was analysed, and the application of the heat pipe to friction stir welding was e…

The effects of friction stir welding (FSW) on the microstructure, hardness, residual stress state and grain distribution of 2124 Al-SiC composite alloy were investigated. The composite was of AMC225xe aerospace AW2124 alloy reinforced with 25% SiC p…

A nonlinear dynamic model to study the axial force and torque in the tool of a friction stir welding (FSW) process was developed by training an artificial neural network (ANN) multi-perceptron layer structure with a nonlinear autoregressive exogenou…

Friction stir welding experiments were undertaken on butt joints of AA6063 alloys (Al, 0.45-0.9%Mg, 0.2-0.6%Si) and AA6063 matrix reinforced with 6 and 10.5 vol.% B4C, and the effect of particle concentration on welded joint microstructure and micro…

An investigation is presented into the effect of frictional heating on joint behaviour during friction stir welding (FSW) between aluminium alloy 6063 and mild steel S45C, the cross-section microstructure of the weld interface, and the welding mecha…

The friction stir welding of dissimilar aluminium alloys for the production of aircraft structural components was investigated. Welds were made between alloys 7040 and 7449 pre-aged to obtain a defined temper after post-weld ageing. Alloy 7040 was a…

The formability of friction stir welded aluminium alloy tailored welded blanks (TWBs), as used in the automotive industry, was analysed, based on hardening exponent and anisotropy values obtained from tensile tests (parallel and normal to loading di…

An experimental study was carried out on friction stir welded aluminium alloy tailored welded blanks (TWB's) to determine mechanical properties and microstructural characteristics in order to evaluate friction stir welding (FSW) as a feasible method…

Friction stir welding (FSW) was carried out on AZ31 magnesium alloy (Mg, 3%Al, 1%Zn) plates of thickness 6 mm in order to examine the relationship between weld microtexture and tensile properties. Orientation imaging microscopy was used to examine m…

The effects of friction stir welding (FSW) parameters and tool geometry on the forces and torques generated during the FSW of four aluminium alloys were studied. The alloys were 6082-T6 (6.45 mm), 5083-H111 (6.55 mm), 2014-T6 (5.9 mm) and 7075-T7351…