TWI Digital Library

The friction stir disc welding (FSDW) process was developed to facilitate the production of high quality root welds, and the joint formation mechanism and the influence of tool rotation direction on joint properties were investigated. The FSDW set-u…

Modified Gleeble hot torsion testing was used to simulate four microstructure regions in HSLA-65 steel (0.07%C, 0.24%Si, 1.5%Mn, 0.14%Cr, 0.34%Ni, 0.25%Cu, 0.06%Mo) joints fabricated by friction stir welding (FSW) and the results were verified by op…

The influence of tool and plate positions on the friction stir welding of F82H ferritic/martensitic steel (0.1%C, 8%Cr, 2%W, 0.2%V, 0.04%Ta) and austenitic stainless steels 304 and 316 was investigated. Stainless steel compositions were: 304 (0.08%C…

An approach to welded joint inspection incorporating in situ characterisation of weld quality was developed to facilitate the detection of discontinuities (e.g. voids and volume defects) during friction stir welding (FSW). FSW experiments were perfo…

A stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SSFSW) technique was developed for the joining of high temperature, low conductivity materials, and experimental results were obtained for butt and lap welds in Ti-6%Al-4%V alloys produced using 1D and 2D…

A review is presented of the growth in interest in friction stir welding (FSW) as measured by real industry applications and the distribution of related patent filings by time and geography, and case studies are reported to illustrate commonly occur…

Neural-fuzzy modelling techniques were employed to develop a transparent model-based approach that creates linguistic indices directly from spectral-temporal FSW (friction stir welding) data in order to analyse the relationship between process param…

A friction stir welding (FSW) process map for AA 7075-T6 aluminium alloy (Al, 5.1-6.1%Zn, 2.1-2.9%Mg, 1.2-2%Cu) was determined using combined NDT techniques such as visual inspection, dye penetrant testing, X-ray radiography and ultrasonic testing a…

2024-T3 aluminium alloy (Al, 4.4%Cu, 1.5%Mg) thin sheets (thickness 1 mm) were joined by friction stir welding (FSW), and the effect of process parameters (tool rotation speed and traverse rate) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the…

In relation to weight and cost saving on spaceflight pressure vessels, two friction stir lap welding methods were demonstrated on large-scale thin-gauge hardware and evaluated with respect to tooling and tooling cost reduction, lap joint stiffness a…

Curved overlap joints of a 7B04 aluminium alloy were fabricated using the "RoboStir" robotic friction stir welding system and their microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated. The experimental set-up incorporated an ABB IRB7600 robot…

A methodology to facilitate cost-effective friction stir welding (FSW) of large and complex 3D structures is presented based on a parallel kinematic machine concept called Pentapod, and welding trial results for spherical structures and dissimilar m…

A high force, multi-axis friction stir welding (FSW) machine was employed to perform one-run welding experiments on thick plates (thickness 75 mm) of AA 6082-T6 alloys, and the hardness, microstructure and crystallographic texture of the joints were…

A description is presented of a 5-axis gantry machine for friction stir welding (FSW) of full-size aluminium structures for applications ranging from armoured vehicle chassis and other military vehicles to more delicate 3D aircraft structures. The g…

A study was conducted to assess friction stir spot welding (FSSW), to identify and investigate the effects of the principal FSSW parameters and to investigate the effectiveness of common friction stir welding (FSW) tool designs when used for FSSW. A…

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the effect of friction stir processing (FSP) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of fusion welded aluminium alloys. MIG welds in plates of thickness 6 mm of 5083-H321 aluminium alloy (…

Thermocouples were mounted in a friction stir welding (FSW) tool to measure its temperature during the FSW of aluminium alloy 6061-T6 (Al, 1.0%Mg, 0.61%Si, 0.27%Cu, 0.10%Mn) sheet of 3 mm thickness. Type K thermocouples were mounted at various dista…

Friction stir welds in S355 carbon manganese steel plate of 12 mm thickness were characterised by microstructural studies and measurements of mechanical properties. A tungsten-rhenium alloy tool with a pin length of 7.5 mm was used, running at 400 r…

The viability of robotic friction stir welding (FSW) has been enhanced by the development of robots with payloads up to 500 kg, with enhanced arm stiffness and improved force control capability. A robot welding system is described which has features…

4th International Symposium, 14-16 May 2003, Session 5A: Aerospace 2, Paper 01