TWI Digital Library

Details are reported of application of friction stir welding (FSW) to manufacture of double skin bodies of railway carriages for commuter lines in Japan. A "defect free" FSW process is used to weld double skin panels of length 25 m using hollow extr…

3rd International Symposium, 27-28 Sep 2001, Poster Session, Paper 13

Development work by TWI on behalf of the Swedish Nuclear Fuel & Waste Management Co. for the EB and friction stir welding of lids onto Cu radioactive waste disposal canisters (1050 mm diameter, 50 mm wall thickness) is reviewed. In 1986, when th…

Friction stir welding was evaluated as a cheaper alternative to the use of fasteners for the joining of lap joints of the aluminium alloy 7075-T351 motor thrust frame of the Ariane 5 rocket. In initial trials to optimise the tool design for lap join…

The use of phased array ultrasonics for the detection of small defects in welds is described, and illustrated using a series of examples of friction stir welded aluminium alloy plate. Phased arrays use an array of ultrasonic elements pulsed with dif…

A tool made from a Co-based alloy strengthened by precipitation of an intermetallic Co3(Al,W) gamma phase with an L12 structure was developed for friction stir welding of high-softening-temperature materials, such as a 0.45%C steel, and the tool wea…

Annealed AISI 420 martensitic stainless steel (0.46%C, 0.3%Mn, 13.8%Cr) sheets (thickness 3 mm) were subjected to dry or wet friction stir processing (FSP) and the correlation between microstructure, hardness and process parameters was investigated.…

A detailed experimental and theoretical investigation was made of the use of friction stir welding (FSP) to modify the microstructure of magnesium AM50 die castings. Rectangular die cast plates of 3 mm thickness of AM50 (Mg, 4.9%Al, 0.39%Mn) were su…

The velocity field in the shear layer surrounding the tool/matrix interface in friction stir welding (FSW) was used to characterise material flow and was investigated by x-ray/computational tomography (CT) marker material experiments as well as anal…

Friction stir welding (FSW) was conducted on high-strength pipe steel plates (thickness 12.7 mm) using commercially pure tungsten, tungsten-rhenium (W, 25%Re) and polycrystalline cubic boron nitride pin tools; mechanical properties of the welded joi…

An investigation is presented into the fabrication of welded joints in high strength aluminium alloys by friction stir welding (FSW) and into the application of the technology for manufacturing lightweight aircraft structures. The materials consider…

An investigation was undertaken to identify the main factors influencing abnormal grain growth behaviour during post weld solution heat treatment of 2219-O aluminium alloy (Al, 5.8-6.8%Cu) friction stir welded (FSW) joints. Sheet specimens (thicknes…

The use of semi-friction stir processing to improve the facing surface layer of flange joints in casings of high-voltage switchgears, filled with electro-insulating SF6 gas, was examined. The influence of tool shape and size, and welding parameters …

Experimental measurements and finite element modelling were undertaken to investigate the deposition of AA1050 commercially pure aluminium layers on AA 2024-T351 aluminium alloy substrates by friction surface cladding (FSC). Experiments were perform…

With regard to the development of the MELD process (formerly, additive friction stir deposition) involving the deposition of feedstock material on a substrate via a hollow rotating tool, a mesh-free coupled thermomechanical approach called smoothed …

A method for incorporating local material property gradients across the weld zone in finite element simulations of friction stir welded 2139-T8 aluminium alloys was developed to predict the time evolution of strain. Local material flow stress was de…

An experimental investigation was conducted of the microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded (FSW) aluminium alloy butt joints, with detailed analysis on the influence of the FSW process on the microhardness profile and change…

Friction stir welding experiments were conducted on plate specimens (thickness 6 mm) of AA 2219 aluminium alloys (Al, 6.48%Cu, 0.32%Mn) and the crystallographic texture and deformation behaviour of the weld zones (HAZ, thermomechanically affected zo…

To overcome the limitations associated with conventional friction stir welding, particularly for complex shaped large structures, the bobbin tool technique was developed and demonstrated on various aluminium alloys (4-15 mm thickness range), the tec…

A modified friction stir lap welding process was developed to encase uranium alloy foil in an aluminium jacket and results were compared with two other bonding methods for fabricating monolithic fuel plates, namely hot isostatic pressing and transie…