TWI Digital Library

Friction stir welding (FSW) experiments were undertaken on single crystal and polycrystalline pure iron sheets (thickness 1.5 mm) as well as a polycrystalline carbon steel, and the microstructure, material flow characteristics and plastic deformatio…

A hybrid friction stir welding (FSW) technique, comprising FSW and a YAG laser (power 2 kW) for preheating ahead of the tool, was developed to decrease tool load and defects. An SS 400 ferrite-pearlite carbon steel (0.16%C, 0.01%Si, 0.49%Mn) was wel…

Butt joints were fabricated by friction stir welding (FSW) in 4340 steel (0.43%C, 0.69%Mn, 0.76%Cr, 1.76%Ni, 0.24%Mo, 0.43%V, 0.16%Cu) and between 4340 steel and Inconel 718 (Ni, 17-21%Cr, 4.7-5.5%Nb, 2.8-3.3%Mo) and their microstructure and mechani…

A combination of laser surfacing and friction stir processing (FSP) was employed to modify a cold-worked AISI D2 tool steel (1.5%C, 11%Cr, 0.83%Mo, 0.36%V) with the aim of clarifying the FSP conditions required to obtain a microstructure with unifor…

A man-machine interface for friction stir welding (FSW) was proposed that allows a human operator to augment a traditional control system by monitoring and continuously adjusting the parameters of an established welding programme, and hardware and s…

A review is presented of the development programme to achieve a production-ready procedure to manufacture copper canisters for Swedish radioactive waste storage using friction stir welding (FSW) for encapsulation, incorporating adaptive thermal mana…

A geometric feature, termed the "Wiper", was developed to improve the weld track surface finish produced by friction stir welding (FSW) and processing tools with scrolled shoulders, and experiments were undertaken to investigate the influence of "Wi…

A study was conducted into a proof of principle for the effectiveness of a neural network in identifying the presence of metallurgical defects and for evaluating tensile strength from the feedback provided during the friction stir welding (FSW) proc…

An experimental investigation was made into the friction stir weldability of MRI 320D magnesium alloy and of hybrid joints between AZ91D and rolled aluminium alloy AA5454. Welding was optimised to perform FSW joints of light metal alloys with a thic…

Experiments were undertaken to investigate the evolution of welding forces and torque generated during robotic friction stir welding of circular and semicircular butt welds in 6082-T651 aluminium alloy plates (thickness 6 mm). Welding was performed …

With regard to the application of AA 2219 aluminium alloys to space launch vehicle propellant storage tanks, an investigation is presented into the influence of process parameters (tool rotational speed, shoulder downward force and weld transverse s…

Friction stir welding (FSW) experiments were conducted on Ti-6%Al-4%V (Ti, 6.32%Al, 4.08%V) and SP-700 (Ti, 4.37%Al, 2.93%V, 1.91%Fe, 1.9%Mo) alloy sheets (thickness 2 mm) in order to investigate the effect of process conditions on joint microstruct…

An experimental investigation was undertaken to study the effects of different pin profiles (threaded conical, square, pentagon and hexagon) and the same process parameters on temperature distribution around the tool and resulting microstructure dur…

A feasibility study was undertaken to investigate the use of friction stir welding to join B4C particle reinforced Al metal matrix composite plates (thickness 8 mm) that form the neutron absorber tubes of the basket of a spent nuclear fuel cask. Wel…

An experimental procedure based on a Gleeble 3500 thermomechanical testing system was developed to investigate hot deformation parameters in the high temperature range for application to friction welding related processes. Experiments were conducted…

In relation to the production of local metal matrix composites (MMCs) by friction stir processing (FSP), an investigation was undertaken into the influence of tool geometry and process parameters on the shape of the nugget zone and the assessment of…

Butt joints were fabricated between A6063 aluminium alloys and S45C mild steel by friction stir welding (FSW) and the effect of material flow on the weld interface formation was investigated using the stop action technique. FSW experiments were unde…

A review is presented of the application of CFD (computational fluid dynamics) to numerical modelling of the friction stir welding (FSW) process, incorporating coupled physical phenomena such as heat generation, heat transfer and metal flow. Issues …

The effects of multiple overlapping friction stir weld runs (with 100% overlap) on the welding parameters and weld properties during the repair of high-strength AlCuMgZn alloy were investigated. Square butt welds were made in 7050-T7451 alloy (Al, 6…

The StiRoLight Research project (carried out in conjunction with SAAB, ESAB and Volvo) to investigate the use of an industrial robot for friction stir welding of aluminium alloys in the automobile industry, is outlined and studies of path deviations…