TWI Digital Library

Friction stir welding (FSW) experiments were undertaken on sheet specimens (thickness 5 mm) of 5454-H111 aluminium alloys and the relationships between process forces, spindle power and tool geometry were investigated. Twelve FSW tools with specifie…

A friction stir welding (FSW) methodology incorporating laser tracking and constant force control technologies was developed in order to fabricate large, thin-walled aircraft floor structures. The material chosen for study comprised sheet specimens …

The bobbin tool or self-reacting tool variant of the friction stir welding process was investigated on butt joints of various 2000 series aluminium alloys for aircraft fuselage applications; welding feasibility tests were conducted in pin length con…

With regard to the development of dissimilar aluminium-steel joint fabrication for automotive applications such as body-in-white, an investigation incorporating experiment and numerical simulation was undertaken to examine the dissimilar friction st…

In relation to the challenges involved in temperature data acquisition and transmission associated with rotation of the friction stir welding (FSW) tool, an investigation is presented into a wireless temperature monitoring system based on thermocoup…

In relation to the requirement for automatic inspection of weld quality during the friction stir welding (FSW) process, the "MonStir" process monitoring system was developed to analyse measured process forces and their frequency spectra, and an inve…

Friction stir welding (FSW) tools, equipment and auxiliary devices were developed for application to heavy section aluminium alloy plate (thickness 40-70 mm), and the microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joints fabricated by the proced…

Friction stir welding experiments were conducted on AA 2024-T3 Al-Cu-Mg alloys to investigate the influence of backplate design on joint microstructure and mechanical properties. Trials were performed using three specially designed backplates based …

Periodic material phenomena around a threaded pin in friction stir welding (FSW) were investigated with a fully transient thermomechanically coupled numerical simulation, in which the transient motion of the threaded pin was included in the computat…

A plastic replication technique was employed to investigate surface crack initiation and growth in 2024-T351 Al alloy friction stir welded (FSW) joints during fatigue bending tests. Fatigue failure mechanisms were examined, and a modified Hobson-Bro…

The effect of welding conditions (tool rotational speed and tool holding time) on static strength was studied for dissimilar friction stir spot welds between 2017-T6 (Al, 3.5-4.5%Cu, 0.8-1.5%Mg) and 5052 (Al, 2.2-2.8%Mg) aluminium alloy sheets (thic…

Friction stir welding (FSW) studies were undertaken to join sheet and plate specimens of aluminium alloys in a butt joint configuration, and design of experiments methods were employed to optimise process parameters with respect to weldment quality …

Following an overview of initial work on friction stir welding (FSW) of titanium alloys, developments in the stationary shoulder FSW (SSFSW) technique are described, highlighting the potential of the SSFSW approach to increase welding speed (up to 2…

Friction stir welding (FSW) experiments were performed on Al-based alloys prepared by direct-chill casting and continuous casting, and the influence of intermetallic particles and process parameters on onion ring zone morphology and microstructure w…

A method was developed to integrate basic force control functionalities into a CNC milling machine for friction stir welding (FSW) by using a standard CNC controller, optimum control parameters for various FSW conditions were identified and the forc…

The CFD (computational fluid dynamics) technique was employed to develop a numerical model of friction stir welding (FSW) of DH36 steel (0.16%C, 1.2%Mn, 0.02%Cr, 0.02%Nb, 0.04%Al, 0.03%Cu) plate (thickness 6 mm) under low and high welding speed cond…

Al, 50%Si alloys were joined by friction stir welding (FSW) on spray deposited sheets (thickness 1.5 mm) for butt welding and powder metallurgy plates (thickness 10 mm) for surface welding and the welded joint surface quality and microstructure were…

The influence of joining parameters on the microstructure, intermetallics, hardness, shear properties and tensile strength of dissimilar friction stir welds between AA1050 aluminium alloy and hot-stamped boron steels was investigated. Overlap welds …

A fully coupled thermomechanical three dimensional finite element (FE) model was developed to analyse the thermomechanical conditions, including material flow and heat generation, at the tool/matrix interface in friction stir welding. The model was …

Two techniques developed on TWI's "RoboStir" system, robotic floating-bobbin friction stir welding (RFBFSW) and robotic stationary shoulder friction stir welding (RSSFSW), are described and some results from welding trials are presented. The RFBFSW …