TWI Digital Library

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 (…

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…

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…

The detection principles of 3D forces during bobbin tool friction stir welding (BT-FSW) were considered and the filtered data of axial force, tool torque and horizontal force were analysed to develop models to describe the relationships between torq…

A Taguchi design of experiments approach was employed to investigate the effect of varying process parameters (rotational speed, welding time and plunge depth) on process data for refill friction stir spot welding of AA 6082-T6 aluminium alloys. The…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

An experimental investigation was conducted into the effects of friction stir processing (FSP) and post-FSP ageing on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Alloy 718 castings. Bead-on-plate welds were fabricated on cast Alloy 718 sheets (t…

A coupled model, comprising a computational fluid dynamic process model, a precipitate evolution model based on classical phase transformation theory and a classical strengthening model, was formulated to investigate the effect of process parameters…

Friction stir welding was employed to fabricate joints in aluminium and magnesium alloys, and the weld zone microstructure and plastic deformation behaviour were investigated. The materials tested were AA 5454-H22 (Al, 2.85%Mg) wrought alloy sheets …

An investigation was undertaken to evaluate friction stir processing (FSP) as a repair technique for AA 7075-T6 aluminium alloys and to examine the mechanical and fatigue performance of the repaired joints for applications such as repair of MIG and …

An experimental investigation was conducted to examine weldability, material thickness, welding speed and joint geometry aspects of robotic friction stir welding (FSW) of aluminium alloy aircraft structures. An ABB IRB7600-500 serial design robot wa…

Weld initiation experiments were undertaken on various Al-Mg(-Si) alloy extrusions to develop fixed-gap bobbin tool designs and process procedures to facilitate friction stir welding (FSW) of sheet specimens as thin as 3 mm. The alloy grades studied…

A multi-physics model for thermal simulation of bobbin-tool friction stir welding was developed assuming a partially sticking condition at the tool-matrix interface, and simulation results were compared with experimental data for welding of AA7449 a…

In relation to the potential of force control friction stir welding (FSW) to produce higher quality weldments, an investigation is presented into the integration of closed-loop force control onto milling machines using popular CNC control systems, f…