TWI Digital Library

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…

With regard to the development of additive friction stir deposition (or MELD) as an additive manufacturing process, a mesh-free coupled thermomechanical approach was employed to model MELD by invoking smoothed particle hydrodynamics to discretise th…

Friction stir welding (FSW) experiments were undertaken on Invar 36 alloy (Fe,36%Ni) sheet specimens (thickness 3 mm) and the microstructure evolution and recrystallisation mechanism were investigated. Bead-on-plate FSW was performed using a polycry…

Dissimilar joints between wrought 5083 and 6111 aluminium alloys and between AZ31 magnesium alloy and 6111 were fabricated by friction stir welding and their microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated. The starting materials were 508…

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…

Two initiatives are presented to develop friction stir welding (FSW) and friction stir spot welding (FSSW) design data for the aerospace industry: a path independence initiative for FSW butt joints and qualification of FSSW welds for lap joints as i…

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…

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the link between the microstructure and the mechanical and corrosion properties for a friction stir welded aerospace aluminium alloy 7349-T6 (Al, 1.4-2.1%Cu, 1.8-2.7%Mg, 7.5-8.7%Zn) developed for …

Aluminium alloy 7050-T751 was friction stir welded using a range of process parameters, and finite element analysis was used to calculate the time-temperature distributions so that the resultant weld properties could be related to the welding parame…

The feasibility of friction stir welding (FSW) HSLA-65 steel (0.10%C, 1.4%Mn), which is being considered by the US Navy for ship structural applications, was assessed. Single-pass FSW was performed on 6.4 mm (0.25 in) plates and two-pass FSW was per…

The use of friction stir welding for the repair of cracks in aluminium alloy 2024 aircraft wing skin structures, and the repair fatigue life were investigated. An artificial crack, 42 mm in length, in a flat section 2024-T351 alloy of 3.2 mm thickne…

Friction stir welding was used to produce a space shuttle external barrel section of 2195-T8 Al-Cu-Li alloy. Seven panels (joint thickness of 8.1 mm (0.32 in)) were joined to form a barrel 8.4 m (27.5 ft) in diameter and 4.6 m (15 ft) long. A comput…

As the development and implementation of hydrogen fuel systems gains momentum, the production of containers capable of ensuring optimal conditions for hydrogen transportation and storage has become a focal point across various industry sectors. In t…

High-strength aluminum alloys of the AA7xxx-series are increasingly used in demanding environments owing to their excellent strength-to-weight-ratio. The strengthening mechanism of these alloys is dependent on the precipitation of hardening particle…