TWI

The corrosion behaviors of friction stir welded (FSW) joint of 7075 aluminum alloy with and without shot peening treatment (SPT) were investigated by method of acid salt spray. The macroscopical and microscopical corrosion features were observed by …

A device was designed and manufactured to facilitate accurate monitoring of forces, torque and tool temperature during friction stir welding (FSW) and for use as a weld quality indicator in relation to issues such as tool wear, lack of tool penetrat…

Following a summary of the current applications for friction stir welding at Boeing, the Brotje Automation FSW system is introduced. Presentation slides give notes on complex contour FSW in a large work envelope, the characteristics of a robust prod…

Dissimilar joints between AA 6061 aluminium alloy (Al, 0.91%Mg, 0.52%Si, 0.6%Fe) sheets (thickness 2 mm) and zinc-coated HIF-GA (high strength interstitial-free galvannealed) steel (0.002%C, 0.09%Si, 0.47%Mn) sheets (thickness 1 mm) were fabricated …

The large load friction stir spot welding (LL-FSSW) technique was applied to a low carbon steel sheet in order to achieve lap joints at a low temperature, and the microstructure and hardness of the joints were investigated. The composition of the gr…

In the last fifteen years, friction stir welding has developed from a laboratory curiosity to an important fabrication technique for lightweight, lower softening temperature alloys. Industrial implementation of joining magnesium has been limited alm…

A modified Gleeble hot torsion test was used to simulate the stir zone microstructures in types 304L and 310 stainless steels obtained during friction stir welding (FSW). A Gleeble 3800 with a torsion mobile conversion unit was used to perform the t…

A simultaneous double sided corner Ad-Stir fillet stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SSFSW) process was developed for LNG (liquefied natural gas) storage tank construction. The microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joints were i…

Curved overlap joints of a 7B04 aluminium alloy were fabricated using the "RoboStir" robotic friction stir welding system and their microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated. The experimental set-up incorporated an ABB IRB7600 robot…

A methodology to facilitate cost-effective friction stir welding (FSW) of large and complex 3D structures is presented based on a parallel kinematic machine concept called Pentapod, and welding trial results for spherical structures and dissimilar m…

A high force, multi-axis friction stir welding (FSW) machine was employed to perform one-run welding experiments on thick plates (thickness 75 mm) of AA 6082-T6 alloys, and the hardness, microstructure and crystallographic texture of the joints were…

Friction stir lap welding of aluminium alloy to magnesium alloy was investigated, emphasising the tensile strength, fracture location in the joint and microstructure evolution in the weld under different welding heat inputs. Dissimilar joints betwee…

Thick sheets (thickness 5.4 mm) of a ferritic stainless steel (18.33%Cr, 1.81%Mo, 0.2%Nb) were joined by friction stir welding with optimised process parameters (rotational speed 200 rpm, welding speed 100-160 mm/min) and the microstructure and mech…

An empirical process model to estimate tool shoulder temperature for different materials and friction stir welding (FSW) conditions is described that incorporates a design of experiments method and linear regression analysis (MATLAB software) with c…

To better understand the heat generation, temperature distribution and material flow during friction stir welding (FSW), experiments, including some with a pin breaking technique, were undertaken on two aluminium alloys (5083-O (Al, 4.5%Mg) rolled p…

The influence of the tool profile and short welding cycles on the friction stir spot welding (FSSW) of thin aluminium sheet was investigated using several different techniques including high-resolution x-ray tomography. Weld quality, microstructure,…

Based on the hypothesis that uniform friction stir weld quality can be produced by maintaining a constant weld zone temperature, an investigation was conducted to develop a feedback strategy and a closed-loop control algorithm to maintain constant t…

With regard to the need for in-process subsurface defect monitoring during friction stir welding (FSW) of aluminium alloys, an investigation is presented into a real-time force measurement system of process output to sense defect formation. Issues d…

An experimental investigation was made on the effect of processing variables and tool material on the microstructure of friction stir welded (FSW) 6 mm thick HSLA-65 steel plate, with the aim of optimising the process variables for enhanced mechanic…

A two-run friction stir welding process was employed to fabricate butt joints in API 5L X80 pipeline steel (0.08%C, 1.86%Mn, 0.16%Cr, 0.01%Ni, 0.18%Mo, 0.03%V, 0.06%Nb) plates (thickness 12 mm) and fracture toughness was determined in the parent met…