TWI Digital Library

With regard to the development of ausformed H13 tool steel for high strength friction stir welding (FSW) tools, an investigation was undertaken to explore methods to improve equal channel angle extrusion (ECAE) as the deformation step. Studies invol…

The fatigue performance of friction stir welded butt joints in 2024-T3 aluminium alloy plate (thickness 6.35 mm) was investigated by adopting six different tool designs and using a design of experiments analysis over a wide range of process paramete…

Ni3Al/Ni3V dual two-phase intermetallic alloys, incorporating Ta and Re additions, with enhanced high-temperature strength and hardness, were developed for friction stir welding tool applications and applied to fabricate butt welds in SUS 430 steel …

Modified Gleeble hot torsion testing was used to simulate four microstructure regions in HSLA-65 steel (0.07%C, 0.24%Si, 1.5%Mn, 0.14%Cr, 0.34%Ni, 0.25%Cu, 0.06%Mo) joints fabricated by friction stir welding (FSW) and the results were verified by op…

An approach to welded joint inspection incorporating in situ characterisation of weld quality was developed to facilitate the detection of discontinuities (e.g. voids and volume defects) during friction stir welding (FSW). FSW experiments were perfo…

A friction stir welding (FSW) process map for AA 7075-T6 aluminium alloy (Al, 5.1-6.1%Zn, 2.1-2.9%Mg, 1.2-2%Cu) was determined using combined NDT techniques such as visual inspection, dye penetrant testing, X-ray radiography and ultrasonic testing a…

In relation to weight and cost saving on spaceflight pressure vessels, two friction stir lap welding methods were demonstrated on large-scale thin-gauge hardware and evaluated with respect to tooling and tooling cost reduction, lap joint stiffness a…

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…

In order to understand the complex interactions between deformation, recrystallisation and precipitation induced during friction stir welding, two aluminium alloys were studied: a work hardened 5251-O alloy (Al, 2.2%Mg) and a precipitation hardened …

A computational fluid dynamics package, FLUENT, was used to model the viscous material flow during friction stir welding using two- and three-dimensional tool shapes. Two approaches were used to describe the viscosity. The first approach interpolate…

The friction stir welding of lap joints of aluminium alloy 6061 sheet of 3 mm thickness was monitored using a variety of sensors, to establish systems for weld quality control. A triaxial dynamometer measured the forces on the workpiece in three per…

A discussion is presented on the development of a FSW process for the welding of thin gauge aluminium alloy lap joints in the fuselage and wing sections of the Eclipse 500 twin-engine jet aircraft. The issues of pin tool geometry for use on lap join…

A 3D fully coupled computational fluid dynamics model was established to investigate the heat generation and material flow during friction stir welding, and the measured tool torque and axial force were used to characterise the contact conditions (f…

Dissimilar lap joints between ASTM A36 low carbon steel and Inconel 625 (Ni, 21.4%Cr, 9.65%Mo, 3.2%Nb, 2.6%Fe) were fabricated by friction stir welding (FSW) and the effects of process parameters on microstructure and hardness were investigated. FSW…

A qualitative and discrete quantitative approach was adopted to develop a generalised electronic NDE (e-NDE) algorithm for identifying erratic friction stir welding (FSW) indications contained in the tool force feedback signals as low and high frequ…

With regard to the dependence of welded joint properties on tool probe shape during friction stir welding (FSW) of dissimilar butt joints between aluminium and steel, an investigation was undertaken into the interface formation mechanism by conducti…

A simplified friction stir welding (FSW) tool equipped with an adjustable probe was developed, FSW trial results with prototype tools were obtained and were analysed in terms of weldability. The simplified tools were realised by devising shoulders f…

An investigation is presented into the fatigue properties of welded joints in various structural aluminium alloys prepared by friction stir welding (FSW) and the results are compared with those measured on MIG welded joints. The experimental specime…

The tolerance of operational accuracy and optimum tool control in 3D friction stir welding (FSW) was investigated in relation to joint mechanical properties. A five-axis controlled FSW machine was developed for 3D welding. The material studied was a…