TWI Digital Library

The effects of laser surfacing on the microstructure and corrosion properties of friction stir welds in 6.34 mm (0.25 in) thickness plates of aluminium alloys 2024-T351 and 7010-T7651 were studied. Specimens were laser surfaced using an excimer lase…

Friction stir welded joints, produced in an extruded profile of aluminium alloy 6082-T6 using run on and run off plates, were evaluated by measurement of mechanical properties. Plate of 6 mm thickness was welded using a range of process parameters, …

To gain further understanding of the mechanism for abnormal grain growth occurring in the stir zone of friction stir welded (FSW) aluminium alloys during post weld heat treatment (PWHT), details of the grain growth phenomena were examined in commerc…

The principles of spot friction welding (SFW) and the differences between SFW and linear friction stir welding (FSW) are outlined. Displacement control and load control of SFW machines are described. Experiments were conducted using a displacement-c…

An experimental canister welding machine was developed in order to evaluate FSW as a method of welding the copper canisters used in the long term storage of nuclear waste. Preliminary trials involved the development of a machine with sufficient stif…

Friction stir welds in austenitic stainless steels 316L (0.019%C, 0.87%Mn, 17.70%Cr, 12.19%Ni, 2.19%Mo) and 304 (0.040%C, 1.08%Mn, 18.10%Cr, 8.56%Ni); duplex stainless steel 329J4L (0.016%C, 0.78%Mn, 24.81%Cr, 7.27%Ni, 3.13%Mo, 0.43%Cu, 0.41%W); and…

A discussion is presented on developments in polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) tool design for use in the friction stir welding of high temperature materials such as steels. Improvements in tool material grades, tool design and FSW equipmen…

The deformation microstructures formed during friction stir welding (FSW) of 7075-T6 aluminium alloy (Al, 5.76%Zn, 2.46%Mg, 1.32%Cu) were studied using SEM with electron back-scattered diffraction. The sheet thickness was 1.5 mm. The alloy was evalu…

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…

The test results are reported for preliminary trials of the feasibility and benefits of applying angular reciprocating (reversal within one revolution) or rotary reversal (reversal after one or more revolutions) motion to the tool during friction st…

Friction stir welding of UK Ministry of Defence Def Stan 95-22 7017 aluminium alloy (Al, 4.5%Zn, 2.0%Mg) armour plate was evaluated by studying the mechanical properties and cracking of welded joints. Initially plate of 10 mm thickness, locally redu…

This research studies a hybrid method of manufacturing of porous alloy/ foam or functionally graded porous alloys with the help of a hybrid process of friction stir processing followed by microwave post-processing. The manufacturing productivity of …

An experimental investigation was undertaken to study the effects of different pin profiles (threaded conical, square, pentagon and hexagon) and the same process parameters on temperature distribution around the tool and resulting microstructure dur…