TWI Digital Library

The friction stir weldability of the dissimilar materials copper and aluminium alloy was studied, assessing the effects of different process parameters (rotation and traverse speeds, rotation direction (Cu or Al on advancing side), displacement and …

A report is presented into the development of a refill friction stir spot welding (FSSW) robot system, performance evaluation with respect to FSSW of aircraft aluminium alloys, and fabrication of full-scale aircraft production components. The FSSW r…

The results of a programme to establish self reacting friction stir welding for thin gauge (less than 3 mm) aluminium alloy applications are reported divided into the five major phases: tool development; joint evaluation; strength optimisation; prot…

An investigation is presented into the occurrence of a grey line in x-ray diffraction of friction stir welded joints of AA 2024-T62 aluminium alloys, and its influence on mechanical and fatigue properties. Welding in 2 mm sheet was performed using a…

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…

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…

A description is presented of the development of an aircraft adapter pallet system for the rapid deployment of supplies and equipment for use by the US Army. The pallets consisted of seven lightweight AA-6005A aluminium alloy (Al, 0.4-0.7%Mg, 0.5-0.…

With regard to the requirement to produce friction stir welded (FSW) lap joints with strength and fatigue properties suitable for commercial regional aircraft, work undertaken by MTS Systems and Bombardier Aerospace to develop pin tools and corrosio…

The velocity field in the shear layer surrounding the tool/matrix interface in friction stir welding (FSW) was used to characterise material flow and was investigated by x-ray/computational tomography (CT) marker material experiments as well as anal…

Friction stir welding (FSW) experiments were conducted on X52 and X60 pipeline steel specimens (outer diameter 324 mm, wall thickness 6.35 mm) and weldment integrity was evaluated by metallography, NDE and mechanical properties characterisation. Wel…

Two common approaches to describe kinematics in simulations of the friction stir welding (FSW) process, the Lagrangian representation and the Eulerian representation, were compared using "ABAQUS/Explicit" and "FLUENT" software programs, and the infl…

The details and methodology of an automatic path planning system for friction stir processing (FSP) of castings are presented, incorporating the means by which operator input is minimised, the limitations and challenges of the automatic programming …

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 welding (FSW) is a solid-state welding process, particularly suitable for aluminum alloys. The process allows the production of welds with a high seam strength and low distortion. Despite these benefits, irregularities can occur during…

The surface quality, microstructure and crystallographic texture were investigated as a function of traverse speed for friction stir welds of Ti-6Al-4V, produced using static shoulder tools consisting of a tungsten-rhenium probe and a silicon nitrid…

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…

The feasibility of friction stir welding TIMETAL 21S beta titanium in the annealed condition was investigated. The composition of the alloy is Ti, 14-16%Mo, 2.4-3.2%Nb, 2.5-3.5%Al, 0.15-0.25%Si, max.0.4%Fe, 0.11-0.17%O, max.0.05%C, max.0.05%N, max.0…

An algorithm and procedure for controlling process zone temperature during friction stir processing are presented. The approach is based on the correlation between weld zone temperature with spindle power. A simplified thermal balance model of the w…

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…