TWI

Two techniques developed on TWI's "RoboStir" system, robotic floating-bobbin friction stir welding (RFBFSW) and robotic stationary shoulder friction stir welding (RSSFSW), are described and some results from welding trials are presented. The RFBFSW …

Numerical simulations and experimental measurements were undertaken to study the temperature fields developed during friction stir welding (FSW) of AW 5083 (Al, 4-4.9%Mg, 0.25%Mn) alloy plates (thickness 10 mm). Welding was conducted at a rotational…

Dissimilar butt joints between aluminium alloys and steel or an AZ91 magnesium alloy (Mg, 9.39%Al, 0.85%Zn) were fabricated by ultrasound enhanced friction stir welding (USE-FSW) and their microstructure, mechanical and corrosion properties were inv…

Friction stir butt welds of Al alloy (2024, 6013 and 6056) sheets (4 mm thickness) were examined by conventional ultrasonic inspection with a single focused transducer (25 MHz frequency), facilitating the detection of void-like flaws as well as the …

The numerical simulation of the friction stir welding process using two different commercial finite element codes is described. FORGE3, which uses an updated Lagrangian approach, was used to simulate the plunge of the pin and the THERCAST package, w…

A non weldable to weldable (N2W) methodology is presented in which friction stir welding (FSW) is used to join a non weldable (but highly wear resistant) material to a weldable material (e.g. a steel insert positioned within the wear resistant mater…

Numerical modelling and experimental measurements were undertaken to investigate the heat flux and residual stresses during a rotary friction welding process to fabricate joints between an ASTM A36 steel pipe (0.11%C, 0.2%Si, 0.92%Mn, 0.02%Cr, 0.02%…

A fully Lagrangian smoothed particle hydrodynamics method was employed to simulate the bobbin tool friction stir welding process for aluminium alloys in order to evaluate tool torque and forces as well as material flow for different advancing speeds…

A nonlinear dynamic model to study the axial force and torque in the tool of a friction stir welding (FSW) process was developed by training an artificial neural network (ANN) multi-perceptron layer structure with a nonlinear autoregressive exogenou…

The feasibility of joining layers of dissimilar metals (aluminium and steel) by friction stir welding (FSW) was investigated. Aluminium (A-1050-O) was placed above steel (JIS S50C carbon steel). The tool revolution was 3000 rpm and the tool feed rat…

With regard to the development of friction stir welding (FSW) processes for joining large thin walled 3D structures in aircraft fuselage applications, an investigation is presented into the "LuFo IV" machine concept, incorporating clamping, position…

Developments in non-destructive techniques for detecting small defects in friction stir welds in thin aluminium plates in aerospace applications are considered. The principles of ultrasonic phased-array technology and eddy current array technology a…

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…