TWI Digital Library

An investigation is presented into tool material development of large polycrystalline cubic BN blanks to facilitate friction stir welding of thick section steel specimens (thickness 9.5 or 20 mm). Tool materials were produced from 90% polycrystallin…

An investigation is presented into the effect of a paint bake cycle on the performance of friction stir spot welded (FSSW) joints fabricated in heat-treatable 6111-T4 aluminium alloy automotive sheets (thickness 0.93 mm) using a pinless tool and sho…

An apparatus was developed to analyse the contact condition between the rotating tool and the workpiece during friction stir welding, and empirical tests were performed to determine the friction conditions (static, dynamic and the transition from on…

An investigation is presented into the use of temperature control in two friction stir welding (FSW) research projects: to understand the effect of backing plate conductivity on process parameters and to study the influence of active FSW tool coolin…

A review is presented of the progressive emergence of conceptual tools associated with friction stir welding (FSW) at the Marshall Space Flight Center, USA, from the discovery of the shear surface, wiping metal transfer and the invention of a kinema…

With regard to the production of aluminium alloy T joints for stiffened panel construction by friction stir welding (FSW), an investigation is presented into the fabrication of FSW T joints with AA 6082-T6 alloys and the influence of welding paramet…

A real-time wireless temperature measurement system was developed to facilitate improved temperature measurement at the tool-workpiece interface and a closed-loop control system for friction stir welding (FSW) that maintains weld quality under vario…

Torsion testing was carried out using a range of temperatures and strains to simulate the formation of nugget zone grain structures in friction stir welds of a typical aluminium alloy (7010) in order to investigate the formation mechanisms. Electron…

Friction stir welding (FSW) experiments were performed on Al-based alloys prepared by direct-chill casting and continuous casting, and the influence of intermetallic particles and process parameters on onion ring zone morphology and microstructure w…

A thermal model with a thermo pseudo mechanical (TPM) heat source was employed to investigate the influence of process parameters (rotational speed, feed rate and tool geometry) on the temperature profile at the interface of dissimilar metal lap joi…

In relation to the challenges involved in temperature data acquisition and transmission associated with rotation of the friction stir welding (FSW) tool, an investigation is presented into a wireless temperature monitoring system based on thermocoup…

A kinematic approach is presented for modelling the friction stir welding process and the relationship between tool geometry and process parameters. The model was used to describe the correlation between features of the weld nugget, process paramete…

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…

Friction stir welding (FSW) was carried out on AZ31 magnesium alloy (Mg, 3%Al, 1%Zn) plates of thickness 6 mm in order to examine the relationship between weld microtexture and tensile properties. Orientation imaging microscopy was used to examine m…

Friction stir welding (FSW) was applied to the 10 mm thick plate for the Fe-Mn-Si (FMS) alloy using a polycrystalline cubic born nitride (pcBN) tool. The sound FSW joint was obtained without macro-defects although small pores were slightly distribut…

Sleeve plunge friction spot welding was employed to join AA5042 aluminium alloys under various process conditions and the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the welded joints were investigated. Welding was performed using a three-piece …

Work from two projects is described: "Qualistir" for the on-line quality control of friction stir welding in aluminium (by ultrasonic phased array examination of butt welded Al 7075); and a TWI feasibility study on inspection of Al 5083 butt and lap…

The influences of the thermal and mechanical stresses experienced during friction stir welding on the structure of coarse-grained aluminium alloy 2519-T87 were investigated. Plate of 25 mm thickness was welded at a speed of 1.5 mm/s, using a tool sp…

Tapered probe and parallel probe tools were employed in friction stir welding of thick section AA 6082-T6 aluminium alloy specimens (thickness 38 mm) and the effect of tool geometry on weldment microstructure and crystallographic texture was investi…

Friction stir welding (FSW) experiments were undertaken on commercially pure Ti and Ti-6%Al-4%V plates (thickness 6 mm) by incorporating nickel foil markers of varying thicknesses to reduce forging load, enhance surface finish, eliminate void format…