TWI Digital Library

A stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SSFSW) technique was developed for the joining of high temperature, low conductivity materials, and experimental results were obtained for butt and lap welds in Ti-6%Al-4%V alloys produced using 1D and 2D…

A review is presented of the growth in interest in friction stir welding (FSW) as measured by real industry applications and the distribution of related patent filings by time and geography, and case studies are reported to illustrate commonly occur…

Neural-fuzzy modelling techniques were employed to develop a transparent model-based approach that creates linguistic indices directly from spectral-temporal FSW (friction stir welding) data in order to analyse the relationship between process param…

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…

2024-T3 aluminium alloy (Al, 4.4%Cu, 1.5%Mg) thin sheets (thickness 1 mm) were joined by friction stir welding (FSW), and the effect of process parameters (tool rotation speed and traverse rate) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the…

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…

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…

Dissimilar lap joints between AA 6061-T6 (Al, 1.01%Mg, 0.59%Si) and A356 (Al, 7.02%Si) aluminium alloys were fabricated by friction stir welding (FSW) and the influence of process conditions on joint microstructure evolution and mechanical propertie…

An investigation was undertaken to examine the interactions, required process adjustments and resultant joint properties associated with conventional and robotic stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SSFSW) for scaled tool geometries. In order …

A rotating data logger system was developed to investigate the influence of process parameters on tool tip temperature during friction stir spot welding (FSSW) of AA 6061-T6 and 5083-O aluminium alloy lap joints. The data logger was designed to rota…

AA 6063-T5 aluminium alloy L-shape stringers (thickness 2 mm) were friction stir welded in an overlap configuration positioned over AA 2024-T3 sheets (thickness 3 mm) using various process conditions and three different tool designs with respect to …

Dissimilar joints between AA 6063 aluminium alloy and S45C steel were fabricated by friction stir welding and the growth behaviour of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) at the weld interface during PWHT was investigated. Welding was performed at a rotat…

Physical simulations were undertaken on cylindrical specimens of 304L stainless steel using a "Gleeble 1500" thermomechanical simulator in the form of hot axial compression tests so that the material underwent similar heating and cooling profiles to…

Friction stir welding experiments were undertaken on Al-Li alloys for application to C919 passenger aircraft fuselage panels, and the microstructure and mechanical properties of the welded lap joints were investigated. The materials comprised 2060-T…

The microstructure, hardness, tensile strength and fracture toughness of friction stir welds in cryogenic tanks made from standard AA2219 AlCu alloy and advanced AA2195 AlCuLi alloy (5 mm thickness) were investigated. AA2195 has relatively low densi…

An investigation is presented into the effects of process parameters on weld quality and defect generation (hooking defects, kissing bonds and top plate thinning) in 7075-T6 aircraft stringers (thickness 1.5 mm) lap-joined on 2024-T3 skins (thicknes…

Friction stir lap welding of aluminium alloy to magnesium alloy was investigated, emphasising the tensile strength, fracture location in the joint and microstructure evolution in the weld under different welding heat inputs. Dissimilar joints betwee…

Thick sheets (thickness 5.4 mm) of a ferritic stainless steel (18.33%Cr, 1.81%Mo, 0.2%Nb) were joined by friction stir welding with optimised process parameters (rotational speed 200 rpm, welding speed 100-160 mm/min) and the microstructure and mech…