TWI Digital Library

An investigation was undertaken to evaluate friction stir processing (FSP) as a repair technique for AA 7075-T6 aluminium alloys and to examine the mechanical and fatigue performance of the repaired joints for applications such as repair of MIG and …

An experimental investigation was conducted to examine weldability, material thickness, welding speed and joint geometry aspects of robotic friction stir welding (FSW) of aluminium alloy aircraft structures. An ABB IRB7600-500 serial design robot wa…

Weld initiation experiments were undertaken on various Al-Mg(-Si) alloy extrusions to develop fixed-gap bobbin tool designs and process procedures to facilitate friction stir welding (FSW) of sheet specimens as thin as 3 mm. The alloy grades studied…

A multi-physics model for thermal simulation of bobbin-tool friction stir welding was developed assuming a partially sticking condition at the tool-matrix interface, and simulation results were compared with experimental data for welding of AA7449 a…

Friction stir processing (FSP) experiments were undertaken on annealed AISI 420 stainless steel plates (thickness 6 mm) in order to compare three methods for assessing tool wear. The investigations incorporated two tool compositions (WC-Co or polycr…

In relation to the potential of force control friction stir welding (FSW) to produce higher quality weldments, an investigation is presented into the integration of closed-loop force control onto milling machines using popular CNC control systems, f…

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the link between the microstructure and the mechanical and corrosion properties for a friction stir welded aerospace aluminium alloy 7349-T6 (Al, 1.4-2.1%Cu, 1.8-2.7%Mg, 7.5-8.7%Zn) developed for …

Aluminium alloy 7050-T751 was friction stir welded using a range of process parameters, and finite element analysis was used to calculate the time-temperature distributions so that the resultant weld properties could be related to the welding parame…

The feasibility of friction stir welding (FSW) HSLA-65 steel (0.10%C, 1.4%Mn), which is being considered by the US Navy for ship structural applications, was assessed. Single-pass FSW was performed on 6.4 mm (0.25 in) plates and two-pass FSW was per…

The use of friction stir welding for the repair of cracks in aluminium alloy 2024 aircraft wing skin structures, and the repair fatigue life were investigated. An artificial crack, 42 mm in length, in a flat section 2024-T351 alloy of 3.2 mm thickne…

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…

The origin of the lines of micrometre sized oxide particles observed in aluminium alloy friction stir welds was investigated. Butt and bead on plate welds were prepared using 6 mm plate of aluminium (99.999%Al and 99.5%Al) and aluminium alloy 6056 (…

Preliminary results from a 3-dimensional heat and material flow computer simulation program for friction stir welding are given and compared with experimental observations. The simulation is based upon solutions of Navier-Stokes equations and nonlin…

Coupons with both triangular and rectangular gaps were prepared from AA 2024 aluminium alloy plate stock by friction stir welding (FSW) and volumetric defect formation was investigated by a neural network-based electronic NDE (e-NDE) technique. The …

A simplified finite element modelling approach was employed to analyse the effect of localised dynamic cooling on residual stress development during friction stir welding (FSW), and the model predictions were compared with x-ray synchrotron and neut…

The development and use of friction stir powder processing (FSPP) to overcome defect formation and to control mechanical properties is discussed and FSPP of AA 1050 aluminium (Al, 0.06%Si, 0.34%Fe, 0.02%Cu) is reported. In FSPP, powder with a contro…

An analysis procedure was developed to relate the geometry and microstructure of lap configuration friction spot welds to the joints' mechanical behaviour. Using 2 mm thickness aluminium alloy AA 2024-T3 sheet as the basis for simulation, a three-di…

The material flow and microstructural evolution during friction stir processing of A356 cast alloy (Al, 7%Si, 0.3%Mg, 6.4 mm thickness) using tools of H13 tool steel were investigated. The deformation and microstructure in the stir zone were studied…

A review is presented of the state-of-the-art of industrial friction stir welding (FSW) mass production, current trends, challenges and market demands as well as the potential of high speed complex contour welding on multi-axis FSW machinery with re…

The material flow in dissimilar material friction stir welding (FSW) between AA 6063 alloy (Al, 0.5%Mg, 0.43%Si) and S45C carbon steel (0.43%C, 0.25%Si, 0.77%Mn) was investigated by determining the 3D forces acting on the welded joint and the intern…