FRICTION STIR WELDING

FRICTION STIR WELDING

INTRODUCTION

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a novel welding technique invented by The Welding Institute (TWI) FSW is actually a solid-state joining process that is a combination of extruding and forging is not a true welding process. Since the process occurs at a temperature below the melting point of the work piece material. The maximum temperature reached is of the order of 0.8 of the melting temperature.

One recent deployment of a special Friction-welding process, actually a solid state joining technique has been used particularly in aluminum alloys, although other materials are tested in the laboratory. This emerging technological development, first demonstrated as a laboratory curiosity, has enjoyed successful applications in aerospace productions, and has been recently adopted for actual production of aerospace hardware.

It is called FRICTION STIR WELDING. This new Friction-welding equipment rotates a specially designed non consumable friction tool and drives it first into the butt joint line of two plates fixtured together, and then along the seam. The tool presents some kind of a thread and, while moving lengthwise, effectively heats and removes material in plastic state from the leading side and deposits it at the trailing side completing the weld. Such a weld, being in a fine-grained hot worked condition, has considerable metallurgical advantages especially for aluminium alloys, like absence of porosity or oxides and very good mechanical properties.

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