FRICTION STIR WELDING PROCESS

Yes, but some families of alloys are not weldable: 2xxx and 7xxx due to their high sensitivity to cracking. Moreover, this light metal must be welded with care so that the parts do not deform. Friction stir welding (FSW) is…

The welding force is the pressure exerted by the robot or the machine during friction stir welding operations. The force control is one of the most important elements for a quality FSW weld. The friction stir welding force is measured…

An exit hole is left by the FSW tool during the removal phase. This hole at the end of the bead has no impact on the quality of the weld. It can be prohibitive for certain applications of circular welds…

Yes, a wormhole is a FSW defect also called a tunnel in friction stir welding jargon. Identifiable to the naked eye, this weld defect is characterised by porosity along the weld joint. The wormhole is a defect that can occur…

The quality of FSW welds can be verified by non-destructive testing (NDT) and destructive testing to ensure compliance with the FSW ISO 25239 standard. The visual inspection permits the observation of visible defects to the naked eye which appear as…

In this FSW configuration, the parts to be joined are positioned one on top of the other. This joint geometry allows for the positioning of dissimilar materials or parts with different thicknesses to be avoided. The FSW process keeps the…

Yes, the friction stir welding process can be used to join thick aluminium alloys. Our FSW welding head allows access to quality welds up to 20 millimetres thick of the base material.

Welding aluminium is a much more complex operation than for other metals. Welding aluminium requires a great deal of skill and the right tools. The best way to weld aluminium is by cold welding, or more precisely, by welding in…

Wormhole is a defect that can be encountered in friction stir welding (FSW). It can occur on FSW butt or lap welds. Visible to the naked eye, the wormhole is an internal cavity in the welded joint. This porosity is…

FSW technology offers many technical and ecological advantages. Green welding technology, it does not involve any fusion or addition of material. It does not emit toxic gases or UV radiation. Energy consumption is reduced compared to other welding techniques (TIG,…

FSW stands for Friction Stir Welding. Invented in 1991 by The Welding Institute (TWI), the FSW process is based on the assembly of two parts by heating the materials. The pasty state is obtained thanks to the friction of a…

Clamping has an important impact on the quality of welds, for example on large panels from machine tools. The two parts to be joined must be clamped tightly on a support in order to withstand the welding forces. The clamping…

Yes, it is possible to weld in a cold or, more precisely, in a pasty state. This process is based on the joining of two materials in a solid state without exceeding the melting temperature. Cold welding is used in…

In welding, flash refers to the burr on the retreating side due to the rotation of FSW tool. The flash is the main defect that can be encountered during a friction stir welding operation. Flashes occur mainly when too much…

In order to ensure the solidity of your weld, it must meet two essential conditions: the right penetration of the weld and homogeneity along the whole length. For maximum strength, it is necessary that the parts are fully penetrated. The…

Friction stir welding is a solid state welding process without the need for filler metal. This technique is more commonly known as FSW for Friction Stir Welding. This breakthrough technology was invented and patented in 1991 by The Welding Institute…

The machining centre is designed to operate in position control. Friction stir welding requires force control, and therefore a force sensor to control the friction of the shoulder on the workpieces. Integrated directly into the Stirweld head, this sensor measures…

There are 5 main FSW defects: Flash or burr on the edges of the weld ; Wormhole or tunnel which i.e. a porosity present on all or part of the length of the weld ; Lack of penetration which is…

Friction welding (or inertial friction welding) is a process where the heat required for welding is obtained by rubbing the parts to be joined together under axial pressure. Friction stir welding (FSW) is a variant of friction welding. FSW is…

The effectiveness of friction stir welding is particularly well known for joining materials identified as difficult to weld, such as aluminium. Friction stir welding technology can be used to weld all aluminum alloys. FSW welding of the 5000 series retains…

In order to guarantee the quality of a FSW weld, it is necessary to carry out a study of prototypes in accordance with the ISO 25239 standard. These prototypes are controlled by destructive and non-destructive tests. Non-destructive testing (NDT) includes…

The WPS (Welding Procedure Standard) certification is valid for a specific application. It depends on the material, its thickness and the welding configuration. For each application, it is therefore necessary to qualify the weld according to these parameters. The WPS…

Yes, it is no longer necessary to tilt the tool during the FSW process with our technology. Other friction welding processes will require a tool tilt angle to be set to improve the surface finish of the joints. The purpose…

Hooking is a defect in the surface of the material that can occur in FSW welding operations. The material rises on the edges of the feed zone and it thins on the receding side. This internal defect can be detected…

In butt and through welds configurations, there are several ways to position the parts to be joined. The T-joint is one of them. FSW T-joint welding is achieved by intersecting the two parts at right angles with one part in…

Stirweld’s FSW solutions can be equipped with temperature measuring tools. Stirweld’s intelligent tool holder is simply installed on your welding heads and spindles. It allows to check that the heat is constant during the friction stir welding process. For quality…

The qualification of the welding operator depends on the technology chosen to weld aluminium. It is possible to weld certain types of aluminium alloys with traditional welding processes such as TIG or MIG. These techniques require the welder to have…

Friction stir welding (FSW) guarantees a higher quality and strength of the welds than those obtained by conventional techniques (TIG, MIG, EBW). There are 2 types of FSW welding: butt or lap welding. The choice between these configurations depends on…

Yes, in FSW welding, the shoulder must be in permanent contact with the surface of the workpiece. It is the friction of the shoulder against the workpiece that provides the heating necessary for the friction stir welding operation. The shoulder…

Friction stir welding (FSW) consists in assembling two parts by bringing them to a pasty state thanks to a rotating pin, in particular thanks to a robot or a FSW head for CNC. Specifically, the rotating tool is pressed into…

Friction stir welding is a solid state welding technique that does not reach the melting point. Known for its ability to weld difficult to weld materials, FSW is mainly used for the high quality joining of aluminium and copper parts.…

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) was invented by Wayne Thomas of the Welding Institute in 1991. The TWI is a British research and technology organization specializing in welding. In 1995, a second patent was filed to extend the application to the…

Compared to a conventional FSW head, the FSW head with retractable pin has an additional function: the progressive removal of the pin in the shoulder in order to fill the exit hole of the FSW weld. As the only FSW…

Yes, it is essential to get the welding force data during the operation. This information allows real-time control of the quality of the weld. Our FSW Stirweld heads and spindles are designed to provide this intelligent data through its powerful…

The depth of tool penetration is one of the main parameters of the FSW process to ensure the quality of the weld. For this purpose, it is necessary to carry out prototype tests in order to define the welding parameters…

Lack of Penetration (LoP) occurs when the metal does not completely fill the thickness of the joint. This internal defect can occur during butt welding operations. This lack of root penetration is mainly due to the fact that the pin…

The most common types of friction stir welding are butt and lap welding. The most usual FSW configuration is butt welding. The parts to be joined, of equal thickness, are placed against each other. In a lap weld, the two…

No, external preheating is not necessary for a welding operation with FSW technology. We have integrated a delay phase into our welding process that avoids this phase. The preheating action is thus carried out by the tool itself while continuing…

During an FSW welding operation, the shoulder brings heat to the top of the workpieces to be welded. This can cause distortion of the material which requires post-weld machining to restore the correct flatness. To control this distortion during friction…

A friction stir weld may have wormhole or kissing bond defects. In order to repair these defects, it is necessary to pass the FSW tool over the weld again. In the case of a wormhole defect, the welding operation must…