Friction Stir Welding and Friction Spot Stir Welding Processes of Polymers—State of the Art

Abstract

In the last decade, the friction stir welding of polymers has been increasingly investigated by the means of more and more sophisticated approaches. Since the early studies, which were aimed at proving the feasibility of the process for polymers and identifying suitable processing windows, great improvements have been achieved. This owes to the increasing care of academic researchers and industrial demands. These improvements have their roots in the promising results from pioneer studies; however, they are also the fruits of the adoption of more comprehensive approaches and the multidisciplinary analyses of results. The introduction of instrumented machines has enabled the online measurement of processing loads and temperature, and critical understanding of the principal aspects affecting the material flow and welds quality. Such improvements are also clearly demonstrated by the increase of the strength of recent joints (up to 99% of joining efficiency) as compared to those reached in early researches (almost 47%). This article provides a comprehensive review of the recent progresses on the process fundamentals, quality assessment and the influence of process parameters on the mechanical behavior. In addition, emphasis is given to new developments and future perspectives.

Investigation of friction stir spot welding of high density polyethylene and polypropylene sheets

“…31 It is well known that various defects are caused in FSSW weld nugget. 33,34 Figure 14b is seen that a homogeneous mixture has been formed in the image taken from optimum strength obtained joint. It is clear that the materials mixed with each other as regularly.…”

Thermo-Mechanical Simulation of Underwater Friction Stir Welding of Low Carbon Steel

“…The heat transfer between tool and workpieces in underwater situation is considered [ 41 , 42 ]. At the bottom of base metal, the conductive heat transfer of steel with the fixture plate is determined by [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ]: …”

Effect of Friction Stir Welding Techniques and Parameters on Polymers Joint Efficiency—A Critical Review

“…FSW of polymeric materials continues to be studied and is responsible for a very significant number of published papers, including some reviews of relevant interest [ 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ]. However, most of these papers describe the technology of each process/variant and/or its direct effects on welds, but they do not compare the effects of different technologies, mainly in terms of the mechanical strength of the joints.…”