Joining of Fibre-Reinforced Thermoplastic Polymer Composites by Friction Stir Welding—A Review

Abstract

The objective of the current work is to show the potential of the friction stir welding (FSW) and its variants to join fibre-reinforced thermoplastic polymer (FRTP) composites. To accomplish that, the FSW technique and two other important variants, the friction stir spot welding (FSSW) and the refill friction stir spot welding (RFSSW), are presented and explained in a brief but complete way. Since the joining of FRTP composites by FSSW has not yet been demonstrated, the literature review will be focused on the FSW and RFSSW techniques. In each review, the welding conditions and parameters studied by the different authors are presented and discussed, as well as the most important conclusions taken from them. About FSW, it can be concluded that the rotational speed and the welding speed have great influence on heat generation, mixture quality, and fibre fragmentation degree, while the tilt angle only has residual influence on the process. The reduction of internal and external defects can be achieved by adjusting axial force and plunge depth. Threaded or grooved conical pins achieved better results than other geometries. Stationary shoulder tools showed better performance than conventional tools. Regarding the RFSSW, it has not yet been possible to deepen conclusions about most of the welding parameters, but its feasibility is demonstrated.

Mechanical properties and defects in friction stir welded acrylonitrile butadiene styrene polymer

“…Four stages in friction stir welding. 27 perform FSW. The properties of ABS material are shown in Table 1.…”

Friction stir welding of lapped low-melt polyaryletherketone carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic laminate

“…Threaded pins also have a large surface area to generate frictional heat and ultimately produce the least porosity of other pin geometries. 12 Kordestani et al studied the effects of tool pin geometry on butt welded joints between similar 30% wt. SCF reinforced polypropylene.…”

“…11 Though many parameters ultimately affect joint integrity, a general consensus is that the tool rotation and traverse speeds are of greatest influence. 12 Tool rotation speed is responsible for heat generation. 13 Kordestani et al joined both 30% wt.…”

Friction welding joint analysis of dissimilar nanocomposites: PEEK/aluminum to PEEK/titanium

“…To avoid different execution issues in joining of complex design and heavy structural materials, some nonconventional additive processes such as, ultrasonic welding (USW), 17 friction stir welding (FSW), 18–21 inertial rotary friction welding, 22 friction welding (FW), 23–25 friction stir spot welding, 26 refill friction stir spot welding, 26 and so on processes have been used. The potential of FSW and its modifications to join fiber‐reinforced thermoplastic polymer composites have been demonstrated for different advanced applications 27 .…”