Swedish and US conferences joined by Friction Stir

Citation

(2001), "Swedish and US conferences joined by Friction Stir", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 48 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/acmm.2001.12848aab.020

Swedish and US conferences joined by Friction Stir

Swedish and US conferences joined by Friction Stir

Keywords: TWI, Conferences, Welding

The successful, and simultaneous, staging of two major events on opposite sides of the world, each featuring friction stir welding (FSW), demonstrated the enormous global importance of this novel, solid state, joining process to manufacturing industry.

The 2nd Friction Stir Welding Symposium in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the Aeromat 2000 Conference in Seattle USA were both held 27-29 June 2000. They revealed the speed with which industrial companies are now applying FSW technology, invented and patented by TWI in the UK in 1991, to a great range of products.

In Gothenburg, 155 delegates from 16 countries including Australia, Japan and the USA, listened to 35 papers.

In Seattle, the Aeromat 2000 Conference was organised into eight parallel themes. FSW was one of these themes. It occupied two full days in which 25 papers were presented to audiences of between 50 and 100 at each paper.

Distilling the key issues from both events, it was clear that the aerospace industry sees FSW as a major enabling technology.

The concept of the "welded aeroplane", and other demanding applications such as high speed rail vehicles, stimulated a large number of papers reporting on properties. In every instance FSW is reported to perform as well as, and frequently better than, an arc weld. Issues attracting attention are ageing whilst the aircraft is on the ground, corrosion, and crack propagation. Results so far suggest that FSW is superior to riveted or bolted connections but not enough results are available to satisfy regulators and work continues.