CHARACTERISTICS OF TOOLS OF FRICTION STIR WELDING

The friction stir welding is a dynamically developing version of pressure welding processes. It was developed in England by The Welding Institute (TWI) in 1991. High-quality weld can be created by this process with e.g. a milling machine because using same movement conditions but the tool is different. Basically other tool design is needed because the goal isn't the material removing but the material mixing and heating by friction heat. The tool must be meet several important requirements. On the one hand in the course of mixing the material flow conditions specifically affect the quality of the weld, so the tool geometry is very important. On the other hand significant dynamic stress occurs with high heat load and abrasive wear depending on the material. The tool has evolved reasonably in point of geometry, material and coating in the past two decades. I would like to show the tools of friction stir welding in this article.