An Innovative Approach for Manufacturing of Thin Welded Blanks and Coils

This study presents a novel approach for fabricating thin welded plates with excellent surface finish and physical properties using friction stir welding process. Similar and dissimilar materials were welded under various conditions, followed by cold-rolling operations to the desired thicknesses. For welding of similar material, an ultimate thickness of 70 mu m was achieved from 1mm raw aluminum alloy-1100. In the next stage, where aluminum and copper sheets with the thickness of 0.5mm were welded together, bi-material foils with final thickness of 200 mu m were fabricated. Results indicate that the presented approach can be replaced with costly fusion processes especially for ultra-thin joints.