Project Abstract
Friction stir welding is a process to join materials, typically aluminium though there are many other applications. Counter intuitively, it does this by advancing a rotating tool through the material, which stirs the material together. This occurs at temperatures well below the usual melting point, and is thus very different to conventional welding. While the metallurgy of friction stir welding is well known, the process parameters have received less attention, and this is where the current project focusses.
We are interested in understanding how process parameters interact with specific tool features to produce weld quality.
Project phases
(1) Develop hardware platform and explore manufacturing process parameters. PhD thesis by Mr Kamil Sued. (At the point of completion)
(2) Multiphysics modelling of flow in weld region. PhD project by Mr Abbas Tamadon (commenced)
(3) Determining flow in weld region by empirical means. ME project (open)
(4) Characterising weld defects and their causes. ME project
