Critical Review of Fatigue Properties of Friction Stir Welds of Aluminum Alloys

Abstract

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid state welding technique being developed for various metals and alloys. It allows joining of high strength aluminum alloys which is generally difficult to weld with conventional welding techniques. This joining technique is energy efficient, environment friendly, and versatile. FSW is considered to be the most significant development in metal joining in a decade. It is expected to have various weld properties to meet the requirements of applications and working conditions of the products. These properties include tensile strength, microhardness, residual stresses, bending stress and fatigue life. Fatigue is one of the main causes of failure of welded structures in various applications where repetitive cyclic/repeated application of force or pressure conditions is prevailed. There is still lack of material property data, especially for fatigue, for this relatively new method of joining technique. In this paper fatigue properties of Friction Stir Welds of various Aluminum alloys and composites of different research papers are critically analyzed for testing process and results. This state of the art technology has very high potential in many applications including defense, automobile, aerospace, high pressure vessels, pipe joining and ship building