Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining process used to join two similar and dissimilar materials below the liquidus temperature of the material. It is a recently developed technique by The Welding Institute (TWI) in 1991. The advantages of FSW over conventional welding techniques had led to its advancements in almost all the industrial sectors. The increasing demand for the high strength to weight ratio components has led to various materials in industries such as polymers, ceramics, metals, composites, etc.
Modeling and Simulation of advanced manufacturing processes
The addition of reinforcement into the surface instead of bulk improves mechanical properties and boosts the surface properties of the composite. Friction stir processing (FSP) is a solid-state processing route for the fabrication of surface composite. Compared to the conventional liquid state processing route, the FSP is a compatible and energy-efficient process for fabricating surface composites. The FSP is a variant of the friction stir welding (FSW) process, carried out at a lower temperature than the base metal’s melting temperature.
The friction stir channel (FSC) extends the friction stir process where an integral channel is fabricated by continuous voids or tunnel defects. FSC can generate the subsurface path in complex shapes as the processing is performed from the workpiece surface. The unique features of the process can fulfil the advanced heat sink applications in critical thermal management systems such as cooling of EV battery cells, data servers, jet engines and aircraft components.
Additive manufacturing of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4 V has significantly increased over the past few years, primarily due to its broad application over the conventional manufacturing process for complex and near net shape production. However, difficulties arise while printing complex and huge structures and therefore, the components need a suitable joining process. We study the feasibility of friction stir welding of Ti-6Al-4 V plates made by electron beam melting, performing both microstructural and mechanical analysis.