Progress in Friction Stir Welding of High Temperature Materials

摘要

Friction stir welding (FSW) has been widely applied to metals with moderate melting points, primarily aluminum alloys. Until recently, however, there were no tool materials that would stand up to the high stresses and temperatures necessary for FSW of materials with higher melting points, such as steels, stainless steels, and nickel-based alloys. Over the past five years, tungsten alloys and polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) have been used to create FSW tools for use in steel, stainless steel, titanium, and nickel-based alloys. Properties of the resultant welds have been shown to be outstanding. Although some issues remain (primarily limited tool life with tungsten-based tools), FSW has been demonstrated as a technically and economically feasible process in high-temperature materials.