Friction stir welding industrialisation and research status

ABSTRACT

This paper intends to provide a perspective on the current development of the friction stir welding (FSW) technology. The industrialisation of the technology and related research were assessed by analysing patent and scientific publications databases. The literature reviews on FSW and related technologies were also collected and analysed. The work performed enabled to understand the main areas of industry/research where the FSW technology is being applied/explored and the geographical distribution of the main players in its implementation/research. The main FSW process variants, the materials already welded/processed using it, as well as the applications envisaged, were also analysed. The data collected shows that the FSW technology, originally developed for the joining of light alloys, became a research tool with interest in several fields of engineering and material science.

KEYWORDS:

• Friction stir welding
• industrialisation
• research and development
• data analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

C. Leitão http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0181-7146

D. M. Rodrigues http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4494-5458

Additional information

Funding

This research was co-financed through projects UID/EMS/00285/2013 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007633. The author C. Leitão is supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) through SFRH/BPD/93685/2013 fellowship. All supports are gratefully acknowledged.