Abstract
The objective of the current work is to show the potential of the friction stir welding (FSW) and its variants to join fibre-reinforced thermoplastic polymer (FRTP) composites. To accomplish that, the FSW technique and two other important variants, the friction stir spot welding (FSSW) and the refill friction stir spot welding (RFSSW), are presented and explained in a brief but complete way. Since the joining of FRTP composites by FSSW has not yet been demonstrated, the literature review will be focused on the FSW and RFSSW techniques. In each review, the welding conditions and parameters studied by the different authors are presented and discussed, as well as the most important conclusions taken from them. About FSW, it can be concluded that the rotational speed and the welding speed have great influence on heat generation, mixture quality, and fibre fragmentation degree, while the tilt angle only has residual influence on the process. The reduction of internal and external defects can be achieved by adjusting axial force and plunge depth. Threaded or grooved conical pins achieved better results than other geometries. Stationary shoulder tools showed better performance than conventional tools. Regarding the RFSSW, it has not yet been possible to deepen conclusions about most of the welding parameters, but its feasibility is demonstrated.
Highlights
The number of applications of the fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites has been growing solidly as they are high performance materials that can be manufactured quickly and with low production costs [1]
As a result, when using rotary shoulder tools, the increase of rotational speed promotes the burning of the composite surface, material sticking to the welding tool, the formation of flash defects, the deterioration of the welding appearance, and the decrease of the joining strength, as observed by Ahmadi et al [3,47]
Regarding the friction stir welding (FSW) technique, the literature is still reduced and only addresses the weldability of Fibre-reinforced thermoplastic polymer (FRTP) composites reinforced with chopped fibres
Summary
The number of applications of the fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites has been growing solidly as they are high performance materials that can be manufactured quickly and with low production costs [1]. Compared to common metallic materials, FRTP composites present superior specific strength and specific stiffness [4]. These materials are mostly intended for the application in the automotive, naval, aeronautic, and aerospace industries [5], as they allow the production of lightweight structures with high mechanical performance. Their inclusion contributes to the reduction of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions [6]. The two most common reinforcements used for the production of these composites are the glass fibre (GF) and the carbon fibre (CF) [3]
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