Friction stir welding of steel for marine applications

• Main Authors: Toumpis, Athanasios, Galloway, Alexander, Cater, Stephen R., Burling, Paul, Stanhope, Chris
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Mechanical engineering and machinery; Mining engineering. Metallurgy; Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering; Arctic
• Online Access: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/48340/; https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/48340/1/Toumpis_A_et_al_Pure_Friction_stir_welding_of_steel_for_marine_applications_Jun_2014.pdf

Friction Stir Welding is a solid state welding process widely used to fabricate aluminium, magnesium and copper structures across a broad range of industries where high strength welds are required in safety critical applications. Work is underway to transfer the process into the fabrication of steel structures, bringing to steel fabrication the benefits of high strength, low distortion, enhanced fatigue life and improved toughness. These property enhancements are of particular benefit to the marine sector, where the additional abilities of the FSW to join dissimilar steels, for example carbon to stainless, and its potential reduced susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement are also likely to be of great interest. This paper reports work undertaken as part of the EU funded project HILDA, an investigation into the potential of FSW to be utilised for the fabrication of ship structures from 6mm thick DH36 steel.