ii For my parents and my sister. for guiding this research and serving on my thesis committee. I would also like to thank the Tennessee Space Grant Consortium for providing funding, without which this research would not have been possible. I would like to thank my colleagues at the Vanderbilt University Welding Automation Laboratory, especially Chase Cox and Jason Aguilar who worked extensively...

Friction stir welding, a solid state innovative joining technique, is widely being used to join aluminium alloys for aerospace, marine automotive and many other applications of commercial importance. FSW trials were carried out using a vertical machining centre (VMC) on AA6061 alloy. The main objective of the present work was to evaluate the weld processing parameter of friction stir weld (FSW)...

Metal matrix composites (MMCs) exhibit improved strength but suffer from low ductility. Metal particles reinforcement can be an alternative to retain the ductility in MMCs (Bauri and Yadav, 2010; Thakur and Gupta, 2007) [1,2]. However, processing such composites by conventional routes is difficult. The data presented here relates to friction stir processing (FSP) that was used to process metal ...

The aim of the present research is to investigate the fatigue behaviour of friction stir (FS) welded tubular joints in aluminium alloy subjected to torsional fatigue loading. To manufacture the samples which were tested, an MTS I-STIR process development system was equipped with a retracting tool specifically designed for these tubular welds. Al 6082-T6 FS welded samples were tested under cycli...

Progress in sustainable manufacturing is a crucial element to minimise negative environmental impacts. The conventional fusion weld process used join aluminium alloys resulted coarse grain structure, inevitable defects, and severe joint softening. Friction stir processing (FSP) has the potential modify microstructure of materials structure improve mechanical properties. In this investigation, e...

The high strength Al-Zn-Mg alloy is widely used for structure components in critical aerospace applications. Small additions of scandium (Sc) often refine cast microstructure and mechanical properties by forming metastable Al3Sc dispersoids. The main role of the Al3Sc dispersoid is to prevent recrystallization during hot deformation and solution treatment. A new technique to apply for surface m...

Friction Stir Welding (FSW), being a novel process and facilitates welding various joints required for several industrial applications. It is an attractive technology for solid state material joining, contrary to conventional welding methods, having ability to produce welds with higher integrity and minimum induced distortion and residual stresses. In this paper, the operation of FSW, critical ...