A friction stir spot welding apparatus includes a pin member, a shoulder member, a rotation driver, a forward/backward movement driver, and a controller. The controller controls the forward/backward movement driver, such that the pin member and/or the shoulder member press workpieces before a clamp member presses the workpieces, and then controls the rotation driver and the forward/backward movement driver, such that the pin member and the shoulder member stir the workpieces.

Described is a design and method for producing a sputtering target assembly with low deflection made from target material solder bonded to composite backing plate with coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) matching the target material. The composite backing plate is composite configuration composed of at least two different materials with different CTE. The composite backing plate, after plastic deformation, if necessary, has a CTE matching the target material and low and desirable deflection in the bonding process, and therefore, resulting in a low deflection and low stress target material bonded to composite backing plate assembly. The method includes manufacturing composite backing plate with a flat bond surface, heat treating of target blank and composite backing plate to achieve desirable shape of bond surfaces, solder bonding target to a backing plate, and slowly cooling the assembly to room temperature. Matching CTE in both target material and backing plate eliminates the problem of CTE mismatch and prevents the assembly from deflection and internal stress.

An assembly includes a workpiece and a fastening element. The fastening element is configured to drill a hole in the workpiece and allow the fastening element to be friction-welded to the workpiece.

A tank including at least first and second portions connected by a connection ring and weld seams obtained by means of a friction welding method. The connection ring includes at least a first cylindrical portion fitted in the end of the first portion, at least a first shoulder protruding toward the outer zone of the tank relative to the first cylindrical portion and at least a first transverse web positioned approximately in the same transverse plane as the first shoulder. According to this configuration, the first cylindrical portion and the transverse web ensure that the forces generated by a friction welding head during the production of the weld seam which enables the tank to be closed are absorbed.

A tank including at least first and second portions connected by a connection ring and weld seams obtained by means of a friction welding method. The connection ring includes at least a first cylindrical portion fitted in the end of the first portion, at least a first shoulder protruding toward the outer zone of the tank relative to the first cylindrical portion and at least a first transverse web positioned approximately in the same transverse plane as the first shoulder. According to this configuration, the first cylindrical portion and the transverse web ensure that the forces generated by a friction welding head during the production of the weld seam which enables the tank to be closed are absorbed.

A jointed body that has been solid-phase jointed at normal temperature and that has a non-conventional structure is presented. The jointed body is formed by solid-phase joining a first jointed member to a second jointed member, and has a junction interface between the first member and the second member. This jointed body includes an average crystal grain size in a near interface structure that constitutes a near interface area having a total width of 20 micrometers and extending at both sides of the junction interface as a center is 75-100% of an average crystal grain size in an around interface structure that constitutes around interface areas located at both outer sides of the near interface area. In the jointed body, the near interface structure after the joining is almost the same as the structure before the joining, allowing the jointed body to exert similar characteristics to the jointed members.

The method for manufacturing a heat exchanger plate includes a lid groove closing process to insert a lid plate into a lid groove formed at a periphery of a concave groove opening to a surface of a base member; and a primary joining process to perform friction stirring while relatively moving a primary joining rotary tool equipped with a stirring pin along a butting portion of a side wall of the lid groove and a side surface of the lid plate, and in the primary joining process, the rotating stirring pin is inserted into the butting portion, and the friction stirring is performed in a state of only the stirring pin being in contact with the base member and the lid plate.

According to the invention, a blade is friction-welded to a rotor disk of a turbomachine, the disk comprising a projecting block having an outer surface to which the blade is to be welded. To this end: a surfacing process is carried out on at least a part of the periphery of the block, in the region of said outer surface; the outer surface of the block and the surfacing are machined in order to level same; and friction-welding is then carried out between the surfaced outer surface of the block and the blade.

A retaining device (3) is provided for a workpiece (7), which is machined by an industrial robot (2), including a machining tool (4), along a machining path (16). The retaining device (3) includes a clamping tool (5) for clamping tool parts (13, 14) on the machining path (16) and a multi-axis guiding device (6) for the clamping tool (5) and for the independent movement thereof relative to the workpiece (7) during the machining process.

Provided is a joining method that can prevent a plastic flowing material from flowing out from a butt section and that can reduce the thickness and weight of metal members. The joining method is for joining a first metal member and a second metal member by using a rotary tool comprising a stirring pin, and is characterized in that: the stirring pin comprises a flat surface perpendicular to the rotation axis of the rotary tool and comprises a protruding section protruding from the flat face; and in a friction stirring step, the flat surface is brought into contact with the first metal member and the second metal member, and a front end face of the protruding section is inserted deeper than an upper overlapping section to join an upper front butt section and the upper overlapping section.