The flash removal unit presented herein is suitable for a friction stir welding (FSW) head and includes a blade and an annular body. The blade removes flash created by a FSW tool during FSW operations. The an annular body defines a flash capture area around the blade and is configured to at least temporarily retain the flash removed by the blade within the flash capture area. The flash removal unit may also define a flow path along which the flash can be suctioned away from the flash removal unit.

The disclosed friction bit joining systems may include a ball screw having an internal bore, a chuck and spindle configured to be rotated by a chuck spindle motor, a friction bit joining bit held by the chuck, a support frame, and a chuck driver motor positioned and configure to rotate the ball screw to axially move the chuck and the friction bit joining bit relative to the support frame. At least a portion of the spindle may be positioned within the internal bore of the ball screw. Various other related systems and methods are also disclosed.

A system for laying pipe includes a conveyor configured to receive one or more pipes, and one or more friction stir welding (FSW) machines configured to connect the one or more pipes to a pipeline deployed toward a sea floor.

An apparatus for use in a friction stir operation, such as friction stir welding (FSW) or friction stir processing (FSP). The apparatus may have a rotating tool adapted to be plunged into a material, where the material is susceptible to being softened by heating. The rotating tool may further be adapted to be advanced along a surface of the material. An optical energy generating subsystem may be used to heat a portion of the material using optical energy as the tool is advanced along the material.

The present invention provides a simple, single step and time efficient method and apparatus for developing ultrafine grained microstructure stainless steel having enhanced wear resistance, corrosion resistance, biocompatibility, cellular response and hem-compatibility for bio-implant applications. The processed stainless steel showed 50% reduction in corrosion, high resistance against localised pitting and 50% reduction in wear in simulated body fluid. In addition, the processed steel demonstrated better cell viability, significantly lower platelet adhesion and plasma adsorption signifying high thrombo-resistance and thereby making it highly desirable for bio-implant applications. The present invention eliminates the long processing steps and do not need any specialized equipments and also eliminates the post process treatments.

A friction stir welding apparatus includes a FSW tool that is held by a housing and welds to-be-welded members to each other by friction stir, and a gradual cooling device that gradually cools a weld site of the to-be-welded members welded by the FSW tool. The gradual cooling device is a contactless heat source that heats the weld site without coming into contact with the weld site. The contactless heat source is a high-frequency heat source.

The invention relates to a device and to a method for homogeneously welding two-dimensionally bent structures by friction stir welding.

A method for joining materials using additive friction stir techniques is provided. The method joins a material to a substrate, especially where the material to be joined and the substrate are dissimilar metals. One such method comprises (a) providing a substrate with one or more grooves; (b) rotating and translating an additive friction-stir tool relative to the substrate; (c) feeding a filler material through the additive friction-stir tool; and (d) depositing the filler material into the one or more grooves of the substrate. Translation and rotation of the tool causes heating and plastic deformation of the filler material, which flows into the grooves of the substrate resulting in an interlocking bond between the substrate and filler material. In embodiments, the depositing of the filler material causes deformation of the grooves in the substrate and an interlocking configuration between the grooves of the substrate and the filler material results.

A production method of a joint material includes a tab installation step of installing an end tab on a pair of workpieces to be joined at a joining line therebetween by friction stir welding, a tool installation step of installing a probe of a tool for friction stir welding at a cutout portion; an approach step of moving the tool while rotating itself from an opening into the cutout portion; a waiting step of causing the tool for friction stir welding to standby in the cutout portion at an extension line; and a joining step of starting movement of the tool along the joining line at a time at which a temperature of the workpieces at a joining portion in front of the tool in an advancing direction of the tool in the waiting step is a predetermined temperature or more and joining the workpieces with each other.

A friction stir welding machine and method that injects filler materials into a weld joint and determines the amount of materials to add by monitoring and compensating for insufficient internal weld pressures in the joint. Two workpieces are placed adjacent one another in an abutting relationship with a joint formed between them. A pin tool is inserted in the joint, rotated, and moved along the joint as the pin is rotating so as to mix and heat materials in the joint. Internal weld pressures in the joint adjacent the pin tool are monitored, and filler materials are injection into the joint when an internal weld pressure below a threshold weld pressure is detected.