The present invention relates to a friction stir welding head including a central pin shaft, a peripheral shoulder part, a shaft for driving in rotation the part and the shaft about the axis, the shaft being integral in rotation with the part and being free in translation with respect to the part along the axis, the head including an external interface part intended to be secured to a rotary spindle of the machine, a device for transmitting the rotation of the shaft about the axis of rotation from the part and a device for driving in translation the shaft along the axis from the motor during the rotation of the shaft and of the part.

A method of friction stir processing (FSP) includes contacting a first workpiece with a FSP tool, where the first workpiece is a low-melting temperature metal or alloy and the FSP tool is a single-body FSP tool having a diamond working surface. The method also includes rotating the FSP tool in contact with the first workpiece at an interface and generating thermal energy at the interface to heat the first workpiece. The method further includes conducting thermal energy away from the interface with the FSP tool, and friction stirring the first workpiece at a temperature of the FSP tool below 800° C.

The present application relates to a friction stir welding tool insert comprising a polycrystalline cubic boron nitride, PCBN, composite material with a textured surface layer. The textured surface layer comprises a pre-defined repeating pattern.

Provided is a method and tool for butt welding a first material piece of metal to a second material piece of metal at opposed longitudinal edges. The second material piece has a greater material thickness than the first material piece. The first material piece has a higher tensile strength and/or a higher inching temperature and/or a higher yield strength and/or a higher modulus of elasticity than the second material piece. A thickened longitudinal edge is provided at the first material piece. The thickening of the longitudinal edge is at least partly produced by at least simple folding, beading or winding of the first material piece or at least partly by folding the first material piece at its edge. The two material pieces are friction-stir welded at their front along the opposed longitudinal edges.

A system includes a tool configured to be positioned proximate to respective welding surface of separate components. The tool includes a tool head and an actuator configured to drive rotation of the tool head. The tool also includes a controller having a memory operatively coupled to a processor. The processor is configured to provide a command signal to the actuator to apply a pulsed torque to drive rotation of the tool head to facilitate joining the respective welding surfaces of the separate components to one another.

According to one embodiment, a method is disclosed for plugging an orifice. The method can include rotating a tool including a shoulder portion and a probe pin, and inserting the probe pin into a member having an orifice. The probe pin is provided at an end portion of the shoulder portion. The method can include forming a plug portion by moving the rotating tool to traverse the orifice. The plug portion plugs the orifice.

A friction stir welding apparatus includes a probe, a shoulder, a recess part, and an annular member. The probe is pressed to a joint part of a plurality of joined members while being rotated. The shoulder is formed so as to surround the probe at an outside in a radial direction with respect to a rotation axis of the probe. The recess part is formed on at least one of an outer circumference of the probe and an inner circumference of the shoulder. The annular member is fitted to the recess part.

A hard disk drive includes a base deck with a floor portion and a side wall portion. The floor portion extends between an upper surface and a bottom surface, and the side wall portion extends from the floor portion. A top cover is coupled to the base deck and includes a ceiling portion and a wall portion. The hard disk drive includes a weld that directly couples the wall portion of the top cover to the floor portion of the base deck.

A machine tool and a control method for the machine tool, which determine the degree of misalignment during friction joint, are provided. The machine tool (an automatic lathe 1) includes: a first spindle 10 rotatably holding a first workpiece (a workpiece W1); a second spindle 20 arranged to face the first spindle and rotatably holding a second workpiece (a remaining workpiece W2); and a controller 40a, while rotating at least one of the first workpiece or the second workpiece, relatively moving the first spindle and the second spindle so as to get closer to each other and pushing a rear end portion of the second workpiece against a front end portion of the first workpiece to frictionally join the first and second workpieces. The controller has a misalignment amount detector detecting a misalignment amount s of the second workpiece with respect to the first workpiece during the friction joint.

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.