Bakavos, D.

Prangnell, P.B.

Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) is a relatively new solid state joining process, with potential applications in the automotive industry. It uses a rotating tool which is plunged and withdrawn without translation, to generate heat frictional, which softens the material and a solid state bond is made between the surfaces of the upper and lower sheets. The main aim of the work presented was to investigate the influence of tool pin length and the application of an insulating back face anvil, to improve the temperature distribution, on the lap shear strength of welds in thin (0.9 mm) 6111-T4 aluminium automotive sheet. It was found that the insulated anvil increased the peak temperature in the bottom sheet by ~ 30???C. Irrespective of the pin length, there was a general reduction in lap shear strength by ~ 15% and an associated change in failure mode when a ceramic anvil was used. It was noted that increasing the pin length from 1 to 1.4 mm also resulted in a similar change in failure mode and a reduction in shear strength from ~ 3.1 to 2.9 kN

Effect of the Pin Length and the Anvil Insulation on Friction Stir Spot welding Thin Gauge 6111 Automotive Sheet,

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