Termoplastic Joining by Friction Stir Welding: Influence of Tool and Process Parameters

Abstract:

Polymers are materials that have good weight-to-strength ratio, low relative costs and good processability, justifying its uses in a lot of applications, even replacing metallic materials. Despite its good processability, it’s not trivial to join polymeric materials. Polymers low degradation temperature, low thermal conductivity, and low diffusion capacity are major obstacles to produce bigger and more complex parts on a large scale. Among all polymeric joining methods, one of the most promising is Friction Stir Welding (FSW). This process works by the insertion of a rotation probe inside the material, promoting heating and mixing of the welding area by its friction, leading to a solid state welding, without gases or splashes. This paper brings the state of art of Friction Stir Welding of thermoplastics and aims to relate the tools and parameters influence in the welding of different polymers and its resulting properties.

Key-words:
Polymers; Thermoplastics; Friction Stir Welding