PSI - Issue 28

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2019) 000–000

www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 28 (2020) 659–666

© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of the European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS) ExCo Abstract There has been a significant increase in the use of lightweight materials in many areas of industry and engineering, which were previously dominated by metallic components. Among these materials, polymers and fiber reinforced thermoplastics enable additional advantages including great design flexibility, low manufacturing cost, dimensional stability and most dominantly recyclability. Consequently, new technological solution for joining thermoplastic composites are crucial and attractive engineering subjects. Friction Stir Welding (FSW) proved to be a reliable method for welding metallic and polymeric materials, and further studies regarding thermoplastic based composites are required, especially concerning tool design and process optimization. A short fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite was used as the base material, to study the effect of the welding parameters on the joint strength. As the welding tool plays a fundamental role in this process, three different tool concepts for welding in a butt joint configuration were tested and analyzed. After selecting the best welding tool, an L 4 Taguchi Design of Experiment (DOE) was employed to optimize the welding parameters. For each welding parameters combination, welding temperature and active forces during welding were recorded to study their effect on the frictional heat generated. It was concluded that the traverse and rotational speeds have the main influence on the weld quality, as they are directly responsible for the heat generation. FSW showed promising results regarding joining thermoplastic based composites and a maximum joint efficiency of 58.8% was achieved. However, further investigation and improvement regarding the welding tool is still required. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Peer-review under responsibility of 23 European Conference on Fracture - ECF23 Keywords: Friction Stir Welding (FSW); Composites; Joining Process. 1st Virtual European Conference on Fracture New Technological Solution for Friction Stir Welding of Composites Shayan Eslami a *, Flávio A. T. Vilhena b , A. T. Marques b , P. M. G. P. Moreira a a INEGI, Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, R. Dr. Roberto Frias 400, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal b FEUP, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Dr. Roberto Frias Street, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +351-22 957 8710. E-mail address: seslami@inegi.up.pt

2452-3216 © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Peer-review under responsibility of 23 European Conference on Fracture - ECF23

2452-3216 © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of the European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS) ExCo 10.1016/j.prostr.2020.10.076