Friction stir weld-bonding defect inspection using phased array ultrasonic testing

Abstract

Weight reduction is an important driver of the aerospace industry, which encourages the development of lightweight joining techniques to substitute rivet joints. Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid-state process that enables the production of lighter joints with a small performance reduction compared to the base material properties. Increasing the FSW lap joint performance is an important concern. Friction stir weld bonding is a hybrid joining technology that combines FSW and adhesive bonding in order to increase the mechanical properties of FSW lap joints. FSW and hybrid lap joints were produced, using 2-mm-thick AA6082-T6 plates and a 0.2-mm-thick adhesive layer. Defect detection using the non-destructive test, phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT), has been made. Microscopic observations were performed in order to validate the phased array ultrasonic testing results. Lap shear strength tests were carried out to quantify the joint’s quality. PAUT inspection successfully detected non-welded specimens but was not able to distinguish specimens with major hook defects from specimens correctly weld bonded with small hook defects.