Engineering and Construction

NRC researchers are working on turning friction stir welding into a revolutionary process for Canada's aerospace industry. The image shows a 10 mm diameter friction stir lap joint (welded from right to left) in aluminium. Traditional welding involves melting a metal, which weakens it. Friction stir welding uses high-speed forming to frictionally heat and join softened metal in the solid state. Pieces of metal are joined together like mixing together layers of Playdough. If used instead of rivets in aircraft manufacturing, this technique would result in light planes with fewer parts.