TWI Intermediate Award in Friction Stir Welding

Is it for me?

The course is suitable for anyone with an interest or involvement in friction stir welding, but is especially relevant to those who will be operating friction stir welding equipment or specifying friction stir welding as a fabrication technology.

No prior experience of FSW is necessary for this course but some background knowledge of the process would be useful. TWI’s one day TWI Foundation Award in FSW course provides a suitable overview of the technology.

What will I learn?

The TWI Certificate course builds upon the knowledge gained in the TWI Foundation Award in FSW, extending this to cover best practice for the FSW of aluminium and demonstrating the latest FSW techniques. As well as classroom sessions, this course contains substantial, hands-on, practical elements using TWI’s range of FSW equipment and is taught at a level commensurate with the ISO FSW standard, ISO 25239-3:2011.

Aspects covered include: invention of FSW; advantages and disadvantages of FSW for welding light metals, particularly aluminium; applications of FSW; aluminium welding metallurgy; types of FSW machine and tooling required for FSW; FSW process control; materials weldable by FSW; design implications of FSW; practicalities of FSW (practical session); visual assessment of FSW quality (practical session); mechanical testing of FSW (practical session); defects observed in FSW and their remediation.

Demonstrations of the latest FSW techniques such as bobbin and SSFSW are included in the course.

What will I leave with?

At the end of the course, attendees will:

understand current FSW technology and how FSW differs from other welding processes
have a practical appreciation of different types of FSW equipment
understand FSW weld parameters/programs and their influence on weld quality
have experience of making friction stir welds in aluminium alloy to the standard ISO 25239
have experience of how to inspect, test and assess FSW welds in accordance with ISO 25239

What else should I know?

Classroom time is typically three hours per day. In addition, demonstrations of friction stir welding will be provided on a range of FSW to demonstrate the many different capabilities of FSW. A significant portion of the course is spent in TWI’s FSW laboratory, becoming familiar with the practical aspects of friction stir welding. Friction stir welds will be made, inspected and tested to the level of ISO 25239.

There will be a limit of 3 students per course to maintain quality standards.

A comprehensive set of course notes will be provided to the attendees. Lunch and refreshments will be provided each day.

A short, two part, exam will be taken at the end of the course.

Successful completion of Part 1 of the exam will demonstrate that the candidate possesses the basic level of knowledge of FSW welding technology recommended by ISO 25239-3:2011.

Successful completion of both Parts 1 and 2 of the exam will result in the award of a TWI Certificate of FSW.

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