Effect of welding time on fatigue properties of friction stir spot welds of Al to carbon fibre-reinforced plastic

ABSTRACTOne way of addressing environmental problems is to increase the use of light-weight materials in automobiles, such as the multi-material structure, which improves fuel economy and reduces pollution. However, it is necessary to develop a welding technique to join carbon fibre-reinforced plastic to metals to achieve a multi-material structure. So, this paper aims to shorten the welding time and to clarify the fatigue fracture mechanism of shear type friction stir spot welding joint between aluminium alloy and CFRP experimentally and analytically. As a result, the static and fatigue strength of the joint improved as the welding time increased due to the increase of total joint area to increased resin melting.