Friction stir welded T-joint assembly and method of forming such a T-joint assembly

摘要

A method of stir welding T-joints comprises assembling and stir welding first and second members (20,22). The first member (20) comprises a sheet portion (24) of material and also comprises restraining surfaces (37). The second member (22) comprises a rib (38). The rib (38) is stir welded (58) to the sheet portion (24) with the edge margin of the rib (38) being positioned between the restraining surfaces (37) of the first member (20). During stir welding, the restraining surfaces (37) of the first member (20) limit movement of the rib (38) relative to the first member (20). A tooling portion is preferably formed as a contiguous portion of the material of one of the first and second members (20,22). The first and second members (20,22) are secured to a stir welding apparatus via the tooling portion during the stir welding. The method yet further comprises a step of separating the tooling portion from the first and second members (20,22) after forming the stir welded T-joint.