Joining method
AssigneeNippon Light Metal Company, Ltd.
InventorsNobushiro Seo, Hisashi Hori
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Provided is a joining method that can prevent a plastic flowing material from flowing out from a butt section and that can reduce the thickness and weight of metal members. The joining method is for joining a first metal member and a second metal member by using a rotary tool comprising a stirring pin, and is characterized in that: the stirring pin comprises a flat surface perpendicular to the rotation axis of the rotary tool and comprises a protruding section protruding from the flat face; and in a friction stirring step, the flat surface is brought into contact with the first metal member and the second metal member, and a front end face of the protruding section is inserted deeper than an upper overlapping section to join an upper front butt section and the upper overlapping section.
Claims1
A joining method of welding a first metal member and a second metal member using a rotary tool with a stirring pin, comprising:
- a preparation step of forming a first step bottom surface and a first step side surface in a front surface of an end portion of the first metal member, and forming a second step bottom surface and a second step side surface in a back surface of an end portion of the second metal member;
- a superposition butting step of forming a lap section by stacking the first step bottom surface and the second step bottom surface together, forming a front-side butt section by butting the first step side surface and an end surface of the second metal member together, and forming a back-side butt section by butting the second step side surface and an end surface of the first metal member together;
- and
- a friction stirring step of welding the front-side butt section and the lap section by inserting the stirring pin, as rotating, from the front-side butt section, and by relatively moving the rotary tool along the front-side butt section with only the stirring pin put in contact with the first metal member and the second metal member, wherein
- the stirring pin includes a flat surface normal to an axis of rotation of the rotary tool, and a protruding section projecting from the flat surface, and
- in the friction stirring step, the front-side butt section and the lap section are welded with the flat surface inserted into the first metal member and the second metal member, and with a distal end surface of the protruding section inserted deep beyond the lap section and the lap section is located at a same depth as a depth at which an outer peripheral side surface of the protruding section is positioned.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.