Authors: N. Toniato, J. E. Ribeiro, P. M. G. P. Moreira, A. C. F. Silva

The welding is the most important joining processes currently used in industry because is one of the most efficient and economic process to join materials. A new welding technique, appeared in 1991, called Friction Stir Welding has become very popular in the transportation industry. This work presents the study of the corrosion behaviour of the samples welded by FSW process, where the rotation speed was held constant and the travel speed had changed. The corrosion tests were performed in two ways: seawater (pH between 8,5) and sulphuric acid solution (pH 1). The corrosion rate was measured from the mass loss of welding specimens who were immersed in two solutions. Mass loss was more significant in the samples which were immersed in sulphuric acid solution (over 10%) than in seawater (below 0,5%). The results showed that with the increase of travel speed have been increased corrosion rate and the hardness of the weld.

N. Toniato¹ | J. E. Ribeiro² | P. M. G. P. Moreira² | A. C. F. Silva³
1Engenheira Metalurgista – IFES, Espírito Santo – Brasil.
2 Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança – Portugal.
3 Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica, Porto – Portugal.