Mechanical fasteners are used extensively in the joining of two or more metal plates or sheets. Riveted joints have been the joints of choice mainly for the Aerospace Industry. However for this research, Friction Hydro Pillar Processing has been used to develop and characterise a new riveting technique termed Friction Hydro Pillar Riveting (FHPR). Two overlapping 3.17 mm Ti-6Al-4V sheets were joined together using Ø6 mm rivet which was friction processed. This research has focussed on the initial development of Friction Hydro Pillar Riveting thereby establishing a basic understanding of the influences of main process parameters, rotational speed and axial force - and also joint configurations. The results showed that with a decrease in the bottom hole chamfer angle, there was resulting overall increase in the rivet joint pull off strength. From the best performing joint configuration in pull off tests, shear tests were conducted whilst a blind hole FHPR joint was also done and tested in pull off and shear strength. The shear test fracture surfaces exhibited ductile failure. The microstructure of the joints was thus evaluated. From parent material, heat affected zone and to weld zone there was a variation in the microstructure analysed. The hardness profiles showed increased hardness in the weld zone which partly explained the shear results. The hardness increase was mainly due to grain refinement in the weld zone by the Friction Hydro Pillar Riveting process.

The area of research dealing with joining of dissimilar metals has been active in recent time. Although fusion and non-fusion techniques of joining have been effectively used for manufacturing components, a comprehensive scientific understanding of the process is lacking. This void exists both in fusion and non-fusion welding methods. The present investigation addresses some of these aspects. The investigation consists of two sections - Part A and Part B. Part A is on Friction welding and Part B deals with Fusion welding using laser. Each section has two chapters each. Following an introductory chapter, basic aspects of friction welding is presented in chapter 2. Chapter 3 deals with the work on friction welding of Fe-Cu couple. Fe-Cu couple is a system with positive heat of mixing. After a brief introduction on various non-equilibrium processes that can occur in this system, experimental details and results are presented. Using the results an attempt is made to understand the flash formation, formation of pores at the interface and the formation of chemically altered zone. It is observed that a chemically altered layer forms predominantly on the Cu side of the interface. It consists of Fe entrapped as fragments/fine crystals and as solid solution in Cu matrix. This zone has higher thickness at the edges than at the center. The mechanism of formation of this interfacial layer which is central to the joining process is related to the fracture and transport of fragments during plastic deformation. Fe forms solid solution in copper under non-equilibrium conditions promoted by shear energy. Using the concept of ballistic mixing, the formation of solid solution is explored. Using nano-indentation experiments mechanical properties of the weldment is estimated and an attempt is made to correlate mechanical properties with the amount of second element present in that location. The chapter 4 in part A deals with the friction welding of Ni-Ti couple. Ni-Ti system has negative heat of mixing and it forms a number of intermetallics. After a brief introduction to the chapter, various experimental techniques and strategies followed to carry out the experiments are explained. Following these, the results are presented. It is observed that TiNi3 formed at initial stage. Theories based on effective heat of formation and surface energy also predict the nucleation of TiNi3. With the continuation of frictional processes, the formation of TiNi and Ti2Ni phases were also observed. Formation of Ti2Ni was shown to greatly accelerate due to shear process. In this system two complementary processes like ballistic mixing and thermal assisted diffusion accelerate Ti2Ni formation. From mechanical tests it is found that Ti2Ni layer in the weldment is weak and hence formation of Ti2Ni in the weldment is detrimental. In chapter 5 an introduction to fusion welding of dissimilar metals is presented as background materials for the subsequent chapters. Chapter 6 deals with nature of segregation of Ag during laser welding of Fe-Ni couple. Ag is used as a tracer to probe fluid flow in the Fe-Ni couple during laser welding. Ag is immiscible both in Fe and Ni whereas Fe and Ni form a complete solution at an elevated temperature and in liquid state. Besides the experimental work, numerical simulation of the weld pool were carried out using homogeneous mixture model using SIMPLER algorithm. Experiments and simulations indicate that fluid flow is asymmetrical and in the deep penetration welding strong convection in the pool drives the tracer to the top of the pool. Overall distribution of the tracer is due to the combined effect of convection and diffusion. In shallow welding there exists a boundary region where tracer does not penetrate. In chapter 7 the results of instrumented indentation experiments on laser welded Fe-Cu weldment has been presented. It was earlier reported that during laser welding of Fe-Cu couple, a variety of microstructures evolves at various locations in the weldment and hardness of the weldment were found to be very high. Here an attempt has been made to explore in details the origin of such a high hardness. The chapter starts with a description of various microstructures that are observed in this weldment followed by the various procedures used for extracting data from instrumented indentation tests. It is followed by the presentation of the experimental results. It is found that rule of mixture along with Hall-Petch strengthening explains the observed increase in hardness of the weldment. The fine scale microstructure consisting of alternate Fe rich and Cu rich layers increases the hardness of the weldment. On copper side of the weldment, composition and scale of microstructure fluctuates and so also the hardness. Finally in chapter 8 overall conclusions of the various chapters in the thesis have been summarised.