Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining technique that has gained widespread adoption, particularly for aluminum alloys, due to its ability to produce high-quality welds without melting base materials. This comprehensive review focuses on the influence of process parameters on weld characteristics and performance. Compared to conventional fusion welding methods, FSW offers notable advantages, including superior mechanical properties, fewer defects, enhanced corrosion resistance, and lower environmental impact. The review also addresses key challenges such as tool wear, precise process control, and complications arising from welding dissimilar alloys. By synthesizing recent developments and case studies, this work outlines current limitations and proposes future directions for optimizing the FSW process to expand its applicability in critical engineering sectors.

Laminated composite shell panels take part in several engineering structures. Due to their complex nature, failure modes in composites are highly dependent on the geometry, direction of loading and orientation of the fibers. However, the design of composite parts is still a delicate task because of these fiber failure modes, which includes matrix failure modes or other so-called interlaminar interface failure such as delamination, that corresponds to the separation of adjacent layers of the laminate as a consequence of the weakening of interface layer between them. In this work, impact-induced delamination represented as a circular single delamination is investigated, as it can reduce greatly the structural integrity without getting detected. Furthermore, attention is focused on its effect upon the post-buckling response and the compressive strength of a composite panel. The delamination buckling was modelled using the cohesive element technique under Abaqus software, in order to predict delamination growth and damage propagation while observing their effects on the critical buckling load.

The use of composite stiffened panels is common in several activities such as aerospace, marine and civil engineering. The biggest advantage of the composite materials is their high specific strength and stiffness ratios, coupled with weight reduction compared to conventional materials. However, any structural system may reach its limit and buckle under extreme circumstances by a progressive local failure of components. Moreover, stiffened panels are usually assembled from elementary parts. This affects the geometric as well as the material properties resulting in a considerable sensitivity to buckling phenomenon. In this work, the buckling behavior of a composite stiffened panel made from carbon Epoxy Prepregs is studied by using the finite element analysis under Abaqus software package. Different plies orientations sets were considered. The initial distributed geometric imperfections were modeled by means of the first Euler buckling mode. The nonlinear Riks method of analysis provided by Abaqus was applied. This method enables to predict more consistently unstable geometrically nonlinear induced collapse of a structure by detecting potential limit points during the loading history. It was found that plies orientations of the composite and the presence of geometric imperfections have huge influence on the strength resistance.