Overview
EN ISO 18785-5:2021 (ISO 18785-5:2018) - Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) - Aluminium - Part 5: Quality and inspection requirements - is a CEN-adopted international standard that specifies a method to determine a manufacturer's capability to produce aluminium products using friction stir spot welding to a defined quality. The document defines quality system elements, inspection and testing practices, and personnel and equipment requirements applicable to FSSW of aluminium and its alloys. It sets quality requirements without assigning them to specific product groups.
Key topics and requirements
The standard addresses practical quality and inspection controls for FSSW, including:
- Quality management: Requirements for establishing and demonstrating capability to produce FSSW joints of specified quality.
- Welding personnel: Competence and roles for weld setters, welding operators, and inspection/testing staff (including NDT and destructive testing qualifications).
- Equipment and tooling: Suitability, acquisition, validation of welding machine settings, tool identification and inspection, and maintenance practices.
- Welding procedure specification (WPS): Need for documented procedures and validation tests for qualified machine settings used in production.
- Pre-weld preparation: Joint design, fit-up and cleaning requirements before welding.
- Thermal control and post-weld treatment: Control of process heat and any required post-weld heat treatment.
- Inspection and testing: Requirements for inspection before, during and after welding; handling of damaged or non‑conforming welds; weld flash correction; identification and traceability of welds and records.
- Testing methods and imperfections: Reference to an annex covering typical imperfections and recommended tests (destructive and non‑destructive).
Practical applications and users
EN ISO 18785-5 is intended for organizations that design, manufacture or qualify products joined by FSSW of aluminium. Typical users include:
- Welding engineers and procedure developers
- Quality assurance and inspection managers in automotive, aerospace, rail, marine and consumer manufacturing
- Production managers and machine/tooling suppliers for FSSW equipment
- NDT personnel and laboratories performing inspection, validation and qualification
- Suppliers seeking to demonstrate manufacturing capability and traceability for contract compliance
Using this standard helps manufacturers implement consistent FSSW quality control, reduce joint failures, and provide evidence of process capability for customers and regulators.
Related standards
This part references complementary standards used in inspection and qualification, for example:
Also see other parts of the ISO 18785 series for broader FSSW guidance. Keywords: friction stir spot welding, FSSW, aluminium, ISO 18785-5, quality requirements, inspection, welding procedure specification, non-destructive testing, traceability.