MATERIALS The macroscopic analyses revealed the following: - It distinguishes the geometry of the ring formed around the rivet shoul- der. For all experiments, the rings are of close size. An "annular" space was formed inside the rings. This space is more obvious and larger when the rivet rotational speed was lower. The lower speed may have produced insuf cient ‘mixing’ of the MB1 material expelled around the shoulder, thus favoring the appearance of the material void. - Copper, under the action of the threaded rivet, penetrated into the aluminum alloy (zone B). - The materials ‘mixed’ under the in uence of the rivet (zone A - the mixing zone) and brought into plasticized state penetrated the space between the turns of the threaded rivet (zone C). - It is possible in zone A that mixing the two MB1 and MB2 base mate- rials under the in uence of the rivet threaded-area has produced a friction joint; - Unlike some other experiments, no shearing of the rivet occurred in any of the four experiments 7 -10. - There are no aws, as ‘material gaps’, ‘pores’ or ‘cavities’. - There may be a layer of intermetallic compounds around the mixing zone formed around the active part of the rivet. The chemical and microstructural analyzes to be carried out will provide additional information to help clarify this aspect. Conclusions Alternative friction processing methods were proposed to increase productivity by the execution of rapid joints in large-scale industrial production technologies. The target applications of all these processes are dissimilar joints of materials of the categories: carbon steels, low alloy steels, stainless steel, nickel, copper, aluminum alloys, titanium alloys, composites, and polymers. The alternative processes approa- ched in the project J-FAST are proposed for increasing the productivity in industrial large scale technologies. - Experiments on friction drilling and form tapping (for threading) have been recently performed on a dissimilar couple: square-section tube (50 x 50 mm) of S235 steel EN 10 025 and sheets of aluminium alloy EN AW 5754 (thickness=1.0 mm). For the friction drilling tools, carbide tools (90% WC and grain size 1 micron), Ø 4.3 mm were employed to achieve M5x0.8 thread. - Friction stir welding (FSW): in order to obtain quality of the welded joints, without imperfections and with good mechanical properties, it is very important to select the right characteristics of the welding tool in terms of the geometrical con guration, dimensions and the material from which they are made. The shape and appearance of the tool, in combination with the process parameters in uence heat generation, plastic ow, forces that develop during the process and uniformity of the weld joint. The FSW test joints marked FSW/P2, FSW/P9 and FSW/P10 for 2 mm thick Cu ET sheets / 6 mm thick Al 99 sheets are appropriate. The appearance after welding and by the macroscopic metallographic analysis is adequate. The target appli- cation for dissimilar FSW joints of Cu ET / Al 99 is the execution of electrical connections. - Riveting joining techniques have a great potential for development and increase of the degree of applicability in top industrial applica- tions. Hybrid effect riveting process - mechanical gripping - friction welding is an innovative variant of joining light metal materials. Preliminary experiments were conducted or hybrid effect friction riveting which demonstrated that the idea regarding the new method proposed is viable and applicable for aluminum alloys base mate- rials (EN AW 1200, EN AW 6082) with thickness 5 mm and 6 mm and rivets made of steel X155CrVMo12 (AISI D2, DIN 1.2379). • These processes can be applied on carbon steels, low alloy steels, stainless steel, aluminum and titanium alloys, composites, and polymers, etc. References [1] G. Urbikain, J.M. Pérez, L.N. López de Lacalle, A.Andueza. Combination of friction drilling and form tapping pro- cesses on dissimilar materials for making nutless joints, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, July 27, 2016, 0954405416661002. SAGE Journals. http://online.sagepub. com. [2] V. Verbiţchi, R. Cojocaru, L.N. Boţilă, C. Ciucă, I.A. Perianu. Project ‘A rapid joint by alternative processes’. Acronym: J-FAST. Scienti c and technical report in extenso - RST. Program Manunet. Contract no. 17 / 2015 – 2017. Stage 2 / 2016 – ‘Identi cation of the objectives and applications. Preliminary tests. Full development of experimental tests and evaluation’. ISIM Timisoara, November 2016. Bene ciary: UEFISCDI Bucharest. [3] R. Cojocaru, L. Boţilă, C. Ciucă, H. Daşcău, V. Verbiţchi. Friction Stir Lap Welding of Light Alloy Sheets. The 10th International Conference Structural integrity of welded struc- tures, July 11th-12th, 2013, Timişoara, Romania. [4] L.N. Boţilă, R. Cojocaru, C. Ciucă. Characteristics of friction stir welding tools for high hardness materials". The 5th International Conference Innovative technologies for joining advanced materials - TIMA 11, Timisoara, 2011. [5] R. Cojocaru, L.N. Boţilă, V. Verbitchi, C. Ciucă, I.A. Perianu. Modern methods of joining by riveting. BID-ISIM – Welding & Material Testing, ISSN 1453-0392. Year XXV. Issue 3 / 2016, pages 9-13. Acknowledgements This article is based on results of the project with the title ‘A rapid joint by alternative processes’, acronym J-FAST, in the frame of the Program Manunet, nanced by the Local Funding Program Gaitek of the Basque Country, Spain, respectively the Executive Unit for Financing the Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation - UEFISCDI of Romania, by the Contract no. 17 / 2015 – 2017. Results of the project PN 16 08 101/ Contract 7N / 2016 -2017, nanced by the National Authority for Scienti c Research and Innovation – ANCSI of Romania have also been presented. 46<<