In recent papers on the fracture mechanics of Aluminum welds have a lack of guidance on the assessment of
structures containing joints made by friction stir welding (FSW). In this research we have investigated the crack initiation and
propagation in butt joint configuration. fracture mechanics based crack analysis is carried out for the different types of failure
in welded joints. Failure may happen due to mode-I, mode-II, mode-III or mixed of these modes. A probabilistic fracture
mechanics analysis of FSW joints is then presented and result used to identify parameter for which additional data collection
would be beneficial for improving our understanding of the fracture mechanics of FSW joints.
