Patent 7828191 was granted and assigned to Kawasaki on November, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The present invention is a friction stir welding machine adapted to perform solid phase welding on a welding portion of materials to be welded, by pressing a welding tool against the welding portion of the materials to be welded while rotating the welding tool, and forcing the welding tool to be advanced into a softened portion which is softened by a frictional heat while stirring the softened portion, wherein a coating made of aluminum nitride is formed on at least a region of the welding tool to be in contact with the materials to be welded.