EuroStir ^® - launch meeting

By: Stephan Kallee ^[1] (TWI)

Launch meeting held at TWI on 5 December 2000

The EuroStir ^® Launch Meeting was held at TWI on 5 December 2000 and was attended by 47 representatives from 30 organisations as follows:

Table 1: Launch meeting attendees

Airbus UK Alstom Power Alvis Vehicles Ltd Angel Trains Braby Ltd Briggs Corus Crawford Swift DanStir DLR - German Aerospace Center DTI EADS CCR ESAB Federal-Mogul Technology Force Institute

Frictec Gatwick Fusion GKSS Institut de Soudure Instytut Spawalnictwa Land Rover Lotus Plc Metalair Feldbinder Raiser GmbH Seco Aluminium Ltd Snecma Taylor Thompson Friction Welding Triton Tooling TWI

The Launch Meeting pursued the following objectives:

• To provide background on the status and potential of friction stir welding (FSW)
• To present the EuroStir ^® proposal
• To provide sufficient information to decide on participation

An overview about collaboration in Eureka projects

Fig.1. Position of Eureka on the international R&D scene © 2000, DTI

http://www3.eureka.be/Home/whatis/members.html

DTI ^[2] presented the benefits of Eureka projects and the network of eligible countries. The Eureka projects are funded by national governments and are closer to market than EC funded pre-competitive Framework IV and V projects. Eureka projects are proposed, defined and managed by its partners and led by industry ( Fig.1).

Today 31 countries are full Eureka Members, while many more countries, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, have some form of associate status ( Fig.2). Eureka's Member Countries range from Iceland to Turkey and Israel via Russia.

In addition, several countries from Central and Eastern Europe have set up National Information Points. These so-called 'NIP Countries' are on the road to full membership. Since 1992, many have already become full Eureka Members. At the end of June 2001, Estonia and Slovakia have gained full membership. In addition, some Eureka projects also have non-European organisations as participants. The Eureka partners are as follows:

Table 2: Eureka countries

Albania (NIP) Austria Belgium Bulgaria (NIP) Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Latvia

Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine (NIP) United Kingdom European Union

Benefits and industrial application of FSW

TWI presented that the friction stir welding process was invented and patented in 1991 by Wayne M Thomas at TWI. The process has won several awards, such as the 1999 UK Engineering Council Award. Several industrial components are now made by FSW, especially in the aerospace and automotive sectors, as well as in the manufacture of ships and rolling stock.

FSW job shop opportunities for small and medium sized companies DanStir [3] is a new FSW job shop, which will promote FSW in Denmark acting as a subcontractor to national and international customers. It is seen as an example of how EuroStir ® collaborators can either out-source work to job shops or establish their own FSW plant after gaining know-how on FSW feasibility and suitable joint designs ( Fig.3).

Fig.3. DanStir's SuperStir TM machine, which will be installed in their new workshop on the site of Force Institute in Copenhagen © 2001, DanStir

Robotic FSW for improving flexibility On the site of GKSS the Robotic Friction Welding Application and Technology Centre (RIFTEC) has been established. This centre demonstrates the benefits of using Neos Tricept robots for FSW. It has developed concepts for friction stir spot welding, for bobbin tools and for other strategies to increase the flexibility of FSW ( Fig.4).

Fig.4. RIFTEC's Neos Tricept Robot 805 on the site of GKSS in Geesthacht, Germany © 2000, GKSS

Links and references

1. Project Manager of EuroStir ^® is Stephan Kallee (TWI),
   stephan.kallee@twi.co.uk
   
   
2. DTI's Governmental Observer is Phil Barham, Engineering Industries Directorate, Department of Trade & Industry,
   phil.barham@dti.gov.uk
   
   
3.   http://www.danstir.com

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