Friction Stir Welding - Equipment

Friction stir welding machines are commercially available from several machine manufacturers and include installations for welding up to 16m lengths. The following companies are licensed by TWI to supply FSW equipment:

Friction stir welding equipment manufacturers

(9 May 2007)

Introduction

TWI has an impressive collection of friction stir welding machines, probably the most comprehensive within a single company. All are available for R&D work, and for small scale and prototype production.

TWI is constantly seeking to expand its FSW capabilities, and maintain state-of-the-art equipment at both its Abington and South Yorkshire sites. The following summarizes the currently available (October 2005) equipment.

ESAB SuperStir ^TM machine

TWI installed an ESAB SuperStir ^TM machine in its friction welding laboratory, in Abington. The machine has a vacuum clamping table and can be used for non-linear joint lines.

• Sheet thickness: 1mm-25mm aluminium
• Work envelope: Approx 5 x 8 x 1m
• Maximum down force: Approx 60kN (6t)
• Maximum rotation speed: 5000rev/min

With ever increasing interest in the process from many industrial sectors, there is the need for continual process development and fabrication of prototype assemblies. Consequently, to meet these needs dedicated equipment has to be developed. A range of modified machine tools now exists at TWI which are briefly reviewed below:

TWI-built Modular machine to weld large size specimens

A laboratory machine was built in October 1996 to accommodate large sheets and to weld prototype structures. The modular construction of this machine enables it to be easily enlarged for specimens with even larger dimensions. The machine is located at Abington.

• Sheet thickness: 3mm-15mm aluminium
• Maximum welding speed: up to 1.2m/min
• Current maximum sheet size: 3.4m length x 4m width
• Current maximum working height: 1.15m

Heavy duty Friction Stir Welding machine

A Herbert milling machine within TWI's Friction and Forge Welding Group in Abington has been modified to weld thick sections by FSW. The following thickness range has been experimentally investigated but the machine is not yet at its limit.

• Sheet thickness: 5mm-50mm aluminium from one side
  10mm-100mm aluminium from two sides
  5mm thick titanium from one side
• Power: up to 22kW
• Welding speed: up to 1m/min

Crawford-Swift - High Force Multi Axis FSW machine

This machine was selected to extend the boundaries in the research and development of thick section FSW. The machine is one of the largest FSW machines in the world with over 130KW of spindle power. It has 12 programmable machine axes, a maximum down force of 15 tonnes and operates over an area of 6m x 3m. The machine has 3D welding capability and features an opposed welding head - a second welding head located directly beneath the upper head, which allows simultaneous, twin-sided welding to be performed. This offers the potential to weld materials up to 100mm thick in one pass.

Transformation Technologies - Precision Spindle FSW Machine

The unique feature of the machine is its high concentricity spindle. This precision spindle allows research into the new range of ceramic tools being developed for friction stir welding of materials which have higher softening temperatures than those metals traditionally welded by FSW. Higher softening temperature materials include steels, stainless steels, titanium and nickel-based alloys.

This fully instrumented machine is capable of producing a down force of 10 tonnes and has a working envelope of 2m x 0.6m

Friction Stir Link, Inc - RoboStir Robotic FSW Machine

This system combines the power of friction stir welding technology with the flexibility of an ABB 7600 robot. This provides versatility not before associated with friction stir welding, with the ability to weld in any position and follow complex 3D weld paths, with the possibilities only limited by the imagination of the engineer.

The machine has a working envelope of 5 metre diameter and can be physically repositioned to cater for larger components.

The system incorporates a comprehensive data logging system to monitor and control the important FSW process parameter.

The robot will also provide the platform to develop the variant of FSW, Friction Spot Stir Welding which is solid state welding alterative to conventional spot welding.

TWI also has two small demonstration machines (one of which can be taken off site, plus a number of milling machines which can if necessary be used for friction stir welding.

More on friction stir welding:

• FSW - Symposia: First 1999 , Second 2000, Third 2001, Fourth 2003, Fifth 2004
• FSW - Process Advantages
• FSW - Materials and Thicknesses
• FSW - Superior Weld Quality
• FSW - Joint Geometries
• FSW - Applications
• FSW - Intellectual Property Rights
• FSW - Enquiry form