Launchpad, March - April 2007
For a full list of proposed, active and closed projects see here
Assessment of stationary shoulder friction stir welding for the joining of titanium alloys
Launched: March 2007
Cost per Sponsor: £20 000 pa, two payments
Project leader: Calvin Blignault
TWI has developed an exciting new method for the reliable welding of high temperature, low conductivity materials including titanium alloys. This new process is stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SSFSW). Titanium alloys are particularly challenging materials due to their high strength at relatively high temperatures and their low thermal conductivity. A previous TWI Group Sponsored Project on conventional friction stir welding of these alloys concluded that the approach was feasible but there were problems to be solved. An internal TWI project carried out to address some of the issues led to the invention of SSFSW. TWI is now launching a Group Sponsored Project to develop and assess this new variant of friction stir welding for application to Ti alloys.
Exploitation of power beam welding of thick section steel for structural applications
Launched: March 2007
Cost per Sponsor: £10 000 pa, two payments
Project Leader: Eliana Fu
The increasing use of combinations of steels of different thickness and materials properties in industry has encouraged the development and adoption of new high speed joining techniques. Fibre laser welding is now a well established process and has potential for welding steel plate and sections. For applications where joining of thicker materials or higher welding speeds are required, non-vacuum electron beam welding is a technique which has already had some use in production. Both processes have potential for high productivity manufacture with reduced manufacturing costs and low heat input and distortion. The high power capability of fibre laser and non-vacuum electron beam processes will be investigated in this project to demonstrate lower production costs compared with conventional welding.
