M. J. Soron, J. Norström, ESAB AB Welding Equipment, Laxå, Sweden
For more than a decade, high quality seams have been joined using Friction Stir Welding (FSW) in the aerospace and aircraft industries. The seams have, so far, been joined using large customized machines devoted to single task operations. Although providing a high quality output the lack of flexibility of such machine, mainly caused by the limited dextrous workspace, has limited the process from being used to a greater extent. By introducing a more flexible solution based on an industrial robot, modified to fulfil the requirements of the process to a certain extend, opportunities to join complex shaped objects with FSW is provided. In this paper we investigate the use of an industrial robot to apply FSW, the quality of the joints applied and the limitations of such system.
Summary: In this paper we discuses Friction Stir Welding using an industrial robot. The study presented has an emphasis on joint quality as welded by the robot system in order to pin-point the benefits and limitations of joining high-strength aluminium alloys using robot Friction Stir Welding.
