Article Type : Research Article
Authors : Rezgui F and Boumerzoug Z
Keywords : Friction stir welding machine; Manufacturing; Drilling machine; Soft materials; Control
Friction welding
process is the most simple, economical and productive methods in joining
materials. In this work, a semi-automated friction stir welding machine was
fabricated for soft materials. A hand drilling machine was the main component
in this machine. The controlling welding process was done by electronic
devices. The mild steel friction tool was manufactured for this purpose. Lead
alloy is chosen as work piece according to the capacity of hand drilling
machine. A successful lead alloys plates were welded by this machine.
Joining includes a wide
variety of methods to join two pieces of solid material into one [1]. Joining
metals by welding has been under constant development for thousands of years
[2]. Friction welding (FW) method is one of the most simple, economical and
highly productive methods in joining similar and dissimilar metals [3]. There
are mainly two types of FW, rotary FW (RFW) and Friction Stir Welding (FSW).
FSW was developed by Thomas et al. [4] for joining soft metals, as aluminum
alloys, which were generally considered difficult to weld using fusion welding
techniques. Many similar and dissimilar materials were welded by FSW process
[5-7]. The FSW process consists of the insertion of a rotational tool, formed
by a pin and a shoulder, into the abutting surfaces of pieces to be welded and
moved along the weld joint, as presented in Figure 1. A high-quality
solid-state joint is formed. Today there are around 300 companies worldwide
which perform FSW on one or more machines [1].
FSW is widely used in
the automotive, aircraft and aerospace industrial applications. Specific FSW
machines were used with different characteristics and configuration. According
to Mendes et al. [8], three kinds of machines are reported in literature as
viable to perform FSW. These machines are:
·
Conventional
machine tools such as milling machines, can be used to perform FSW [9,10]. For
the purpose research, milling machine is converted into friction stir welding
machine by some modifications [11].
·
Dedicated
FSW machines or custom-built machines [12], fabricated to satisfy special
product requirements, and for example parts for decks of ships [13].
· Industrial robots [5,14,15], which are robotic machines.
Figure 1: FSW process.
According to a literature, a limited FSW machines were fabricated using conventional hand drilling machine, such as realized by Siddiqui et al. [16]. The majority of these machines are controlled manually. The objective of this work was to fabricate a semi-automated FSW machine by using conventional hand drilling machine and some electronic devices.
Components of FSW
This section presents the details of the main components of the semi-automated friction stir welding machine and their functions. Figure 2 shows the general view of a semi-automated friction stir welding fabricated in this work. The components of the mechanical part (Hand drill machine, motors) are connected to the computer by electronic devices (Arduino, power supply, and two digital stepper motor drivers).
Figure 2: General view of a semi-automated friction stir welding machine.
The mechanical part of a semi-automated friction
stir welding machine was designed to obtain detailed engineering drawing and
the manufacturing (Figure 3). The manufacturing of the mechanical part is
fabricated with high rigidity.
(Figure 4) presents the mechanical part of a semi-automated friction stir welding machine.
Figure 3: Design of a semi-automated friction stir welding machine.
Figure 4: Mechanical part of a semi-automated friction stir welding machine.
This part is composed of:
·
Vertical
movable bed, which can move up and down. The vertical movement is performed by
a motor (NEMA34 JK86HS67-5904).The hand drilling machine (Stanley SDH600) is
fixed on this moving bed. The maximum rotating speed is 2600 rpm.
·
Horizontal
moving bed, which can move linear. The movement is performed also by the same
motor (NEMA34 JK86HS67-5904) as fixed on vertical movable bed. The speed of the
horizontal moving bed varies from 5 to 3000 mm / min.
·
The
vice is used to hold the work piece in a straight manner. It moves towards both
forward and backward direction.
·
A
fastening system is mounted on the horizontal bed. Four clamps fixe the two
work-pieces by tightening of four screws. Siddiqui et al. [16] reported that
the high stress developed between plates (Fig. 1) due to the rotation of tool
which tries to separate the plates, for this reason a clamping force is
required to fix the plates for successful welding process.
· Friction tool, which is fixed to the hand drilling machine.
Friction tool is made up of mild steel (Figure 5). Mild steel has a high melting point and hardness values than many soft materials such as aluminum alloys or leads alloys.
Figure 5: Friction tool.
Controlling mechanical
part of FSW machine
We noticed that all different movement of the mechanical part of FSW machine is controlled by installed software in the computer as shown in (Figure 6). From the software commands, the speed of the longitudinal and vertical movements of the two beds can be controlled. From these two commands, this friction stir welding machine is semi-automated.
Figure 6: Portion of a screenshot showed the software commands.
Welding process
The FSW of lead alloy has been carried out successfully in the semi-automated friction stir welding machine (Figure 7). The material selected for the welding is lead alloy plates (Thickness=5 mm), due to its low melting point. FSW parameters considered in this experience are rotational speed of 2800 rpm (hand drilling machine), and weld speeds 10 mm/min (Horizontal moving bed). Other tests can be performed for other soft materials by changing just the welding conditions.
Figure 7: Welded lead alloy
plates by semi-automated FSW machine.
A semi-automated FSW machine was fabricated by using
hand drilling machine. This machine is used for welding soft materials. It is
divided on two parts, mechanical part and electronic part. The two parts are
connected between them for controlling the process of welding. A successful
friction stir welding of lead plates is performed.
The authors acknowledge
the Algerian Research Organism DGRSDT for their financial support of this
research via LMSM laboratory of Biskra University.
1. Hasan
MdM, Borah MJ, Saha N. Feasibility of friction stir spot welding of PVC
plastics. AdtU J Eng Manag. 2019; 1.
3. Friction
Stir Welding Handbook, FSW-Tech erasmus, 2017.
4. Thomas
W, Nicholas E, Needham J, Murch M, Temple-Smith P, Dawes C. Friction-stir butt
welding. International patent application no. PCT/GB92/02203, 1991.
5.
Helal Y, Boumerzoug Z.
Microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of dissimilar friction stir
lap welding aluminum alloy 6061-T6 to ultra-low carbon steel. Energy Procedia. 2019; 157: 208-215.
6.
Raouache
E, Boumerzoug Z. Effet des paramètres du procédé FSW sur la résistance et la
température maximale pour l'assemblage de feuilles de polyéthylène (HDPE) haute
densité. Revue des Composites et des Matériaux Avancés. 2018; 2: 149-160.
7. Boumerzoug Z. Joining of dissimilar materials by friction
stir welding. MATEC Web Conf. 2018; 224.
8.
Mendes
N, Neto P, Simão MA, Loureiro A, Pires JN. A
novel friction stir welding robotic platform: welding polymeric materials, Int
J Adv Manuf Technol. 2014.
9. Longhurst
WR, Strauss AM, Cook GE, Fleming PA. Torque control of friction stir welding
for manufacturing and automation. Int J Adv Manuf Technol. 2010; 51: 905-913.
10. Longhurst
WR, Strauss AM, Cook GE. Enabling automation of friction stir welding: The modulation
of weld seam in put energy by traverse speed force control. J Dyn Syst Meas
Control. 2010; 132: 041002.
11. Siddiqui
MA, Jafri SAH, Bharti PK, Kumar P. Friction stir welding as a joining process
through modified conventional milling machine: A Review. Int J Innovative Res
Develop. 2014; 3: 7.
12.
Okawa Y, Taniguchi M,
Sugii H, Marutani Y. Development of 5-axis friction stir welding system.
SICE-ICASE Int J Conf IEEE. 2006; 1266-1269.
13.
Smith CB, Crusan W,
Hootman JR, Hinrichs JF, Heideman RJ, Noruk JS. Friction stir welding in the
automotive industry, TMS Annu. Meet. Automot Alloy Join Alum Symp. 2001; 175-185.
14. Smith
CB. Robotic friction stir welding using a standard industrial robot, 2nd
Frict Stir Weld Int Symp. 2000; Gothenburg, Sweden.
16. Siddiqui
MA, Moeed KM, Jafri SAH. Frictions stir welding of rectangular flat plates by using
hand drilling machine. Int J Scientific Res Develop. 2016; 6: 1087-1091.