Friction stir welding is a welding process without any melting and material input. The welding operation is carried out in a solid state by mechanical deformation generated by the rotation of the FSW tool in the workpiece.
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Compared to arc welding techniques, an FSW welded mounting bracket has twice the mechanical strength. This increased strength is the result of the double mortise and tenon joint combined with friction stir welding.
Like many jobs in the industrial and metal sector, the number of welders is in total decline. It is estimated that within the next 5 years there will be a shortage of 400,000 welders in Europe, as well as in the USA.
The Stirweld FSW heads allow the assembly of mounting brackets by friction stir welding (FSW) in a fully automated way. In addition to offering much better-quality welds with excellent mechanical strength compared to TIG/MIG processes, Stirweld’s FSW process is a perfect way to fill the welder shortage. Indeed, only two days of training are required to train your operators in friction stir welding.
By way of comparison, a Stirweld FSW hybrid head adaptable to a machining center represents the cost of a welder over 1.5 years.
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Please note that we also offer our Stirweld Friction Stir Welding (FSW) heads for rental for less than €/month.
To find out more about buying or renting a Stirweld friction stir welding head, contact us.
Friction stir welding can be used to weld any aluminium alloy, unlike conventional welding processes such as MIG or TIG. High-strength aluminum alloys ( and series) are difficult to weld by arc welding. While in FSW, the welding operation is the same as for other or type alloys. These high strength alloys are used mainly in the aeronautical sector or certain applications such as mounting brackets which must have a tensile strength of more than 500 MPa (MegaPascal).
In MIG welding, only aluminium alloys and can be welded. These alloys have a maximum tensile strength of 250 MPa, which is half that of aluminium. Therefore, these mounting brackets can only be welded by FSW, a process that does not reach the melting point and allows the mechanical properties of the base material to be retained after welding.
Good to know: before FSW, it was necessary to weld together two 8mm thick aluminium sheets with a strength of 250 MPa, in order to obtain a tensile strength equivalent to a 4mm thick sheet with an Rm of 500 MPa. Today this is no longer necessary as or aluminium can be welded using FSW.
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