We are planning to participate at the following events and would be delighted to meet you there: 

Stirweld FSW head with retractable pin

Courtesy of TWI Ltd

TWI Ltd will hold a joint event in collaboration with Stirweld to showcase cutting-edge tank welding performed using Stirweld’s innovative retractable pin Friction Stir Welding (FSW) head technology, under the publicly-funded Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) MASTER project.

The event will take place at TWI Ltd in Cambridge on 11 March, 2025 and will feature live welding demonstrations and speakers from a range of organisations, including GKN Aerospace, who are collaborating to advance the manufacture of aluminium hydrogen storage tanks for the aerospace industry.

Speaking on the collaboration, Stirweld CEO, Laurent Dubourg said, “We are delighted to be working alongside TWI. Their expertise in R&D, combined with our retractable pin technology, offers unique opportunities for advancing friction stir welding techniques. “

TWI Section Manager for friction welding and processes, Kate Franklin, commented, "The FSW welding head provided by Stirweld has enabled TWI to make advancements in aligning our research activities with commercially available retractable pin FSW equipment. This collaborative initiative is an opportunity for us to pursue ambitious projects, with the aim of offering innovative and effective welding solutions."

As a solid-state welding technique, retractable pin FSW is particularly well-suited to applications where joint quality is critical.

This ongoing collaboration reflects the shared commitment of TWI and Stirweld to maintain our leadership in the field of FSW and to explore new applications for this technology.

You can find out more and register for this event, here.

Stirweld exhibited its FSW solutions from 3 to 5 December 2024 at the Thermal Management Expo in Stuttgart in Hall 1, Stand 943. There you could have met us to discuss your projects and the application possibilities of Friction Stir Welding (FSW).

"Automatic Head Changer for Friction Stir Welding" 

by PhD.-Eng. Laurent Dubourg (www.stirweld.com) and Dipl.-Ing. Stephan Kallee (www.alustir.com) at Advanced Manufacturing, MPA Seminar 2024, Stuttgart

Advanced manufacturing processes are required for the cost-effective production of cooling systems of electric vehicles. Friction stir welding (FSW) offers a unique solution for making absolutely water tight joints between aluminium castings and wrought aluminium sheets.

Leading automotive Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers now use friction stir welding in the industrial production of water-cooled aluminium housings of high-power electronics in the E-mobility. Contrary to MIG and laser welding, the quality of FSW is not affected by porosity in parent material, because it is a solid phase welding process that operates below the melting point of the workpiece material. Thus, FSW can be applied to light-weight aluminium castings. 

Networking of Prof Guntram Wagner (left) and Stephan Kallee at MPA Stuttgart

© MPA Stuttgart, 8. October 2024

Scandinavian aluminium extrusion companies were setting the trend by friction stir welding 2-5 mm thick aluminium lids to extrusions or onto thick aluminium plates with non-linear cooling channels, to produce IGBT coolers for electric locomotives. And now, the automotive industry is catching-up by producing water-cooled electronic housings by FSW in high volume production.

CNC machining and friction stir welding in the same fixture offers significant benefits for making liquid cooling circuits in aluminium castings. Low-cost castings need often to be machined near the joint line prior to friction stir welding. Post weld machining is also useful to remove the flash and to improve the surface finish. More than 55 FSW heads have been integrated into conventional CNC milling machines by now, to provide advanced functionalities. 

The FSW head provides force control and protects the spindle bearing against vibrations and against the high welding forces (up to 25 kN for aluminium and more and even more for welding steel). It measures the forces for quality control and cools the device by water and compressed air. If machining is required before or after friction stir welding, the automatic tool changer of the CNC machine maintains its full functionality, if an automatic head changer is used, to store the FSW head in a compliant cradle on the machine table during FSW.

The automatic head changer for FSW provides a cost-effective solution to users of CNC milling machines, who want to friction stir weld aluminium lids to aluminium castings during the manufacture of water-cooled components in the E-mobility."