FRICTION STIR WELDING USING INDUSTRIAL ABB ROBOTS

Friction welding rotator welding is a process that is not liquid metal phase. The principle of this method consists in mixing two parts by passing the material over the place of contact combined components of a shaft that rotates at high speed. This process combined parts are motionless, and the heat produced by friction with the shaft rotator not melt metal, but it makes it pasty under the action of strong pressure applied to the shaft axis. To achieve the FSW welds on complex surfaces (3D) is proposed to use industrial robots. Using industrial IRB robots manufactured by ABB. As the path is designed using the off-line programming tool, RobotStudio, the work object's CAD model is used. The geometrical information from edges and segment end- and mid-points are used as inputs to achieve the desired path in a convenient manner. The path is then easily simulated to verify the manipulators ability to apply the motion, avoiding collisions, singularities, etc. The code needed to execute the motion with the real system is then automatically generated by RobotStudio. The down force applied, 6500 N, is well within the range of the robot, which has a capacity of about 10000 N, and should therefore be applicable even on a curved surface (which then would require a different tool orientation). The system have no problem in maintaining the desired force value, which is a good indicator of a stable systems performing the process.