Development of novel non-destructive testing techniques and integrated online process control for robotic and flexible Friction Stir Welding systems.

General Information

Actual welding techniques have a negative impact for (1) danger to operators due to presence of poisonous fumes, (2) labour intensive with certified operators, and (3) high costs due to manual work and rework. Friction Stir Welding (FSW) allows to reduce the scraps (about 15%). Moreover, lightening the weldings, it reduces all type of transport costs. FSW (invented 1999 by TWI-The Welding Institute, RD Tech partner in this project) has the potential to overcome the above mentioned limitations, but itself has still some limitations that QUALISTIR is aimed to overcome: (i) Actual in-line Non Destructive Control monitoring techniques are not able to detect "kissing" bonds, due to unmonitored fluctuation of the welding parameters or welding in adverse conditions. (ii) Actual NDT techniques are made on long-straight welds, but the application of FSW can drastically increase if the process could be carried out by a flexible multi-position friction stir welding system incorporating robots and gantries.

EU-Programme Acronym and Subprogramme Area	FP5-GROWTH-1999, Innovative products, processes and organisations
Project Type	RTD - CRAFT
Contract Number	G4ST-CT-2001-50117
Co-ordinator	RD Tech SAS (FR)

Total Eligible Costs (€)	Hereon Eligible Costs (€)	EC Funding for Hereon (€)
	299.414

Contact Person at Hereon

Dr. Jorge dos Santos, Institute for Materials Research, WMP Phone: +49-4152-87 2050, Fax : +49-4152-87 2033 E-mail contact

Participants

TWI Ltd. (UK), Crawford Swift Ltd. (UK), Isotest S.R.L. (IT), Neos Robotics AB (SE), RD Tech SAS (FR), Vermon S. A. (FR)

Last Update: 16. April 2021