Joint solutions:
University and industry solve welding problems together
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From
left: Grad student Axel Fehrenbacher, Associate Professor Nicola
Ferrier, Friction Stir Link VP of Technology John Hinrichs, Assistant
Professor Frank Pfefferkorn, graduate student Ted Schultz, Friction
Stir Link VP of Engineering Christopher Smith and Professor Neil
Duffie. (Larger
image)
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 key university-industry collaboration will enable
students, researchers and engineers to improve a low-cost, energy-efficient
alternative to traditional welding that is important in assembling and
repairing large aluminum structures such as ships. Assistant Professor
Frank
Pfefferkorn, Associate Professor Nicola
Ferrier, Professor Neil
Duffie and graduate students Axel Fehrenbacher
and Ted Shultz are studying friction stir
welding technologies with engineers from Wisconsin-based welding solutions
company Friction Stir Link.
Friction stir welding enables workers to join materials without melting
them. The process requires large amounts of force, which is administered
via machines or robots.
The research group hopes to reduce welding forces and make a flexible
robotic system that allows a worker to join large structures quickly
and efficiently. “At a shipyard where you’re putting together
large aluminum pieces that right now are fusion-welded, a worker could
go in with the portable robot and friction stir weld,” says Pfefferkorn.
The team also aims to make the entire process more controllable through
a novel robot-human interface. “We’re working on an interface
where the person gets some feedback from the robot,” says Pfefferkorn,
“so they can adjust the process in real time during welding.”
The close collaboration on the project enables the researchers to pool
their knowledge to make better progress—and it gives Fehrenbacher
and Schultz valuable on-site industry experience, says Pfefferkorn.
In addition, the research complements current UW-Madison low-power/low-force
friction stir welding research. Conducted at the Wisconsin
Center for Space Automation & Robotics, that research focuses
on assembling and repairing thin-gauge aluminum structures.
The team’s initial work, supported in part by an Industrial &
Economic Development Research Grant from the state of Wisconsin, led
to the current work funded by the U.S. Navy.
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