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Robot Will Perform Friction Stir Welding
WICHITA, KS -- The Advanced Joining & Processing Lab within Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) recently purchased a new articulated arm robot for friction stir welding (FSW).
Lab personnel will now begin to transition FSW technologies they have developed on the lab's MTS 5-axis FSW gantry machine to the new 6-axis robotic platform. The IRB 7600-500 Power Robot from ABB has a reach of 2.55 meters (about 8.4 feet) and a handling capacity of 500 kilograms (about 1,100 pounds).
"This is a very sturdy robot, the largest robot of this type provided by ABB," says lab director Dr. Dwight Burford. "It is capable of performing continuous friction stir welds as well as spot welds, which we call in-situ integral fasteners, for qualification purposes."
The robot will be particularly important in the lab's work with swept friction stir spot welds, which have greater strength than rivets, especially in aluminum sheet under 0.10" thick.
Currently student lab technicians, with the help of NIAR's Research Machine Shop, are developing an end effector and adapter plates for the robot. An additional end effector and adapter plates are being developed by an outside organization.
Full-time researchers and student lab technicians will undergo robotics programming training in the coming weeks using ABB's Robot Studio software package.
The robot was purchased using funds provided through the NIAR-Industry-State (NIS) research program. All NIS research projects are identified and selected by an executive committee composed of representatives from Boeing, Bombardier Learjet, Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft and Spirit AeroSystems.
