Publications

During friction stir welding, the weld is created by a rotating tool, consiting of a profiled pin and a shoulder. The pin is moved along the interface between the two plates to be welded. The tool generates the required heat for welding.

Recently, an innovatie spot weldin technique has appeared on the market, that use frictional heat to create a joint. Friction spot welding is performed by plunging a rotating tool in the sheets to be welded, which are placed in the overlap configuration. The connection is generated by means of frictional heat and mechanical work. The result is a spot welded lap connection, with minimal material loss and a flat surface with no keyhole.

High-velocity electromagnetic deformation and welding processes (also know as magnetic pulse forming and welding) are highly innovative automatic production techniques. These processes are based on the same working principle, more specific the use of electromagnetically induced forces to deform, crimp and/or weld workpieces. The electromagnetic pulse joining processes have remarkable advantages compared to the conventional joining processes. The possibilities of the technology is illustrated with some examples.

An innovative welding method for fully automatic joining of pipelines has been developed. The proposed welding procedure is a variant of the conventional friction welding process. A rotating intermediate ring is used to generate heat necessary to realise the weld. The working principles of the welding process are described. The weldability of the micro-alloyed high-strength pipeline steel API-5L X65 is experimentally investigated. It was found that the new welding process is suitable for joining this material. When welding with a sufficiently low heat input, a high weld quality is obtained. Under these circumstances the weld strength, ductility and impact toughness are high and fulfil the requirements of the commonly used standard EN 12732 for joining pipes.