Advanced, non-destructive technologies to improve steel stir welding process through artificial intelligence and smart digital twin

ongoing

The STWIN project will develop a flexible friction stir welding (FSW) system capable of automatically fabricating complex 3D structures, for a variety of joint configurations, and for a range of steel grades and thicknesses used in the metal construction, automotive and transport sectors. The project will address the need to improve productivity in the metalworking sectors, improvement of the working conditions for welders and operators and the shortage of skilled welding personnel in Europe. This will be achieved by exploiting the specific advantages of the friction stir welding process, in combination with real-time quality control, allowing adaptive control of the process parameters, based on innovative non-destructive testing and their integration with artificial intelligent and smart digital twin solutions. This will lead to a zero-defect manufacturing approach ensuring robustness, stability and repeatability of the welding process. A radically new method of producing 3D FSW welds will be developed using parallel kinematic robots, which allows FSW processes to be used for complicated geometries without losing payload and stiffness capabilities. The parallel kinematic robot will be used in combination with a specially designed FSW head, which is a cost-effective solution for FSW. Both innovations will considerably reduce the investment cost for FSW, while offering better performances compared to a dedicated FSW machine, especially for 3D applications. The new methodology will be demonstrated by 3 innovative use cases: • welding and bending of dissimilar high strength steel grades, with similar and different thicknesses, for its application in strategic reinforcements of loader cranes, • Welding of high strength steel to cast iron with curved weld paths to produce automotive components (vehicle differential assembly) • Welding trailer applications, containing aluminium-steel dissimilar metal joints.