Abstract
Friction stir welding (FSW) technology is a solid-phase joining process with a non-melting pool in the connection area and insensitivity to gravity, so that it is suitable for construction of the structures in space. However, there is still a large gap between the process of FSW in space and on ground. Conventional on-ground FSW process needs large welding forces and power. Besides, the machines are also very bulky. By comparison, the FSW device in space bears the features of light weight, flexibility, portability, and quickly being in-site. To realize the application of space manufacture, the miniaturization and lowering of energy consumption of FSW equipment adapted to space environment are the key issues which need to be solved. Based on the principle of non-tool-tilt friction stir welding (NTTFSW), the realization of lightweight FSW equipment has been put forward, and the mechanical mechanism and the structures of portable FSW device have been designed. The key components of the force-amplifying bionic mechanism—the force-amplifying linkage rod (FALR) modeled on masticating jaw bones and the frame modeled on upper jaws or heads—have been designed and optimized with abundant strength and stiffness. The novel FSW device, with mass weight of 41.75 kg and less than 2.7Kw power, is newly patented, which effectively meets the limitations of design goals and ensures the friction stir additive manufacturing system.
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Acknowledgements
Other efforts about the study described in this paper have also been paid by the following personnel during the years from 2014 to 2015: ZHAO huihui; WEN shanshan; TIAN Hailin; LIU Xinbo; DONG fengbo; WU Rongzong. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to them.
This article was written with the help of YAN Xiuyi; ZHANG Jialiang; LI Fei. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to them.
The authors also gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments and suggestions of the reviewers, which have improved the presentation.
Funding
The data that support the findings of this study are available from Shanghai Aerospace Equipment Manufacturer Co., Ltd (SAEM) but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of SAEM.
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Peng LI: Methodology, Investigation, Writing-Original draft preparation. Wei ZHONG: Validation, Application Background Research. Lijie GUO: Funding acquisition, Conceptualization, Supervision Visualization. Jialiang ZHANG: Conceptualization, Writing-Reviewing and Editing. Xiaosong FENG: Data curation, Resources, Funding acquisition. Fei LI: Writing-Reviewing and Editing. Weigang ZHAO: Validation and Test.
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Li, P. et al. (2023). Development of Portable Friction Stir Welding Equipment for In-Space Manufacturing. In: Jing, Z., Strelets, D. (eds) Proceedings of the International Conference on Aerospace System Science and Engineering 2021. ICASSE 2021. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 849. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8154-7_51
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8154-7_51
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