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Novel friction stir welding system benefits shipbuilding

Tue, 17 December, 2024

The partners responsible for the RESURGAM project: Robotic survey, repair and agile manufacture for ship building, have recently celebrated its successful conclusion, following three years of research and development (R&D) activity, for which they were funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme.

Working collaboratively, the project partners, which included TWI’s Friction Stir Welding Section and the Joining 4.0 Innovation Centre (J4IC), a partnership between the University of Lancaster and TWI, achieved a new solution for the EU shipbuilding industry that enables steel structures to be friction stir welded underwater during the fabrication and repair of ships.

As part of the RESURGAM project, TWI’s Friction Stir Welding (FSW) team investigated the feasibility of the concept for two specific applications, namely the manufacture of new ships using a block building technique that makes use of FSW’s high strength and low distortion capabilities, and the underwater repair of damaged hulls to alleviate the need for dry docking of ships. The team also developed the underpinning FSW technology. Key findings from the FSW development programme include: confirmation that many different grades of steel can be friction stir welded, including the welding of dissimilar grades to each other; welds made underwater do not seem to be adversely affected by their environment; FSW of steel produces complex, fine grained microstructures that have excellent strength, toughness and fatigue resistance; and friction stir welded steel has good tolerance to the presence of defects, which are identifiable by standard NDT techniques.

The J4IC team drew on their knowledge and experience in Industry 4.0 infrastructures and techniques to build a bespoke digital platform for the FSW system that incorporates different tools for machine learning, design, information sharing support and more, aimed at connecting the European shipbuilding community and promoting collaborative production engineering. In addition, the Centre was responsible for equipping the FSW robot, which was developed by consortium partner Fourth Engineering, with dynamic control and real-time quality assessment mechanisms. Utilisation of a computerised manufacturing process, incorporating pre-programmed software and code to control the movement of production equipment, also means it can be retrofitted to manufacturers’ existing CNC machines.

The RESURGAM consortium comprised Aislamientos Termicos De Galicia SA, Asociacion Cluster Del Naval Gallego, Element Six (UK) Limited, Engitec Systems International Limited, the European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting, Forth Engineering (Cumbria) Ltd, Ned-Project SP Z OO, Stirweld, Technische Universiteit Delft, Turkiye Gemi Insa Sanayicileri Birligi Dernegi, the University of Limerick, TWI and J4IC.

Looking ahead, following the conclusion of RESURGAM, Darren Williams, Director of J4IC, said “Together, the project partners have delivered a cost effective, fit-for-purpose new FSW solution that offers great potential to EU-based shipbuilders and operators in several areas. It has the ability to facilitate more rapid, coordinated and distributed ship manufacturing. It allows for ship repair in-situ, underwater, removing the need for dry docking and reducing the amount of time a ship needs to be taken out-of-service. Additionally, it will also help to increase the competitiveness and environmental performance of small to medium sized, European shipyards and shipbuilders, and support skills development in innovative production processes, contributing to employment opportunities in Europe.”

RESURGAM received funding from the European Commission's Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 101007005.

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