Tue, 16 February, 2021
TWI Technology Centre (Yorkshire) today announced the start of its new friction stir welding research programme, RESURGAM.
RESURGAM (Robotic Survey, Repair & Agile Manufacture) is a project aimed at improving the productivity of shipyards fabricating new, high technology vessels and increasing their access to the specialist repair and maintenance market.
Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a high integrity, low distortion, environmentally benign, welding technique which allows the automated production of high strength welds, and which also works under water. These enhanced fabrication and repair capabilities, backed by a secure, digital Industry 4.0 infrastructure and techniques already in widespread use in the automotive and aerospace industries, will facilitate the rapid, coordinated but distributed modular manufacture of ships and watercraft throughout Europe.
Key to the project will be the transfer of FSW technology, which is already proven and widely used for making aluminium spacecraft, trains, cars and ships, into the welding of steel to allow, larger, stronger and stiffer vessels to be made.
RESURGAM is a large, multinational, 6 million Euro project funded by the EU Commission in which TWI will work alongside leading researchers and shipyards from 9 European countries. Other project partners include Element Six, Forth Engineering Ltd and the University of Lancaster from the UK, the Technical University of Delft from the Netherlands, Stirweld of France and trade associations representing shipyards across Europe.
The RESURGAM project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101007005