Contact:
Bruce Brailsford
NCAM-LP
13800 Old Gentilly Road, Bldg. 420
New Orleans, LA  70129
(504) 257-0969
bbrailsford@ncamlp.org

The National Center for Advanced Manufacturing has embarked on a joint venture with the State of Louisiana, NASA, and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company - Michoud Operations (LMSSC-MO) to advance the state of the art in complex curvature welding.  In addition to the recently installed Fiber Placement Machine, the State of Louisiana has committed to procure the Universal Friction Stir Weld System (UWS) that will be installed at MAF.  This manufacturing technique will be employed on the reusable metallic fuel tanks for the 2nd Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Risk Reduction Program.

The new welding technique being tested is Friction Stir Welding (FSW).  FSW uses a pin tool, similar in appearance to the head of an ordinary hand drill, rotating at a high speed to develop sufficient friction to "stir" a bond between plates of two different metal alloys.  Besides the pin tool, six other mechanical components of the process must be properly integrated to forge a bond between metal alloys.  NCAM-LP's project is unique in that no base foundation unit is required and backplate tooling and fixturing are minimized.  This process will require a pin tool that can support the plating while creating the friction heat necessary to weld the alloys together.  This self-reaction FSW system has unlimited applications in manufacturing.  FSW will eliminate the need for filling wire and shielding gas and will one day replace the traditional methods or torch and arc welding in the fabrication cycle that are currently employed in large structure manufacturing.

The benefits of FSW include:  welding diverse materials, a wide range of alloys and composites; durable joints, increased fatigue resistance; safe operation: no fumes, high voltage or liquid metals; and tapered-thickness weld joints.

The objective of NCAM-LP's FSW project is to demonstrate the ability to fabricate large-scale aluminum complex contour panels using the self-reacting FSW technology.  LMSSC-MO will fabricate a 22ft. diameter quarter dome using conventional tooling and then demonstrate the fabrication of a 27.5 ft. diameter quarter dome using a flexible tooling design.  This is NCAM's first opportunity to combine several resources to demonstrate advanced metallic manufacturing technology.  The established roles of NASA, UNO, the State of Louisiana and LMSSC-MO and the ability to accomplish this project through the planning, requirements, facility preparation and installation is a tribute to NCAM-LP team's ability to execute a large procurement.