Lars Cederqvist, SKB Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste

Planned Centre for Friction Stir Welding
at SKB´s Canister Laboratory
Lars Cederqvist, Ph. D.
Swedish Nuclear Fuel & Waste Management Company (SKB)
Friction Stir Welding (FSW)
• Invented 1991 at The Welding Institute (TWI) in Cambridge, UK
+ • solid-state
• low deformation
• high strength
• no additives
• few parameters
• clamping & backsupport needed
• exithole left
Friction Stir Welding (FSW), cont.
FSW in production
Hydro, Norway
Ferry cardeck
Eclipse, USA
Jet plane
FSW in production, cont.
Boeing, USA
Fuel tanks for Delta rockets
Hitachi, Japan Train body
Why Centre for Friction Stir Welding?
• Original idea – SKB´s former CEO (2003-2012)
Claes Thegerström
• FSW has great potential but has not been
implemented in the industry in large extent due to:
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patent cost
low machine/R&D availability
large investment to purchase machine
no FSW-competence in leading welding institutes in Sweden
(Swerea KIMAB Centre for Joining & Structures, KTH)
• Proposed collaboration with Swedish Welding
Commission and Swerea KIMAB
Why Centre for FSW, cont.
• Unique FSW-competence at SKB Canister Laboratory:
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Cascade temperature controller
Thick section (including tool design)
Non-destructive testing (x-ray, ultrasonic and eddy current)
Shielding gas (Argon), oxide particle analysis
• Proposed collaboration by ESAB
Why Centre for FSW, cont.
Questionare to member companies in Swedish Welding
Commission’s Nordic working group for FSW:
• General high interest: Swerea KIMAB, SWC, ESAB
• Specific interest:
- University West; Al, Mg, Cu, Ti, Ni + tool design
- SAPA; Al 5, 6, 7XXX-series up to 35 mm, mixed och ½ lap
- KTH; metals, sandwich och composites
- Swerea KIMAB; steel, complex geometries, Al
- ESAB; steel 1-10 mm, Al 30+ mm, Ti, butt- och lap joints
- HBS Engr.; Al 8mm, steel structural 12mm, stainless 2mm
- Lund University; robot applications
- Elajo Mekanik; Al, stainless, carbon steels, S355, CrMo
• Low interest: Scania (Södertälje), OKG/Inspecta
• Not interested: Oskarshamns Shipyard, Press Kyoto (only NDT)
SKB´s FSW-partners
• Posiva - chose FSW as reference method 2014.
Agreement to develop FSW together until 2017.
• Center for Friction Stir Processing (funded by
National Science Foundation) - 5 US universites and
20 companies; e.g. NASA, Boeing, Airbus, US Army.
FSW R&D based on companies need, e.g. cascade
temperature controller similar to SKB´s original idea.
• University West - SKB-personnel assisted project
”Increased Automation of Robotic FSW” financed by
the Knowledge Foundation.
Summary
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Applying for funds for FSW-machine from Added Value program
“Unlimited” potential of FSW, but only if using field knowledge
Unique FSW-competence at SKB´s Canister Laboratory
Centre for FSW at Canister Laboratory would mean…
– Platform for PhD students from several Swedish universities
– Nordic industry can develop and test FSW to low cost and
large chance of success
Questions???

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