Friction stir welding device and friction stir welding method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11229972-B2
Application number	US-201715815350-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2017
Priority date	May 18, 2015
Publication date	Jan 25, 2022
Grant date	Jan 25, 2022

Abstract

A friction stir welding device includes a friction stir welding tool equipped with a fixed shoulder on an outer periphery of a probe on a proximal end side, a main shaft positioning mechanism which relatively moves the friction stir welding tool with respect to a corner portion between workpieces a control device thereof, and a filler supply unit which supplies a filler to a stirring region in which the workpieces are stirred by the probe at the time of friction stir welding. When the probe is immersed into the corner portion to perform the friction stir welding, the fixed shoulder is maintained at a position separated by a gap from the surfaces of the workpieces with the control device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A friction stir welding device comprising:
a friction stir welding tool provided with a non-rotatable fixed shoulder on an outer periphery on a proximal end side of a rotationally drivable probe;
a moving unit which relatively moves the friction stir welding tool to a welding portion between workpieces in a direction along the welding portion;
a control device of the moving unit; and
a filler supply unit which supplies, during friction stir welding of the welding portion, a filler to a stirring region, wherein the stirring region is stirred by the rotationally drivable probe,
wherein the welding portion between the workpieces is a corner portion,
the non-rotatable fixed shoulder has two workpiece facing surfaces disposed opposite to surfaces of the workpieces on both sides of the welding portion, and
the control device is programmed to hold the non-rotatable fixed shoulder such that a gap between an entirety of the two workpiece facing surfaces of the non-rotatable fixed shoulder and the surfaces of the workpieces is formed, and the entirety of the two workpiece facing surfaces are parallel to the surfaces of the workpieces, while the rotationally drivable probe is immersed into the welding portion and relatively moves with respect to the workpieces.

2. The friction stir welding device according to claim 1 , wherein the filler supply unit is disposed on a front side of the friction stir welding tool in a welding direction.

3. The friction stir welding device according to claim 2 , wherein the filler supply unit applies a pressure of at least 1 MPa or more to a leading end side of the filler supplied to the stirring region in a direction perpendicular to a supply direction.

4. The friction stir welding device according to claim 1 , wherein
the filler supply unit supplies the filler in a supply amount equal to or greater than an amount obtained by adding a capacity per unit length in a welding direction of the gap to a volume per unit length of a fillet formed at the corner portion.

5. The friction stir welding device according to claim 2 , wherein
the filler supply unit supplies the filler in a supply amount equal to or greater than an amount obtained by adding a capacity per unit length in the welding direction of the gap to a volume per unit length of a fillet formed at the corner portion.

6. The friction stir welding device according to claim 3 , wherein
the filler supply unit supplies the filler in a supply amount equal to or greater than an amount obtained by adding a capacity per unit length in the welding direction of the gap to a volume per unit length of a fillet formed at the corner portion.

7. The friction stir welding device according to claim 4 , wherein an end portion of the fixed shoulder of the friction stir welding tool disposed closer to a leading end of the probe has a mountain shape having the two workpiece facing surfaces,
a cavity forming cut which forms a cavity between the probe and the surfaces of the workpieces is included on a front side of the probe at a top portion of the mountain shape in the welding direction, and
a cut corresponding to a cross-sectional shape of the fillet is included on a rear side of the probe at a top portion of the mountain shape in the welding direction.

8. The friction stir welding device according to claim 5 , wherein an end portion of the fixed shoulder of the friction stir welding tool disposed closer to a leading end of the probe has a mountain shape having the two workpiece facing surfaces,
a cavity forming cut which forms a cavity between the probe and the surfaces of the workpieces is included on a front side of the probe at a top portion of the mountain shape in the welding direction, and
a cut corresponding to a cross-sectional shape of the fillet is included on a rear side of the probe at the top portion of the mountain shape in the welding direction.

9. The friction stir welding device according to claim 6 , wherein an end portion of the fixed shoulder of the friction stir welding tool disposed closer to the leading end of the probe has a mountain shape having the two workpiece facing surfaces,
a cavity forming cut which forms a cavity between the probe and the surfaces of the workpieces is included on a front side of the probe at a top portion of the mountain shape in the welding direction, and
a cut corresponding to a cross-sectional shape of the fillet is included on a rear side of the probe at the top portion of the mountain shape in the welding direction.

10. The friction stir welding device according to claim 1 , wherein a size of the gap is set based at least one of a degree of fluidity the filler and a degree of fluidity the workpieces.

11. The friction stir welding device according to claim 1 , wherein the filler supply unit includes a roller which presses and pressurizes a leading end side of the filler supplied to the stirring region against the welding portion in a direction perpendicular to a supply direction.

12. The friction stir welding device according to claim 11 , wherein the filler supply unit includes a drive motor which is connected to the roller and rotationally drives the roller.

13. The friction stir welding device according to claim 11 , wherein the filler supply unit includes a spring which is disposed above the roller in a vertical direction.

14. The friction stir welding device according to claim 11 , wherein the filler supply unit includes a delivery unit which supplies the filler to the roller, and
the delivery unit includes a pair of delivery rollers which sandwich the filler and a rotation drive unit which rotatably drives the delivery rollers.

15. The friction stir welding device according to claim 7 , wherein during friction stir welding of the welding portion, a distance between a leading end portion of the cavity forming cut and the welding portion is equal to a distance between a leading end portion of the cut and the welding portion.

Assignees

• Ihi Corp

Inventors

• Masaki Kunitaka
• Oiwa Naoki
• Saito Hiroshi

Classifications

• B23K20/123

  Controlling or monitoring the welding process · CPC title

• B23K20/128 Primary

  making use of additional material · CPC title

• B23K2103/10

  Aluminium or alloys thereof · CPC title

• B23K20/26

  Auxiliary equipment · CPC title

• B23K20/1235

  with temperature control during joining · CPC title