Even though Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is more and more considered as a 'state of the art' welding technique, the utilization of this process with an industrial robot is still in a developing state. The first FSW applications were in fact using milling machines with some minor modifications, where the rotating FSW tool replaced the ordinary milling tool and performed the weld. These machines were an obvious choice because of the stiffness and the relative high deliverable down force, and of course the availability. Today's industrial applications for FSW are mainly based on the same milling principle. They are often for mass-production, where inflexible machinery is used to perform friction stir welds on non-complex joints. However, to enable FSW growth to become an overall industrial success, the limitations of the dedicated machines must be overcome. By using an industrial robot one can make the process more flexible, faster and cheaper. A robot that facilitates a three-dimensional workspace, allows FSW to compete with other 3D welding processes for aluminium, such as gas metal arc welding (GMAW). Another advantage enabled by the robot is the ability to switch between applications, materials and geometries, without any hardware modification. Industrial robots also have the advantage of well developed human-machine interfaces (HMI) as well as a wide-spread use and knowledge in the industry of traditional robotic welding. Finally, as the FSW robot application may be modelled and simulated off-line, including the welding path, the operational time may be maximized and significantly decrease the production cost.
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