INDUSTRIALISATION OF THE FRICTION STIR WELDING TECHNOLOGY IN PANELS PRODUCTION FOR THE MARITIME SECTOR

摘要

The worlds first friction stir welding machine tailor-made for production of panels and large profiles are now supporting the ship market with panel solutions. This enables the different yards to produce their ships more cost effectively than before. The collaboration between Marine Aluminium a.s and Hydro Aluminium Maritime a.s has given us a good base to further optimising the operations for a streamlined production of panels. The focus will also be on the technology development towards a growing shipping market where the total cost and delivery time is more essential for the customer than ever. The presentation will discuss the experience with FSW fabrication so far, and will show different panel solutions that has been fabricated. Also discussed is the continuous ongoing activity directed towards the development of streamlined fabrication of panels for aluminium ships. In a Norwegian joint research program entitled Aluminium in Ships, a part of the activity has been directed towards the development of streamlined fabrication of panels for aluminium ships. This three years program (1996-99) has been a collaboration between Hydro Aluminium, Kvaerner, DNV, SINTEF and The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and has been supported by the Norwegian Research Council. The friction stir welding fabrication technology has been industrialised during this program.