A Hollow Electrode GTAW System Developed and Tested for Space Applications

摘要

In the fall of 1998, initial work in space began on joining components of the International Space Station (ISS). As a very timely action, researchers in Japan, headed by Professor Yoshikazu Suita of Taka-matsu National College of Technology (Takatech), Professor Takayoshi Ohji of Osaka University and Professor Koichi Masubuchi of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), successfully performed experiments using a newly developed gas hollow tungsten arc welding (GHTAW) system in vacuum under mi-crogravity created in an airplane flying in varying altitudes in a parabolic pattern. This work was supported by the Japan Space Forum, a subsidiary of the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan.