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67-497: The "A-train" design concept includes several elements. The primary feature is that vehicle car bodies are constructed from double skin aluminium extruded sections, which are friction stir welded , creating a strong body. Other features include hollow, extruded mounting rails on the vehicle body to which modular components are attached. Initially the A-train family consisted of multiple units designed and built by Hitachi, for use on

134-423: A "frozen pin" technique, where the tool is rapidly stopped in place. They suggested that material motion occurs by two processes: The primary advantage of this explanation is that it provides a plausible explanation for the production of the onion-ring structure. The marker technique for friction stir welding provides data on the initial and final positions of the marker in the welded material. The flow of material

201-486: A Class 801 unit. The first service to be operated with Class 801 units ran on 16 September 2019, with a pair of 801/1 five-car units operating several services between Leeds and London King's Cross , as well as one return trip between King's Cross and Newark Northgate . Three further pairs of five-car units entered service through the rest of September. The nine-car Class 801/2 units were introduced on 18 November 2019, between King's Cross and Edinburgh . This allowed

268-764: A delay, with their first trains in service being Class 800s. Their Class 801s entered service afterwards in September 2019. Separately from GWR, these trains are branded as Azuma, which is 'east' in Japanese. Many other UK operators have bought Hitachi AT300 trains, including orders for Class 802 units by TransPennine Express (branded as Nova 1 ) and Hull Trains (branded as Paragon ). East Midlands Railway have ordered Class 810 units (branded as Aurora ), Lumo purchased Class 803 units and Avanti West Coast have ordered Class 805 and Class 807 units. Friction stir welding Friction stir welding ( FSW )

335-431: A highly characteristic micro-structure . The micro-structure can be broken up into the following zones: The solid-state nature of FSW leads to several advantages over fusion welding methods, as problems associated with cooling from the liquid phase are avoided. Issues such as porosity , solute redistribution, solidification cracking and liquation cracking do not arise during FSW. In general, FSW has been found to produce

402-440: A low concentration of defects and is very tolerant to variations in parameters and materials. Nevertheless, FSW is associated with a number of unique defects if it isn't done properly. Insufficient weld temperatures, due to low rotational speeds or high traverse speeds, for example, mean that the weld material is unable to accommodate the extensive deformation during welding. This may result in long, tunnel-like defects running along

469-401: A probe) having a diameter smaller than the diameter of its shoulder. During welding the tool is fed into a butt joint between two clamped workpieces, until the probe pierces into the workpiece and its shoulder touches the surface of the workpieces. The probe is slightly shorter than the weld depth required, with the tool shoulder riding atop the work surface. After a short dwell time, the tool

536-446: A successful and efficient welding cycle. The relationship between the rotation speed, the welding speed and the heat input during welding is complex, but in general, it can be said that increasing the rotation speed or decreasing the traverse speed will result in a hotter weld. In order to produce a successful weld, it is necessary that the material surrounding the tool is hot enough to enable the extensive plastic flow required and minimize

603-707: Is a class of electric multiple unit (EMU) built by Hitachi Rail for London North Eastern Railway . The units have been built since 2017 at Hitachi's Newton Aycliffe Manufacturing Facility and have been used on services on the East Coast Main Line since 16 September 2019. As part of its production, the Class 801 units were ordered as part of the Intercity Express Programme and are in the Hitachi AT300 product family, alongside

670-464: Is a solid-state joining process that uses a non-consumable tool to join two facing workpieces without melting the workpiece material. Heat is generated by friction between the rotating tool and the workpiece material, which leads to a softened region near the FSW tool. While the tool is traversed along the joint line, it mechanically intermixes the two pieces of metal, and forges the hot and softened metal by

737-471: Is also used for the encapsulation of nuclear waste at SKB in 50-mm-thick copper canisters. Pressure vessels from ø1 m semispherical forgings of 38.1 mm thick aluminium alloy 2219 at Advanced Joining Technologies and Lawrence Livermore Nat Lab. Friction stir processing is applied to ship propellers at Friction Stir Link, Inc. and to hunting knives by DiamondBlade. Bosch uses it in Worcester for

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804-421: Is moved forward along the joint line at the pre-set welding speed. Frictional heat is generated between the wear-resistant tool and the work pieces. This heat, along with that generated by the mechanical mixing process and the adiabatic heat within the material, cause the stirred materials to soften without melting . As the tool is moved forward, a special profile on the probe forces plasticised material from

871-578: Is successfully used for the bonnet (hood) and rear doors of the Mazda RX-8 and the boot lid of the Toyota Prius . Wheels are friction stir welded at Simmons Wheels, UT Alloy Works and Fundo. Rear seats for the Volvo V70 are friction stir welded at Sapa, HVAC pistons at Halla Climate Control and exhaust gas recirculation coolers at Pierburg. Tailor welded blanks are friction stir welded for

938-412: Is the angular velocity of the tool, R shoulder is the radius of the tool shoulder, and R pin is that of the pin. Several other equations have been proposed to account for factors such as the pin, but the general approach remains the same. A major difficulty in applying these equations is determining suitable values for the friction coefficient or the interfacial shear stress. The conditions under

1005-490: Is then reconstructed from these positions. Detailed material flow field during friction stir welding can also be calculated from theoretical considerations based on fundamental scientific principles. Material flow calculations are routinely used in numerous engineering applications. Calculation of material flow fields in friction stir welding can be undertaken both using comprehensive numerical simulations or simple but insightful analytical equations. The comprehensive models for

1072-752: The 2012 Summer Olympics . Hitachi gained further ground in the UK market when it was announced in 2009 that an A-train based design similar to that of the Class 395, initially named the Hitachi Super Express , was the preference for the government's Intercity Express Programme tender to replace InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 sets on the Greater Western and InterCity East Coast lines. These units were classified as Class 800 electro-diesel 'bi-mode' units (powered by AC overhead wires where available, and by underfloor diesel generators beyond

1139-634: The Audi R8 at Riftec. The B-column of the Audi R8 Spider is friction stir welded from two extrusions at Hammerer Aluminium Industries in Austria. The front subframe of the 2013 Honda Accord was friction stir welded to join aluminum and steel halves. Since 1997 roof panels were made from aluminium extrusions at Hydro Marine Aluminium with a 25 m long FSW machine, e.g. for DSB class SA-SD trains of Alstom LHB . Curved side and roof panels for

1206-720: The Delta II , Delta IV , Atlas V , and the new Vulcan expendable launch vehicles along with their Cryogenic Upper Stages , and the first of these with a friction stir welded interstage module was launched in 1999. The process was also used for the Space Shuttle external tank , for Ares I until the project was canceled in 2012, the SLS Core which replaced the Ares, and for the Orion Crew Vehicle test article and

1273-897: The Stadler Kiss double decker rail cars, to obtain an internal height of 2 m on both floors and for the new car bodies of the Wuppertal Suspension Railway . Heat sinks for cooling high-power electronics of locomotives are made at Sykatek, EBG, Austerlitz Electronics, EuroComposite, Sapa and Rapid Technic AG , and are the most common application of FSW due to the excellent heat transfer. Façade panels and cathode sheets are friction stir welded at AMAG and Hammerer Aluminium Industries, including friction stir lap welds of copper to aluminium. Bizerba meat slicers, Ökolüfter HVAC units and Siemens X-ray vacuum vessels are friction stir welded at Riftec. Vacuum valves and vessels are made by FSW at Japanese and Swiss companies. FSW

1340-602: The Victoria line trains of London Underground , side panels for Bombardier Electrostar trains at Sapa Group and side panels for Alstom's British Rail Class 390 Pendolino trains are made at Sapa Group. Japanese commuter and express A-trains , and British Rail Class 395 trains are friction stir welded by Hitachi , while Kawasaki applies friction stir spot welding to roof panels and Sumitomo Light Metal produces Shinkansen floor panels. Innovative FSW floor panels are made by Hammerer Aluminium Industries in Austria for

1407-480: The FSW fabricators Advanced Technology and Friction Stir Link, Inc. respectively. The Houbei -class missile boat has friction stir welded rocket launch containers of China Friction Stir Centre. HMNZS Rotoiti in New Zealand has FSW panels made by Donovans in a converted milling machine. Various companies apply FSW to armor plating for amphibious assault ships . United Launch Alliance applies FSW to

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1474-755: The Hitachi A-train has different designations by Hitachi depending on their type. Hitachi have been marketing the A-train family overseas. Both the Chongqing Monorail in China and the Sentosa Express Monorail in Singapore utilise A-train derived cars. In 2005 Hitachi received an order from Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) for six 8-car trains, based on the Japanese 885 series , designated as TEMU1000, for operation on

1541-554: The Legacy 450 and 500 Jets Friction stir welding also is employed for fuselage panels on the Airbus A380 . BRÖTJE-Automation uses friction stir welding for gantry production machines developed for the aerospace sector, as well as other industrial applications. Aluminium engine cradles and suspension struts for stretched Lincoln Town Cars were the first automotive parts that were friction stir welded at Tower Automotive , who use

1608-492: The UK in comparison to the foreign-owned but domestically manufactured Bombardier option, leading to a campaign to reverse the decision. However, it was economics that became a sticking point, with the weight of the design creeping up (though some accused the Department for Transport of producing impossible specification requirements) and reportedly difficult negotiations over the final unit price and production balance between

1675-419: The calculation of material flow fields also provide important information such as geometry of the stir zone and the torque on the tool. The numerical simulations have shown the ability to correctly predict the results from marker experiments and the stir zone geometry observed in friction stir welding experiments. For any welding process, it is, in general, desirable to increase the travel speed and minimise

1742-730: The closely related Class 800 units. LNER have branded the units as the Azuma , just like on their Class 800 units. As part of the UK Government's Intercity Express Programme , the Class 801 units were to be built as replacements for the InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 sets which were the main trains used for services on the Great Western Main Line (GWML) and the East Coast Main Line (ECML) at

1809-570: The components were replaced by Korean parts. The trains were for deployment on "Rapid Train" services on the Gyeongbu Line and Janghang Line between Seoul Station and Sinchang station , branded Nuriro and with a maximum speed of 150 km/h (93 mph). In 2018, the Taiwan Railway Administration placed a new order for 50 12-car EMU3000 series sets, to be delivered between 2021 and 2024. The first set

1876-406: The concept of a "processing window": the range of processing parameters viz. tool rotation and traverse speed, that will produce a good quality weld. Within this window the resulting weld will have a sufficiently high heat input to ensure adequate material plasticity but not so high that the weld properties are excessively deteriorated. The plunge depth is defined as the depth of the lowest point of

1943-823: The current model of the Orion at NASA , as well as Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets at SpaceX . The toe nails for ramp of Boeing C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft by Advanced Joining Technologies and the cargo barrier beams for the Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter were the first commercially produced aircraft parts. FAA-approved wings and fuselage panels of the Eclipse 500 aircraft were made at Eclipse Aviation , and this company delivered 259 friction stir welded business jets, before they were forced into Chapter 7 liquidation. Floor panels for Airbus A400M military aircraft are now made by Pfalz Flugzeugwerke and Embraer used FSW for

2010-498: The different power options. The inability or reluctance of the financial markets to provide the necessary capital was the final straw, leading to the announcement in February 2010 of a three-month independent review into the value for money of the programme. After winning the franchise, Abellio ScotRail announced they would purchase Hitachi AT200 trains (designated as Class 385 ) for their commuter services. In March 2015, after

2077-516: The extents of electrification) and Class 801 electric multiple units sets powered purely by AC overhead wires. The train specification allows for the conversion of Class 800s to Class 801s, as it is assumed that electrification will continue to expand. The units would form as part of the Hitachi AT300 product, joining the Class 395 in the same family. The choice of Hitachi units was controversial, as it would see little final manufacturing in

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2144-524: The first country outside Japan to place a major conventional rail order for Hitachi when Southeastern ordered 29 electric multiple units for use on domestic services on the High Speed 1 line. These are designated as Class 395 units, which are standard gauge with the ability to operate at speeds of up to 225 km/h (140 mph). Southeastern branded these trains as the Javelin , a reference to

2211-635: The following industrial applications: shipbuilding and offshore, aerospace, automotive, rolling stock for railways, general fabrication, robotics, and computers. Two Scandinavian aluminium extrusion companies were the first to apply FSW commercially to the manufacture of fish freezer panels at Sapa in 1996, as well as deck panels and helicopter landing platforms at Marine Aluminium Aanensen. Marine Aluminium Aanensen subsequently merged with Hydro Aluminium Maritime to become Hydro Marine Aluminium . Some of these freezer panels are now produced by Riftec and Bayards. In 1997 two-dimensional friction stir welds in

2278-445: The forces acting on the tool. If the material is too cold, then voids or other flaws may be present in the stir zone and in extreme cases the tool may break. Excessively high heat input, on the other hand, may be detrimental to the final properties of the weld. Theoretically, this could even result in defects due to the liquation of low-melting-point phases (similar to liquation cracking in fusion welds). These competing demands lead onto

2345-411: The heat flow and thermal profile will be different: Heat generation during friction-stir welding arises from two main sources: friction at the surface of the tool and the deformation of the material around the tool. The heat generation is often assumed to occur predominantly under the shoulder, due to its greater surface area, and to be equal to the power required to overcome the contact forces between

2412-415: The heat input, as this will increase productivity and possibly reduce the impact of welding on the mechanical properties of the weld. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that the temperature around the tool is sufficiently high to permit adequate material flow and prevent flaws or tool damage. When the traverse speed is increased, for a given heat input, there is less time for heat to conduct ahead of

2479-422: The hot, plasticised material is forced. In this model the rotation of the tool draws little or no material around the front of the probe; instead, the material parts in front of the pin and passes down either side. After the material has passed the probe, the side pressure exerted by the "die" forces the material back together, and consolidation of the joint occurs, as the rear of the tool shoulder passes overhead and

2546-464: The hydrodynamically flared bow section of the hull of the ocean viewer vessel The Boss were produced at Research Foundation Institute with the first portable FSW machine. The Super Liner Ogasawara at Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding is the largest friction stir welded ship so far. The Sea Fighter of Nichols Bros and the Freedom -class Littoral Combat Ships contain prefabricated panels by

2613-629: The initial order of the Class 800 units, Great Western Railway (or First Great Western as it was at the time) ordered 29 bi-mode Class 802 units which would also join the AT300 product. These units have little difference over the Class 800 units, except that the 802s have a higher power output as-built to cope with gradients in Devon and Cornwall, and have larger fuel tanks. Being bi-mode, they will use overhead electric power between London Paddington and Newbury stations. Having initially ordered 29 units, it

2680-421: The large down force forges the material. More recently, an alternative theory has been advanced that advocates considerable material movement in certain locations. This theory holds that some material does rotate around the probe, for at least one rotation, and it is this material movement that produces the "onion-ring" structure in the stir zone. The researchers used a combination of thin copper strip inserts and

2747-421: The leading face to the rear, where the high forces assist in a forged consolidation of the weld. This process of the tool traversing along the weld line in a plasticised tubular shaft of metal results in severe solid-state deformation involving dynamic recrystallization of the base material. The solid-state nature of the FSW process, combined with its unusual tool shape and asymmetric speed profile, results in

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2814-545: The machinery further up the drive train. Hot-worked tool steel such as AISI H13 has proven perfectly acceptable for welding aluminium alloys within thickness ranges of 0.5–50 mm but more advanced tool materials are necessary for more demanding applications such as highly abrasive metal matrix composites or higher-melting-point materials such as steel or titanium. Improvements in tool design have been shown to cause substantial improvements in productivity and quality. TWI has developed tools specifically designed to increase

2881-778: The main line between Taipei and Hualien . Deliveries of the trains began in late 2006, with the first public test of the new trains in March 2007. Two more sets were purchased in December 2014, and delivered in early 2016. In 2007, Korail ordered eight 4-car express trains branded as the Trunk-Line Electric Car (TEC) to Hitachi. The car bodies, bogies and power systems were made in Japan, but were assembled at SLS Heavy Industry in Changwon , Korea. A significant number of

2948-636: The mechanical pressure, which is applied by the tool, much like joining clay, or dough. It is primarily used on wrought or extruded aluminium and particularly for structures which need very high weld strength. FSW is capable of joining aluminium alloys, copper alloys, titanium alloys, mild steel, stainless steel and magnesium alloys. More recently, it was successfully used in welding of polymers. In addition, joining of dissimilar metals, such as aluminium to magnesium alloys, has been recently achieved by FSW. Application of FSW can be found in modern shipbuilding, trains, and aerospace applications. The concept

3015-406: The mode of material flow around the tool used inserts of a different alloy, which had a different contrast to the normal material when viewed through a microscope, in an effort to determine where material was moved as the tool passed. The data was interpreted as representing a form of in-situ extrusion , where the tool, backing plate and cold base material form the "extrusion chamber", through which

3082-399: The necessary downward pressure is achieved and to ensure that the tool fully penetrates the weld. Given the high loads required, the welding machine may deflect and so reduce the plunge depth compared to the nominal setting, which may result in flaws in the weld. On the other hand, an excessive plunge depth may result in the pin rubbing on the backing plate surface or a significant undermatch of

3149-499: The penetration depth and thus increasing the plate thicknesses that can be successfully welded. An example is the "whorl" design that uses a tapered pin with re-entrant features or a variable-pitch thread to improve the downwards flow of material. Additional designs include the Triflute and Trivex series. The Triflute design has a complex system of three tapering, threaded re-entrant flutes that appear to increase material movement around

3216-435: The pin is not long enough or the tool rises out of the plate, then the interface at the bottom of the weld may not be disrupted and forged by the tool, resulting in a lack-of-penetration defect. This is essentially a notch in the material, which can be a potential source of fatigue cracks . A number of potential advantages of FSW over conventional fusion-welding processes have been identified: However, some disadvantages of

3283-538: The process also for the engine tunnel of the Ford GT . A spin-off of this company is called Friction Stir Link, Inc. and successfully exploits the FSW process, e.g. for the flatbed trailer "Revolution" of Fontaine Trailers. In Japan FSW is applied to suspension struts at Showa Denko and for joining of aluminium sheets to galvanized steel brackets for the boot (trunk) lid of the Mazda MX-5 . Friction stir spot welding

3350-423: The process have been identified: The design of the tool is a critical factor, as a good tool can improve both the quality of the weld and the maximal possible welding speed. It is desirable that the tool material be sufficiently strong, tough, and hard wearing at the welding temperature. Further, it should have a good oxidation resistance and a low thermal conductivity to minimise heat loss and thermal damage to

3417-590: The production of heat exchangers. KUKA Robot Group has adapted its KR500-3MT heavy-duty robot for friction stir welding via the DeltaN FS tool. The system made its first public appearance at the EuroBLECH show in November 2012. Apple applied friction stir welding on the 2012 iMac to effectively join the bottom to the back of the device. British Rail Class 801 The British Rail Class 801 Azuma

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3484-498: The railway system in Japan. It comprises trains for both commuter and limited express services. The modular design enables both production and refurbishment to be undertaken faster. Due to the low heat input of friction stir welding, high strength, excellent crashworthiness and minimal distortion can be achieved. Hitachi has provided a number of trains based on the A-train concept for use in Japan: For their products overseas,

3551-475: The search for commercially useful tools for the welding of hard materials. Work is continuing to better understand the effects of tool material's composition, structure, properties and geometry on their performance, durability and cost. There are two tool speeds to be considered in friction-stir welding; how fast the tool rotates and how quickly it traverses along the interface. These two parameters have considerable importance and must be chosen with care to ensure

3618-478: The shoulder below the surface of the welded plate and has been found to be a critical parameter for ensuring weld quality. Plunging the shoulder below the plate surface increases the pressure below the tool and helps ensure adequate forging of the material at the rear of the tool. Tilting the tool by 2–4 degrees, such that the rear of the tool is lower than the front, has been found to assist this forging process. The plunge depth needs to be correctly set, both to ensure

3685-452: The time. Differing from the Class 800 units, which they were built alongside, the Class 801 units were designed as purely electric multiple units, but with one diesel engine fitted to a single coach of each unit for emergency use. The Class 801 units were to enter service for both Great Western Railway and London North Eastern Railway but due to delays in the electrification of the GWML, it

3752-447: The tool and the workpiece. The contact condition under the shoulder can be described by sliding friction, using a friction coefficient μ and interfacial pressure P , or sticking friction, based on the interfacial shear strength at an appropriate temperature and strain rate. Mathematical approximations for the total heat generated by the tool shoulder Q total have been developed using both sliding and sticking friction models: where ω

3819-657: The tool are both extreme and very difficult to measure. To date, these parameters have been used as "fitting parameters", where the model works back from measured thermal data to obtain a reasonable simulated thermal field. While this approach is useful for creating process models to predict, for example, residual stresses, it is less useful for providing insights into the process itself. The FSW process has initially been patented by TWI in most industrialised countries and licensed for over 183 users. Friction stir welding and its variants – friction stir spot welding and friction stir processing  – are used for

3886-420: The tool, and the thermal gradients are larger. At some point the speed will be so high that the material ahead of the tool will be too cold, and the flow stress too high, to permit adequate material movement, resulting in flaws or tool fracture. If the "hot zone" is too large, then there is scope to increase the traverse speed and hence productivity. The welding cycle can be split into several stages, during which

3953-476: The tool. The Triflute tool uses an alternative system with a series of concentric grooves machined into the surface, which are intended to produce additional movement of material in the upper layers of the weld. Widespread commercial applications of friction stir welding process for steels and other hard alloys such as titanium alloys will require the development of cost-effective and durable tools. Material selection, design and cost are important considerations in

4020-410: The tool. The Trivex tools use a simpler, non-cylindrical, pin and have been found to reduce the forces acting on the tool during welding. The majority of tools have a concave shoulder profile, which acts as an escape volume for the material displaced by the pin, prevents material from extruding out of the sides of the shoulder and maintains downwards pressure and hence good forging of the material behind

4087-430: The weld thickness compared to the base material. Variable-load welders have been developed to automatically compensate for changes in the tool displacement, while TWI have demonstrated a roller system that maintains the tool position above the weld plate. During welding, a number of forces will act on the tool: In order to prevent tool fracture and to minimize excessive wear and tear on the tool and associated machinery,

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4154-438: The weld, which may occur on the surface or subsurface. Low temperatures may also limit the forging action of the tool and so reduce the continuity of the bond between the material from each side of the weld. The light contact between the material has given rise to the name "kissing bond". This defect is particularly worrying, since it is very difficult to detect using nondestructive methods such as X-ray or ultrasonic testing . If

4221-413: The welding cycle is modified so that the forces acting on the tool are as low as possible, and abrupt changes are avoided. In order to find the best combination of welding parameters, it is likely that a compromise must be reached, since the conditions that favour low forces (e.g. high heat input, low travel speeds) may be undesirable from the point of view of productivity and weld properties. Early work on

4288-578: Was announced in June 2016 that 21 nine-car (801/0) sets that were going to enter service with GWR would instead be converted to bi-modal operation. As a consequence, all of these sets were re-classified as 800/3 units and the Class 801 units only see operation on the ECML. However, GWR do have the option to convert all of their Class 800 units to electric-only operation by removal of the diesel engines should it be exercised, in which case they would be re-classified as

4355-541: Was delivered on July 31, 2021, with service entry scheduled for the end of the year. Between 2019 and 2021, the first Hitachi AT100 units arrived in Bangkok for the SRT Dark Red Line and SRT Light Red Line , which opened on 2 August 2021. These trains are coloured red, and are very reminiscent of a typical Japanese commuter train. 15 units form 6-car sets, while 10 form 4-car sets. The United Kingdom became

4422-669: Was later announced that there would be an increase of up to 36 units on order. The first of the Class 800s entered service with GWR in October 2017 and the first of the Class 802s entered service with GWR in August 2018, with all of the units branded as Intercity Express Trains (IET) by GWR. The first unit with London North Eastern Railway (the current holder of the InterCity East Coast franchise) entered service in May 2019 after

4489-517: Was patented in the Soviet Union by Yu. Klimenko in 1967, but it wasn't developed into a commercial technology at that time. It was experimentally proven and commercialized at The Welding Institute (TWI) in the UK in 1991. TWI held patents on the process, the first being the most descriptive. Friction stir welding is performed with a rotating cylindrical tool which has a profiled pin (also known as

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