February 24-25, 2016 - Detroit, Michigan,

FRANCOIS NADEAU Technical Leader Aluminum Assembling Technologies

National Research Council Canada

3 R D L I G H T W E I G H T V E H I C L E M A N U FAC T U R I N G 2 0 1 6

To be honest, I think this is a question that OEM’s are the best to answer. However, based on the joining R&D work we do with industrial partners, clearly friction stir spot welding is gaining interest these days including every process variants (single spot, pattern-spot, refill or swing) as a replacement technique to mechanical fastening or adhesive bonding in Al to Al joining or dissimilar material joining such as Al to press-hardened steels (Usibor), Al to Mg & Al to composite. These solutions have to be cost-effective so the effort needs to be put at increasing tool life & durability, even in Al to Al joining. Also, reduction of robot payload to allow stitch welding could be the key to increase the versatility of the robotized cell.

When dealing with friction stir welding in a robotized environment, the loads are generally very high mostly when you increase the material thickness in extrusions and could limit the applicability of the process or the productivity (travel speed). Combining an external heat source to the friction stir welding process lowers mostly the lateral & vertical loads which could allow up to 50% reduction & increase travel speed by 30% even using a low density heat source without compromising much the mechanical properties. In Al/Steel joining, the use of an external heat source leads to a better material flow at the Al/Steel interface that allows good joining at higher travel speeds (1.75m/min achieved so far) again using a low density heat source.

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The introduction of weldable high strength Al alloys (low-copper 7xxx series or modified 6xxx) to be used in structural applications, mostly by hot stampings. By this process, the final mechanical tensile strength (over 400MPa) or formability are high enough to compete with steel solutions. Tailor blanks could also be applied in order to light weight.

It was my first time at this summit last year & I was greatly impressed with the quality & competency of the speakers and how easy it was to chat with them afterwards. I’m still looking forward for that particular opportunity to meet the best in the business and keep on tracks with what we are doing. Technically speaking, I will listen carefully to Mrs. Forsmak & Mr. Maddela during the event.

WHAT MATERIALS/TECHNOLOGIES DO YOU SEE HAVING THE MOST POTENTIAL WHEN ENABLING OEM’S TO ACHIEVE BETTER QUALITY RESULTS AT LOWER COSTS?

WHAT ARE THE KEY BENEFITS OF USING AN EXTERNAL HEAT SOURCE COMBINED WITH FRICTION STIR WELDING TO MINIMIZE FORCES IN ALUMINUM EXTRUSIONS AND INCREASE JOINT RESISTANCE IN AI/STEEL JOINING

WHAT LIGHT WEIGHTING SOLUTIONS ARE YOU KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON AT THE MOMENT?WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO AT THIS

YEARS 3RD LIGHTWEIGHT VEHICLE MANUFACTURING 2016

REDUCING THE COST OF MULTI MATERIAL JOINING & FORMING AND MAXIMISING QUALITY ASSURANCE

PRE-CONFERENCE INTERVIEW:

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