TPT January 2014

Cutting

Cutting and welding products BOEING has selected ESAB welding and cutting products as a partner in the manufacturing of fuel tank structures for NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). The VAC is being designed, engineered and built at the ESAB facility in Laxa, Sweden, and is supported by ESAB’s North American automation division. The vertical tower assembly is being built in the USA using US steel and component materials.

electronics. The low heat input and high strength of automated friction stir welds provide opportunities for manufacturers to redesign their structures for lighter weight, lower cost and higher performance.  The SLS project is widely viewed as America’s next-generation space programme, with the goal of producing a rocket to transport people beyond Earth’s orbit. Slated for launch in 2017, this expandable rocket has tremendous capabilities for transporting payload during deep space explorations. “We are honoured to be part of this historical project with the Boeing Space Launch System (SLS) team and NASA,” said Ken Konopa, vice-president of marketing for ESAB. “ESAB is known as a developer of advanced welding technologies, and we are prepared to deliver those results as part of this next- generation space programme.”

The SLS will be the largest American rocket ever built and will measure 200ft taller than the entire space shuttle rocket assembly.  The SLS will measure 384ft in total length, with a weight of 6.5 million pounds. The construction of an assembly of this magnitude requires entirely new ways to fabricate, assemble and weld the main fuel tank structures. Engineers and experts from ESAB have worked with Boeing and NASA for more than a year to develop the new Vertical Assembly Center (VAC), which is a giant orbital welding system that is capable of supporting the huge rocket fuel tank while circumferentially welding its sections together with the friction stir process. ESAB’s construction of the VAC will be the largest welding machine of its type in history, and is the most precise part of the assembly. 

ESAB’s level of friction stir technology expertise and strong operational and project management procedures were key factors in this selection. Boeing worked with ESAB to employ friction stir welding technology on the Delta II and Delta IV rocket programmes in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Friction stir welding uses a spinning tool with a great deal of pressure and torque to mix metals together without melting them.  This allows users to fuse together hi-tech alloys that are difficult or impossible to join with conventional welding techniques. Friction stir welding has the potential to change the way many common structures are built, from passenger trains and airplanes to trucks, cars and

ESAB – USA Website: www.esabna.com

Heavy wall thickness tube mill and cutting DANIELI W+K has delivered a new mill for the production of high tensile strength material precision tubes with ranges from 2½" to 7" and a maximum wall thickness of ½" to a customer in India. The challenge for Danieli W+K was designing a customised special tube mill for company Tube Products of India, located in Chennai, since this line will mainly produce precision tubes for hydraulic cylinders used for earth moving and construction machinery and hollow sections for steel construction. The complete line consists of fully automatic strip preparation, a forming, welding and sizing section and a newly developed flying saw – the multi-cut. The finishing line also provided by Danieli W+K consists of a run-out section, sample tube-cutting device and an integrated flush-out station to flush out the inside scarf. A chopper to cut the inside scarf and a blow-out station is incorporated into the flushing station. The system is also equipped with an automatic bundle station and a magnetic portal packaging device for bundling hexagonal and rectangular bundles for round tubes and hollow sections. Production is scheduled to commence in March 2014.

Danieli W+K – Italy Website: www.danieli.com

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J anuary 2014