FSW of Ariane 5 and 6 of ESA
Friction stir welding of Ariane rockets of the European Space Agency ESA
Size comparison of Ariane 5, 1 and 6 :
The Ariane series of launchers was developed on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA) and has been used with increasing success for unmanned spaceflight since 1996.
Motor Thrust Frame of Ariane 5
At the Second International FSW Symposium, held in Götheburg, the Netherlands, on 26-28 June 2000, Fokker Space presented the results of an industrialisation study on friction stir lap welding of 2.5 mm thick plates of 7075-T7351 (AlZnMgCu1.5) of the motor thrust frame of the cryogenic main stage of the Ariane 5 rocket, previously carried out at TWI in Cambridge (Applying FSW to the Ariane 5 Motor Thrust Frame).[1]
A tool that had been developed in the TWI's basic research programme for lap welds was further developed in this study, using a second shoulder at the level of the overlap contact plane of the two sheets. The part of the pin of this MultiStage™ tool dipping into the lower sheet had a smaller diameter than the upper part of the pin and a pentagonally flattened profile to break up and stir the oxides.[2]
Tanks of Ariane 6
The hydrogen tanks of the Ariane 6, which consist of tank domes and cylinder panels, are friction stir welded at MT Aerospace in Augsburg and then integrated into the upper stage of the new Ariane 6 at the ArianeGroup production centre in Bremen. For this purpose, a large FSW facility was installed in a new hall at MT Aerospace in Augsburg at the beginning of 2018.[3][4]
Friction stir welded rocket tank structures on a stand by Uniweld and Hage
© AluStir, 2018
The FSW process was approved and successfully applied for the first time for flight hardware on the Ariane A5ME.[5] Previously, preparing the components for the 10-minute TIG welds took more than three hours each.[5] With the new friction stir welding machine, the set-up time is considerably reduced, the parameters are recorded and the components are ultrasonically inspected, so that in future, instead of 30 tank domes, about 90 can be produced per year.[3][4]
Friction stir welded rocket tank structures on a stand by Uniweld and Hage
© AluStir, 2018
MT Aerospace, a subsidiary of the space technology group OHB, has invested more than € 35 million as a risk-sharing partner in the development of the components for the new Ariane 6.[3][4]
References
- M J Brooker, A J M van Deudekom, S W Kallee und P D Sketchley: Applying Friction Stir Welding to the Ariane 5 Main Motor Thrust Frame. Second International FSW Symposium, Gothenburg, 26-28 June
2000 (see also SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data
System).
-
Stephan W. Kallee, E. Dave Nicholas and Wayne M. Thomas: Reibrührschweißen: Erfindung, Innovationen und
Industrialisierung. Seminar 'Rührreibschweißen (FSW) - ein modernes Fügeverfahren', Schweißtechnische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt (SLV) Berlin-Brandenburg, 20 March
2002.
- Ulrike Ebner: Erster Tank für Ariane-6-Oberstufe geliefert. Flug Revue, 5 April 2018.
-
MT Aerospace liefert ersten Tank für Ariane 6 an ArianeGroup in
Bremen.
-
Hans Steininger (CEO MT Aerospace AG): Europas unabhängiger Zugang zum Weltraum: Ariane 6. 4. Bodensee Aerospace Meeting Lindenberg,10 March
2015.
- F. Marie, S. Pauleau, J. Salou und D. Deloison (Ariane Group SAS, AGS) sowie M. Kahnert: Development and industrialization of FSW for Ariane 6 propellant tanks. FSWP 2019, 6th International Conference on Scientific and Technical Advances on Friction Stir Welding & Processing, Louvain-la-Neuve - 11, 12 and 13 September 2019, Université catholique de Louvain - Belgium (See also php-Datei with links to the bstracts).