TPT January 2014

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Cutting
January 2014 95
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 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.
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.
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
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.”
ESAB – USA
Website:
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: