Design and development of fixture and force measuring system for friction stir welding process using strain gauges

We developed a clamping system and an instrumented setup for a vertical milling machine for friction stir welding (FSW) operations and measuring the process forces. Taking into account the gap formation (i.e., lateral movement) and transverse movement of the workpiece, a new type of adjustable fixture was designed to hold the workpiece being welded. For force measurement, a strain gauge based force dynamometer was designed, developed and fabricated. The strain gauges were fitted into the specially designed octagonal members to support the welding plates. When the welding force was applied onto the plates, the load was transferred to the octagonal members and strain was induced in the member. The strains of the strain gauges were measured in terms of voltages using a Wheatstone bridge. To acquire forces in FSW operations, a data acquisition system with the necessary hardware and software was devised and connected to the developed setup. The developed setup was tested in actual welding operations. It is found that the proposed setup can be used in milling machine to perform FSW operations.