The production of high value decorative laminate metal products by Friction Stir Welding

英国旋转工程有限公司将进行一项概念验证研究，以生产一种用于珠宝和装饰金属行业的高价值、有图案的金属层压材料(Mokume Gane)。Mokume gane(日语中的意思是木纹金属)是一种优质珠宝产品，由不同颜色的金属(如金和银)粘合和图案层制成。传统的扩散连接法生产烟幕难度大、成本高、涉及多个生产工序，且受板材生产最大尺寸的限制。它也有很高的故障率，并保持在工艺水平，依赖于具有多年经验的个人的专业知识，而不是现代制造技术。我们开发了一种使用搅拌摩擦焊(FSW)生产莫科姆GaN型材料的新方法。通过采用FSW，可以展示多层不同金属的粘合，同时在金属中产生独特的图案，消除了对单独图案阶段的需要。这种方法最大限度地减少了加工，减少了浪费，并潜在地降低了成本。搅拌摩擦焊技术避免了传统生产中遇到的许多问题，例如熔化或缺乏粘合，同时允许生产更大尺寸和厚度的板材。有了这笔概念验证资金，我们的目标是发展我们的能力，生产具有商业市场图案的FSW层压板。

Rotary Engineering UK Ltd will carry out a proof of concept study on the production of ahigh value, patterned metal laminate material (mokume gane) for use in the jewellery anddecorative metals industry.Mokume gane (meaning wood grain metal in Japanese) is a premium jewellery productmanufactured by bonding and patterning layers of different coloured metals such as gold andsilver. Traditional production of mokume gane using diffusion bonding is difficult andexpensive, involves multiple manufacturing stages, and is limited in the maximum size ofsheet production. It also has a high failure rate and remains at the craft level, relying on theexpertise of individuals with many years experience rather than a modern manufacturingtechnique.We have developed a novel method of producing a mokume gane type material using frictionstir welding (FSW). By adapting FSW it has been possible to demonstrate bonding of manylayers of dissimilar metals while simultaneously producing unique patterns in the metal,removing the need for a separate patterning stage. This approach minimizes processing,reduces waste and potentially lowers costs. The FSW technique avoids many of the problemsexperienced in traditional production, e.g. melting or lack of bonding, while allowingproduction of much larger sheet size and thickness. With this proof of concept funding we aimto develop our capabilities to produce a laminate sheet with commercially marketable patternsby FSW.