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Selecting, simulating and optimising mechanical joining in a multi-material context set high requirements in relation to current material tests. Currently, no guidelines are available with regard to material characterisation for the support of the design of mechanical joining to achieve hybrid components. One of the objectives of this project is to standardise this. Which material tests must be performed for the characterisation of mechanical joining of dissimilar materials will be determined? An investigation will be performed within this context regarding how existing testing methods must be changed based on the new requirements.
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Investigation of new welding technology for aluminium
The Belgian welding Institute has started a research project about a new spot weld technique; friction spot welding. The connection is created by using friction. This welding technology is particularly suitable for welding aluminium, and provides a solution to the difficulties that resistance spot welding is facing when joining aluminium, such as the electrode wear and tool life.
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The FRIEX project aims to develop a new variant of the friction welding process for fully automatic welding of pipes. Since pipe sections can have a length up to 18 meters, it is for practical reasons not possible to weld them using conventional friction welding. Therefore, a new variant of the friction welding process was developed. This research is conducted by the company Denys NV, and takes place in cooperation with the Belgian Welding Institute and laboratory Soete of the Ghent University and with support of the Flemish region (VLAIO/IWT).
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Metal-composite sandwich panels consist of two thin solid metal plates with in between a synthetic material (e.g. polyethylene), glued under high pressure. The metal plates, together with the plastic core, form a kind of sandwich plate. Different types of metals are used; mainly aluminium, but also stainless steel, coated steel, brass, titanium etc.
The surface of aluminium sandwich plates is extremely flat, corrosion-free and has a low coefficient of expansion. The stiff aluminium sandwich plates combine these properties with excellent ink printing. This makes them ideally suited for stylish applications, such as advertising pillars, stand construction, advertising boards and displays.
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The INNOJOIN project provides insight in new modern welding technologies for welding of dissimilar sheet metals and helps companies to identify the most suitable welding technology for their products. During the project, a few representative cases were developed, based on the input of the participating companies.
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The Belgian Welding Institute has performed a collective research project about the innovative variants of the commonly used welding processes GTAW and MIG/MAG welding.
The project aimed to determine to what extent these variants may contribute to a reduction of the production costs (welding costs) by increasing the productivity and the efficiency of the process.
By means of this project, the participating companies received a better understanding of the capabilities of these modified welding processes, in order to facilitate the introduction of these new welding processes in the Belgian industry.
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JOIN’EM project addresses the increasing requirements of industrial enterprises to weld dissimilar materials. By allowing joining of copper to aluminium by electromagnetic fields, the project will provide increased performance, efficiency as well environmental benefits to Europe’s industry.
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Future products will have the right material at the right place and joining is a very critical part within this context. For structural engineers from the transport, mechanical engineering and consumer and construction product sectors, unique products – with regard to performance, weight or functionality – can only be achieved by linking an optimum design to advanced production techniques.
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The overall aim of the research project “LightBEE” is to develop a range of new high added-value battery components for the transport industry, using innovative joining technologies. Therefore, systematic and reliable knowledge and data will be generated about the applicability of promising joining processes for manufacturing of battery modules, carriers and sub-components. The optimised battery components should be lighter, having better safety properties, and produced more cost-effectively and more environmentally-friendly.
