WEBINAR 23-24 September 2025 | Aluminium tanks welded by Friction Stir Welding. REGISTER FOR FREE
No, you do not need permission to mount an FSW head on your machining centre.
Stirweld’s welding head is universal and can be easily installed on any type of CNC. The FSW head behaves like a module added to your CNC. This FSW welding head does not involve any modification of the substance or form of your machine. The manufacturer’s warranty is therefore not engaged.
A constant force of the FSW tool on the parts to be joined is essential to guarantee a quality weld.
For this reason, Stirweld has integrated a force sensor into its FSW welding head. This feature monitors the pressure exerted during the friction stir welding process. The sensor records the data and alerts the operator to significant changes in the force exerted.
The Stirweld FSW head is universal. It allows a force transducer to be integrated into any machine tool to turn your MOCN into an efficient FSW welding machine.
The FSW tool pin is one of the components of our friction stir welding tools. It is located at the end of the tool in the extension of the shoulder. The length of the FSW tool pin depends on the thickness of the parts to be welded and the welding configuration.
The threaded pin ensures efficient mixing by penetrating the material and mixing it. This shearing effect provides an additional amount of heat that contributes to the plastic deformation of the material. Its sharp point ensures a better penetration of the tool’s pin into the workpiece and thus a more efficient FSW welding operation.
Stirweld offers a complete range of FSW tools according to the materials of your parts. The French space giant Ariane already trusts us for the purchase of its FSW tools. Download our catalog which lists our standardized FSW tools.
No, it is important to use an FSW tool that is suitable for the material being welded.
Copper and aluminium react differently to heat during the welding process. If the temperature is too high, copper will tend to stick while aluminium will deform. We recommend choosing the right tool for a copper application or an aluminium application.
To ensure a quality weld for each application, Stirweld has designed FSW tools to suit the materials to be joined.
Yes, Stirweld’s FSW robot spindle can weld structures with complex geometry such as double curvature.
Our Robotic Friction Stir Welding technology has made complex path welding operations possible. This multi-directional welding capability has opened up opportunities for advanced industry sectors such as aerospace, aeronautics, defence, telecommunications…
Yes, the Stirweld welding head is force controlled.
The pressure exerted on the workpiece must be constant in order to guarantee quality FSW welds. It is therefore essential to know and control the force to be applied during the FSW welding operation. This setting allows the tool to be placed on the workpieces to be welded and to ensure good compactness in order to avoid porosities. This is why we have equipped all our FSW equipment with force sensors.
The welding temperature with the FSW head is managed according to 3 parameters:
It is important to control these 3 parameters to ensure a good and strong FSW weld.
To get an indication of the temperature during your welding operations, you can use Stirweld’s temperature measurement system.
The FSW head provides a quality single pass weld for parts up to 10mm thick. Our FSW technology allows a welding capacity of up to 20 mm with a double pass on both sides.
This thickness also depends on the capacity of the machine tools on which our welding head is installed.
There are many welding processes that apply to different jobs and work environments.
The most common welding processes are:
•,Coated electrode welding, more commonly known as arc welding or MMA
•,TIG welding, performed with gas arc with tungsten electrode
•,MIG and MAG welding, performed with gas arc with solid wire electrode
•,Resistance spot welding or spot welding
For more precise applications, there are more advanced techniques such as :
– Submerged arc welding with wire electrode (SAW)
– Plasma welding (PAW process) and plasma cutting (PAC process)
– Laser welding
– Resistance welding
Finally, Friction Stir Welding (FSW process) is an innovative technology patented in the early 90s. .
Yes, the FSW tool is the same regardless of the welding configuration (lap or butt). The choice of the tool depends on the distance to be welded, the depth to be welded and therefore the thickness of the part and the material of the parts to be welded. Stirweld’s FSW experts are at your disposal to help you choose the right tool for your application.
Yes, it is possible to switch from welding to machining and back again without disassembling the FSW head.
The Stirweld welding head was designed by experts in FSW and machining. This hybrid system allows welding and machining to take place in succession. Simply replace the FSW tool with a milling cutter. The milling add-on allows friction stir welding and simple machining or finishing of parts to be carried out easily on the same machine without human intervention.
Our FSW tool does not require tilting to ensure a solid weld.
When using our FSW head on a 5-axis machine, tilting can be done. The degree of tilt of the Stirweld FSW welding head is between 0.5° and 3°.
The purpose of this position parameter is to lift the leading edge of the rotating FSW tool. The tilt thus retains the material mixed by the shoulder in the weld area.
The degree of tilt is calculated according to the friction stir welding process.
Yes, Stirweld offers the development of custom FSW tools to suit the specific needs of our customers. We also offer a wide range of standard FSW tools available in our catalog.
We study the customer’s request and help him to choose the right tool for his FSW project. We propose the FSW tool perfectly adapted to his equipment and applications.
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The average life of our tools is 2000 metres of weld in a typical FSW configuration.
The life of the FSW tool varies depending on 2 key factors: the correct use of the tool and its settings. The most common causes of wear are cyclic fatigue at the pin and abrasive wear due to frictional action.
Its life will also depend on the thickness of the parts and the materials welded: aluminium/aluminium, aluminium/copper, aluminium/steel…
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The use of the FSW head with retractable pin offers the advantage of not leaving an exit hole unlike standard welding heads. As its name indicates, the pin retracts at the end of the weld. It allows to directly close the hole appearing at the end of the weld.
The use of the FSW head with retractable pin avoids additional handling to fill the weld exit hole. This absence of exit hole is particularly required in aerospace applications: floor, fuselage etc.
Yes, Stirweld’s FSW welding head is a hybrid system that allows machining and welding.
The FSW head fits all machine tools and is easily installed for an optimized friction stir welding operation. The user can quickly mount and dismount the FSW tool to switch from welding to machining and vice versa. Stirweld’s Automatic Head Changer is a time-saving device: the 2 operations can be performed on the same CNC.
FSW butt welding involves joining parts together tightly so as to limit the thickness of the joint.
The rotating FSW tool is brought into contact with the materials to be joined. The material is softened by the heating action of the shoulder. The mixing of the material ensures a thorough and quality weld.
The FSW butt welding configuration is preferred for joining parts of equal thickness.
Our FSW welding heads are designed and approved for 5 years of use and this 24/24h. Our FSW equipment undergoes numerous tests on a wear bench in order to guarantee its robustness and lifespan.
