Coldwater Machine Partners with EWI
This alliance will research the joining of advanced materials.
Posted: March 11, 2015
Coldwater Machine Company (Coldwater, OH), a leading engineering solutions company that manufactures and integrates precision equipment and tools for multiple industries, has announced that it has become a member of the Edison Welding Institute (EWI; Columbus, OH), a leading engineering and technology advanced materials joining organization in North America, and has installed one of its SpotMeldTM systems at EWI for research focused on the joining of advanced materials.
“EWI has driven multiple innovations in the field of friction-based welding technologies,” said Tim McCaughey, the Coldwater Machine president. “We are excited to partner with them in further development of manufacturing solutions that can address the challenges presented by today’s growing use of advanced and lightweight materials in a variety of industries.”
SpotMeld is a Refill Friction Stir Spot Weld (RFSSW) solution that enables spot joining of aluminum (1000 – 7000 series), magnesium, non-ferrous and dissimilar sheet materials, offering an alternative to single-point joining processes like resistance spot welding, laser welding and riveting.
Relying on RFSSW technology, the SpotMeld system uses rotational friction to heat the materials along with pressure, melding the parts together using wear-resistant tooling to join two or more surfaces. Basically, heat is generated between the tool and material, creating a soft region. Pressure is then applied, resulting in a solid state joint.
In addition to its ability to join dissimilar and lightweight materials, benefits include high quality joints with a small heat affected zone, consistency in weld duplication and faster meld times, as well as being environmentally cleaner and safer with no filler material, spatter, smoke, radiation or shield gasses.
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