24 07, 2024

State-of-the-Art Press Line Unveiled by Taber Extrusions: Combining Superior Design, Capability, Reliability, and Quality

2024-10-22T00:06:06+00:00July 24th, 2024|

A graphic of the Taber Extrusions with the title, "Something is Coming" and a black cover concealing the state-of-the-art press line

Aluminum Extrusions leader Taber Extrusions is proud to announce the addition of one of the largest, state-of-the-art press lines in North America. It’s a 10,000-ton press equipped with a 16-inch container. This state-of-the-art installation is set to go live in 2026. It is specifically designed to meet the rigorous demands of the aerospace, defense, and heavy industrial markets.

 

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark.July 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Taber Extrusions is dedicated to investing in cutting-edge technologies, providing unparalleled capabilities in the extrusion industry. If a job can be done, it can be done at Taber.

 

Reflecting this commitment, Taber Extrusions is proud to announce the addition of one of the largest direct presses in North America. A 10,000-ton press equipped with a 16-inch container. This state-of-the-art installation is set to go live in 2026. It is specifically designed to meet the rigorous demands of the aerospace, defense, and heavy industrial markets.

 

The new press will offer advanced heat solutions and is capable of handling both hard and soft alloys, ensuring versatility and superior performance. This significant investment underscores Taber Extrusions’ commitment to providing cutting-edge technology and expanding its capabilities to serve our national defense partners and beyond.

Design and Capability

To start, the state-of-the-art 10,000 UST Front Load, Direct press boasts cutting-edge machinery featuring a 16″ (406mm) container. It can handle profiles up to 600mm wide. Designed for reliability, it includes a pre-stressed press frame with laminated tie-rods and compression boxes supplied by SMS Group.

 

For quality assurance, the press is equipped with a linear guide for precise alignment and a movable butt shear with an adjustable gap. Safety is paramount, with a blast shield and integrated camera to enhance operational security. This new press sets a new standard in the industry. It combines advanced design, robust reliability, superior quality, and uncompromising safety.

Reliability

Furthermore, our state-of-the-art press line design incorporates an IAS Induction Heater for billet taper and a comprehensive Log Wash System, ensuring superior quality. The new system features vertical log storage for increased capacity. Additionally, our TERS System enhances energy efficiency, saving 6-8% in energy consumption. This innovative technology reaffirms our commitment to quality, capacity, and sustainability in extrusion processes.

Quality

Lastly, downstream of the press we will incorporate the latest COMETAL Engineering technology. It features a high-performance multi-spray zone profile quench with a cooling recipe system, and quench and cooling simulation for advanced product development. The in-line solution heat-treatment and aging process allows us to meet AMS 2750 Class 1/2, Type B, CQI-9, and AMS 2772 specifications, ensuring top-notch quality. Moreover, the system includes an AGV System and adjustable racks for increased capacity and efficiency. These upgrades reinforce our commitment to excellence and innovation in the extrusion industry.

About Taber Extrusions

Taber Extrusions, a minority-owned business enterprise, is AS 9100, NADCAP, and ABS certified. Since its founding in 1973, Taber has pioneered the process of extruding rectangular billet, enabling the extrusion of solid profiles up to 31 inches wide and hollows up to 29 inches. In 1995, Taber expanded by acquiring an extrusion facility in Gulfport, MS. It includes a cast house and two additional presses, along with multiple expansions of value-added fabrication services. Taber continues to extrude billet in a wide range of alloys and sizes, including 7″ billet molds.

 

The company has diversified its markets beyond the military to include aerospace, automotive, marine, infrastructure, and sporting goods, among others. For these markets, Taber supplies extruded products in a variety of soft and hard alloys. In 2018, Taber further expanded its capabilities by adding ultra-precision extrusions. This allows them to better serve customers in the electronics, computer, and medical industries.

 

In 2019, Taber announced their their new friction-stir welding further serving marine, defense, and infrastructure sectors. More recently, Taber added a new Haas VF-12 CNC Machine to its operations. Taber evolves to meet the client’s needs, providing the Shape of Endless Possibilities.

 

Press Contact: Chad Fishback, (806)724-6954, https://taberextrusions.com/

29 12, 2023

Friction Stir Welding Services Spotlight: End Applications

2023-12-29T22:02:52+00:00December 29th, 2023|

A double-sided friction stir welding machine simultaneously welds two sides of the metal. Under that is the blog title: “Friction Stir Welding Services Spotlight: End Applications” and the Taber logo.

 

Friction stir welding is a solid-state process where a non-consumable tool generates heat through friction, softening the workpiece near the tool. The softened metal is mixed and forged under mechanical pressure, creating a steel-strong bond. It’s akin to a sculptor shaping and uniting metal like clay or dough.

FSW was invented in 1991 by The Welding Institute (TWI) in the United Kingdom, and it has since become one of the most versatile and widely used welding processes in the world. This blog delves into the realm of FSW, covering the process, its advantages over traditional methods, and its applications across industries.

Unlocking the Hidden Benefits of FSW — Your Ultimate Guide!

 

An infographic about the advantages of FSW and which industries benefit most from friction stir welding.

 

FSW has revolutionized the welding process and changed the way we join metals. It is a versatile and efficient process that offers several advantages over traditional welding processes.

  • High weld quality: FSW is a solid-state welding process that produces robust, flexible, tough welds without melting the metal and eliminating defects.
  • Low distortion: This localized welding technique minimizes distortion in welded components by concentrating heat near the weld area.
  • Wide range of materials: FSW can weld various materials like aluminum, magnesium, copper, and steel alloys

In addition to these advantages, FSW is a reliable and repeatable welding process. This makes it ideal for high-volume production applications.

 

A vector compilation of trains, buses, helicopters, subways, and airplanes in blue tones.

FSW Services Have Revolutionized Joining Metals (particularly in U.S. aluminum extrusions)

The industries that use the most FSW are:

Aerospace

Due to the need for aircraft fuselages to act as engine components, the aerospace sector has embraced FSW services for their lightweight, high-strength characteristics and their ability to maintain optimum structural integrity after being welded.

Automotive and rail

FSW finds its application in producing aluminum-intensive cars, where robust and reliable joints are paramount. By utilizing FSW technology, automotive manufacturers can reduce weight while maintaining structural integrity, improving performance and safety.

Marine

The marine industry widely employs FSW for welding aluminum structures that need high strength and corrosion resistance. It produces high-quality welds and is more environmentally friendly than other welding processes. Its use in the maritime industry has led to significant cost savings, improved efficiency, and better-quality welds.

Electronics

The electronics industry uses FSW to produce heat sinks and join dissimilar metals, such as copper and aluminum. It offers improved thermal performance, reduced weight, and reliable and repeatable welds, making it an attractive option for electronic device manufacturers.

General fabrication

FSW provides a solid-state welding process that results in high-quality, defect-free welds. It is also ideal for welding various materials, such as aluminum, magnesium, copper, and steel alloys, and has less distortion and fumes than traditional welding processes.

Various other sectors, such as energy, construction, and medical devices, also utilize FSW in addition to these industries. The FSW process is a great partner for demanding applications because it creates seamless and defect-free welds in large aluminum extrusions.

Taber Extrusions Expands Capabilities with Friction Stir Welding

 

Watch the “Taber: Advanced Friction Stir Welding Capabilities” video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw5sxgHSn7I

 

 

If your company is in need of friction stir-welding services, consider the leading American aluminum extrusion company—Taber Extrusions.

Taber’s FSW capabilities allow them to create panel assemblies that are very large (up to 200 inches wide by 65 feet long). They can also make double-walled hollow extrusions up to 6.5 inches tall, 32 inches wide, and 65 feet long. The FSW production cell carries out all of this through a unique production process, which also trims the profiles of the panels before joining them.

Taber’s in-house FSW capabilities provide its customers with a more comprehensive suite of services, meeting the ever-increasing demand for FSW across various industries.

More About Taber Extrusions: 

Founded in 1973, Taber Extrusions originally pioneered a process for extruding rectangular billet which enables the company to extrude solid profiles up to 31 inches wide or hollows up to 29 inches. Taber expanded with a facility in Gulfport, MS., in 1995, which houses a state-of-the-art cast house and two additional presses, micro-extrusion capabilities, and the fabrication area has been expanded multiple times – with the most recent being the addition of the new larger machining center.

Taber continues to extrude billet in a wide range of alloys and sizes, and has diversified its markets beyond military since its inception to include aerospace, automotive, marine, infrastructure, and sporting goods, among many others. For these markets, the company supplies cast and extruded products in a variety of soft and hard alloys.

Today, Taber Extrusions is proud of its friction stir welding capabilities, and full offering of extruded aluminum components, value-added machining services and raw material supply to the North American market.

Taber Extrusions is here to make your dreams a reality. Taber’s team of experts will guide you through the entire process, from selecting the perfect custom shape to choosing the suitable alloy. And their award-winning extrusion process will bring your project to life.

Follow Taber Extrusions:

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/taberextrusions/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/taberextrusions/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/taberextrusions

 

Are you interested in becoming a part of the Taber team? Submit your resume to careers@taberextrusions.com.

3 04, 2022

Our Top Aluminum Microextrusion Blogs of All Time

2022-07-08T17:14:48+00:00April 3rd, 2022|

Blue shaded gradient over a photograph of a bridge tower and its suspension cables on the left and the U.S. flag on the right. Taber’s logo is at the very top and beneath it are the words, “The Shape of Endless Possibilities.” The logos designating minority-owned business enterprise (ISO 9001, AS 9100, NADCAP, and ABS-certified) are across the bottom in white print.

A lot has been said about the future of nano and microtechnology. This area of aluminum extrusion, which focuses on creating ever smaller products, promises solutions to age-old problems. On the silver screen, sci-fi productions have shown nano bots crawling into humans as a futuristic form of medicine. The Terminator film franchise explored the military potential of nano technology in a self-healing liquid metal of robots. Yet, examples like these are not actually all that farfetched. From self-healing metal to invasive medicine, a whole new realm of possibilities has been opened by tiny manufacturing.

At Taber, we are part of this revolution with our microextrusions. Like conventional aluminum extrusions, microextrusions are pushed through a die. Unlike conventional extrusions, the entire extrusion process is performed at a submillimeter level. In other words, the resulting product’s cross section can fit through a 1-millimeter square. Our microextrusions have found application in a wide range of industries, which we have previously explored in a series of articles on these miniscule creations.

1) Taber: Microextrusions for Defense and Aerospace

6 military jets flying across a blue sky above two military vehicles (tank and a ship) facing away from each other. The words “Taber: Microextrusions for Defense and Aerospace” are in black above the ship.

Taber Extrusions has experienced many evolutions since its founding in the early 1970s. Taber pioneered a process for extruding rectangular billet of solid profiles up to 31 inches wide or hollows up to 29 inches. Since then, it increased Taber’s billet capacity, alloy range, and ability to reuse materials. Within the last decade, fabrication capabilities were upgraded, friction stir welding was added, and of course, microextrusions became an offering. Lightweight, strong, and widely functional, microextrusions are perfect for military and aerospace components. Interior aircraft systems, AC condensers, communication systems, and firearm components all use microextrusions. Read more about it here.

2) Process, Benefits, and Examples of Medical Microextrusions

A darkened photograph of a medical room with a bunch of white medical appliances. The words, “Process, Benefits, and Examples of Medical Microextrusions” are positioned on top of the photo in white.

You don’t have to go in for a colonoscopy to understand the benefit of smaller medical tools. The microextrusions used in medicine include components that overwhelmingly support cardio- and neurovascular procedures, drug delivery, IV procedures, and other procedures that require work on a micro level. An added challenge for medical manufacturing is that conventional extrusion machinery is not quite precise enough, so it calls for special machinery. Medical microextrusions are created at a very slow rate to maintain the physical properties of the delicate material and create ultra-precise extrusions.

3) Microextrusions in the Consumer Electronics Sector

A lengthwise photograph of an open computer motherboard with all the different ports and circuits exposed, many of which are made of aluminum microextrusions. In the center of the photo are the words, “Microextrusions in the Consumer Electronics Sector” in white text.

The most widespread and easy-to-spot place where miniature extrusions are making a difference in consumer products is in electronic products. Portable, durable, and complex, computational devises like laptops and smartphones have increasingly smaller parts. From enclosures to motherboards and LED profile bays, microextrusions have become a fundamental part of electronic devices. This article outlines more aspects of consumer electronics that use precision aluminum extrusions in their design.

Often used in medical and surgical procedures, microtubing is a highly-valued type of microextrusion. Aluminum can provide three times as much volume per pound as other metal products – so when too much weight is detrimental, aluminum is an obvious choice. Aluminum is also anti-corrosive, making it an ideal material for many types of environments.

A metal ruler lying flat on the surface of a table showing a length of 8 inches, while several aluminum microtubes are suspended above the ruler and the words “Aluminum Microtubing Rapidly Developing in Sync: Microextrusions” are in black above the ruler and on top of the tubes.
Blue shaded gradient over a photograph of a bridge tower and its suspension cables on the left and the U.S. flag on the right. Taber’s logo is at the very top and beneath it are the words, “The Shape of Endless Possibilities.” The logos designating minority-owned business enterprise (ISO 9001, AS 9100, NADCAP, and ABS-certified) are across the bottom in white print.

This last blog outlines Taber’s capabilities, ranging from friction stir welding to microextrusions. Through Taber’s unwavering commitment, present and future customers can expect expanded extrusion solutions, programs, and services in the coming years… and find endless possibilities. Read more about it here.

Despite its broad application in today’s products, the potential of microextrusions is still just being explored. As miniature aluminum extrusions become smaller and more precise, industries will continue to find new ways to create futuristic solutions to modern problems. Taber offers the highest levels of quality and the broadest range of capabilities in the industry, designed to be ready for whatever design tomorrow brings.

 

Taber Extrusions: Summary

Founded in 1973, Taber Extrusions originally pioneered a process for extruding rectangular billet, enabling the company to extrude extra-large aluminum extrusion profiles up to 31 inches wide or hollows up to 29 inches. Taber expanded with the purchase of an extrusion facility in Gulfport, MS, in 1995, which houses a state-of-the-art cast house and two additional presses, micro-extrusion capabilities, and the fabrication area has been expanded multiple times.

Taber continues to extrude billet in a wide range of alloys and sizes and has diversified its markets beyond the military since its inception to include aerospace, automotive, marine, infrastructure, and sporting goods, among many others. With in-house casting solutions, ultra-precision extrusion manufacturing, friction stir welding capacities, and a full range of hard and soft aluminum alloys, Taber continues to align itself as an industry leader in having the broadest available capabilities.

Today, Taber Extrusions is proud of its recently added VF-12 CNC machining line and a complete offering of extruded aluminum components, value-added machining services, and raw material supply to the North American market. Adding these capabilities to a growing portfolio propels Taber into the future in a quest to continuously improve the quality and service we provide to our customers.

Thank you for your continued support of Taber Extrusions, LLC. If you have any questions, please visit taberextrusions.com or contact one of Taber’s regional sales managers.

Follow Taber Extrusions

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/taberextrusions/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/taberextrusions/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/taberextrusions

1 03, 2021

Taber: Microextrusions For Defense and Aerospace

2021-03-01T20:55:09+00:00March 1st, 2021|

Two images side-by-side, on left: long-range radar antenna used to track space objects and ballistic missiles. On right: A military radar antenna which rotates steadily, used for aircraft detection.

Like conventional aluminum extrusions, microextrusions are pushed through a die. Unlike conventional extrusions, the entire extrusion process is performed at a submillimeter level. In other words, the resulting product’s cross section can fit through a 1-millimeter square. Since microforming was first explored in 1990, several microextrusion processes have been developed and found to be especially valuable in the defense and aerospace industries.

“Taber was originally recognized for our large shapes and now we are establishing ourselves as microextruders. Since we’ve added microextrusions, friction stir welding, and billet casting, we’re pretty much spanning the gamut of aluminum extrusion competence,” says Jason Weber, VP of Sales and Marketing at Taber Extrusions. “We were already well-versed within the defense and aerospace markets but adding miniature aluminum extrusions to our capabilities has allowed us to become a one-stop shop for our customers in those industries. Our diversification has opened the door wide for our customers.”

Three side-by-side images illustrating how strikingly small microextrusions are. Various aluminum profiles are lined up creatively next to measuring rulers.

Taber Extrusions has experienced many evolutions since its founding in the early 1970s. Established in Russellville, AR, Taber pioneered a process for extruding rectangular billet, able to extrude solid profiles up to 31 inches wide or hollows up to 29 inches. Since then, the Gulfport, MS facility was added, which increased Taber’s billet capacity, alloy range, and ability to reuse materials. Within the last decade, fabrication capabilities were upgraded, friction stir welding was added, and of course, microextrusions became an offering.

MICROEXTRUSIONS FOR DEFENSE AND AEROSPACE

For which type of end-use applications are Taber’s microextrusions being utilized?

 

Defense

 

Precision is a must for military, defense, and firearms manufacturing – requiring strength, complexity, and tight tolerances. Aluminum’s high strength-to-weight ratio makes it the ideal material for many defense product applications such as:

 

  • Communications systems
  • Electronics thermal management/enclosures
  • Guidance systems
  • Radar systems
  • Weapons systems
  • Firearms components and accessories
A U.S. Air Force T-38 Talon, British Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon, French Air Force Dessault Rafale, and U.S. Air Force F-22 fly in formation above the clouds on a sunny day.

Aerospace

 

From the Wright brothers to NASA, aluminum has helped make it possible for humans to fly above the Earth onward to explore other galaxies. Aluminum’s minimal maintenance, lightweight with high strength, flexibility at low temperatures, and ability to engineer a wide range of functionality into components, makes it an obvious choice for solutions in aircraft and aerospace.  For the most part, microextrusions function out of site and you’ll never know they are all around you. However, they serve a crucial role in aerospace:

 

  • Interior aircraft systems
  • Supplemental oxygen systems
  • Electrical/Communication Systems
  • Passenger Comfort Systems
  • Coolant radiators
  • Oil coolers
  • Transmission coolers
  • Intercoolers
  • AC condensers
  • Passenger service systems
  • Other fluid/gas systems

As aluminum has played an important role in the defense and aerospace applications for many years, a new generation of aluminum-lithium alloys are offering aircraft manufacturers even more savings when it comes to weight and fuel. Beyond aluminum’s high strength-to-weight ratio and excellent formability, its anticorrosive properties make it a top choice. When aluminum is exposed to air, it forms a hard microscopic oxide coating, sealing it from the environment. This tight oxide bond is a compound not found in nature, but an aluminum alloy created to provide a long-lasting protective solution. These unique properties allow microextrusion manufacturers like Taber Extrusions to furnish extremely strong, precise, and long-lasting miniature extrusions to end users in a wide range of markets.

Taber’s Miniature Extrusion Capabilities

  • Up to 0.8 In2 cross sectional area
  • Special cases down to 0.075 In2
  • Profile circle size up to 3″
  • Minimum wall thickness possible to 0.010” (select cases)
  • Key characteristic tolerances possible ±0.001” (select cases)
: The word “microextrusions” reflects on a metal ruler up to the 4-inch mark, with 3 sizes of square hollow-shaped miniature extrusions lined up against the 1-2-inch marks.

More About Taber Extrusions: 

Founded in 1973, Taber Extrusions originally pioneered a process for extruding rectangular billet which enables the company to extrude solid profiles up to 31 inches wide or hollows up to 29 inches. Taber expanded with the purchase of an extrusion facility in Gulfport, MS, in 1995 which houses a new state-of-the-art cast house and two additional presses, microextrusion capabilities, and the fabrication area has been expanded multiple times.

Taber continues to extrude billet in a wide range of alloys and sizes and has diversified its markets beyond military since its inception to include aerospace, automotive, marine, infrastructure, and sporting goods, among many others. For these markets, the company supplies cast and extruded products in a variety of soft and hard alloys.

Today, Taber Extrusions has completed the addition of in-house friction stir welding capabilities, and carries on their offering of extruded aluminum components, value-added machining services, and raw material supply to the North American market – making them a vertically integrated supplier of FSW panels and assemblies never before seen in North America.

Follow Taber Extrusions

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/8843183/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/taberextrusions/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/taberextrusions

Interested in becoming a part of the Taber Team?  Submit your resume to careers@taberextrusions.com.

Become a customer today! Visit us or request a quote: https://taberextrusions.com or call us at (888) 985-5319.

11 01, 2021

Industries That Use Friction Stir Welding

2021-02-11T20:06:29+00:00January 11th, 2021|

4 photographs: upper left – a high-speed white rail train with a red stripe zooming through a bright train station in a dynamic blur. Upper right – Fincantieri Marinette Marine Littoral Combat Ship plowing through a deep, dark ocean. Lower right – the view from a car roof as it speeds down the expressway towards a beautiful orange sunset. Lower left – A jet airplane high in the air creating stark white contrails against a clear turquoise sky.

Amid the screech of saws cutting through metal, the beeping of forklifts, and the clank of metal components, workers in modern shipyards are producing some of the largest vessels in the world. A similar cacophony of sounds as those heard in a shipyard can be heard around the country in automotive, construction, aerospace, and transportation factories.

Neatly organized assembly line workers with electric drills work on large metallic parts, bigger than the men working on them and resemble pvc pipe connectors with structures inside them. Behind them can be seen boxes with materials and in front of them are large metallic shelves for storage.

Yet, one traditional sound associated with industrial manufacturing may soon go silent: the loud cracking, buzzing, electric sound associated with MIG welding. Sometimes likened to the sound bacon makes while frying, the sounds of MIG welding may eventually come to be completely replaced by the low buzzing of the spinning rotating tool used in Friction Stir Welding (FSW).

As FSW becomes faster and more versatile, more industries than ever are moving toward this type of welding.

The Benefits:

FSW shows its high cast as a modern-form joining operation.

A computer operator wearing blue, noise-canceling headphones with a small microphone attachment, sits working in front of 6 computer monitor stacked three on top of three. Behind the monitor is a large structure, which nose-cone to the Orion spaceship, it appears to be a green cylinder surrounded by white pipes and tubes.

Unlike other forms of welding, FSW can be automated which increases precision and reduces manufacturing times. Manufacturing time is further decreased because FSW only takes one pass to weld metals and because there is no filler material nor melting, eliminating the need for post weld work, such as splatter cleaning.

FSW is also hyper-modern by being more environmentally friendly and less wasteful (it does not have consumable parts) and not producing nauseous gases during the process.

Other benefits of Friction Stir Welding include:

  • Increased strength (High tensile, fatigue & bend properties) ​
  • Improved sealing, completely void-free leak proof joints​
  • Reduced thermal distortion and shrinkage​
  • Improved repeatability​
  • The ability to join two different alloys​
  • Good for welding metals such as aluminum alloys that can be hard to weld
  • Cost effectivity

The top users: Marine and Transportation

Both of these gigantic industries – marine and transportation – incorporate FSW into their manufacturing operations. Public transportation alone has a market size of 75.6 billion dollars[i], and for shipbuilding, without considering the other sectors of the naval industry, the market size is 29 billion.

Other key sectors are also keen on taking advantage of FSW. Below we highlight just one benefit FSW gives each of the following sectors:

Air Transport:

The Benefit: Weight Reduction

The long underbelly of an airplane, which has two undulations for engines, and the landing gear down against a completely white backdrop giving the image a classic black & white feel.

One of the simplest ways to increase efficiency in transport vehicles is by reducing weight. Marine, air, and land transport vehicles are foregoing rivets, clinch nuts, or traditional MIG or TIG welding in their manufacturing processes in favor of FSW which doesn’t add any weight to the structure.

“Weight is one of the biggest challenges to aircraft manufacturers. Using FSW to join aluminum alloy stringers to skins for aircraft wings and fuselage structures will reduce weight by the removal of thousands of rivets, and any overlapping aluminum material. A leading aircraft manufacturer estimated that potential weight savings of approximately 2.2 lbs. per meter of FSW could be made.[i]

Aerospace:

The benefit: Easy welding of hard-to-weld alloys.

Space X’s Falcon 9 Flight 17's first stage attempting a controlled landing on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS) against an early evening sky as the fiery hot gasses are expelled toward the landing pad, creating a misty exhaust.

Some types of difficult-to-weld aluminums can frustrate traditional welding attempts. In addition, joining dissimilar aluminum alloys has always been a challenge due to the different chemical and physical properties of the metal.

Recently, aerospace companies have begun using FSW, a solid-state welding technique, to surpass these limitations. Today, some fuel tanks for spacecraft – made out of hard to weld aluminum alloys – are premanufactured using FSW[i].

Marine Ships:

The benefit: Better production habits, taking advantage of prefabrication, modular building, and assembly lines.

A scene with a backdrop of green hills covered with small shrubs and trees. On a waterway, a large white cruise ship with one smoke stack creates white foam as its hull breaks through the water.

As if a precursor of things to come, the first commercial use of FSW was on ships, specifically on hollow panels used for freezing fish on fishing boats.

Today, many ships use friction stir welded floors, decks, and bulkheads. By using FSW, shipyards reduce the amount of work needed to be done, shifting the work to assembly-line factories[i]. Many parts can be manufactured in production lines improving safety, accuracy, and efficiency. Not only that, the industry can take advantage of the best pre-fab and modular practices that will further decrease production times.

Today’s cruise ships are light weight structures which allow shipbuilders to build taller ships while keeping the center of gravity lower. Designed with all the heavy machinery at the bottom and lightweight aluminum materials at the top makes them inherently stable even as ship designs are getting taller and taller, demonstrating how sufficient safety can be achieved.

Ultimately this translates to one thing: bigger ships mean MORE FUN!

Whether it’s the freighters that carry the goods from our globalized economy, the military vessels that keep our oceans safe, or the cruise-lines that give families unforgettable vacations, all these sectors are seeing cost and efficiency saving with FSW.

Trains:

The benefit: Safety

a long, white high speed train with orange trim at the bottom. The train disappears into the distance as it rests at an empty platform with tile floors and a metal roof with a long row of lights and a skylight running down the middle on the roof.

This industry in particular has honed in on the advantages FSW offers in crash safety. FSW is the best welding process for creating safe designs:

“Modern passenger rail cars are increasingly produced from longitudinal aluminium extrusions with integrated stiffeners.

This design approach can enhance the crashworthiness of vehicles […] Large aluminum extrusions with complicated shapes are [being used].[i]

Freight Trailers:

The benefit: Stability

Underneath a fiery red sky, a blue lorry and trailer travel along a paved highway road followed by a car while on the other side of the double yellow line, two empty lanes extend off into the distance.

Anyone traveling behind an 18-wheeler on highways knows just how the wind and road shakes the trailers. By using FSW on the floorboard of their trailers, some freight companies argue that their trailers have become more stable than ever. “The aluminum extrusions become one at the molecular level, making the floor a single-piece of rigid aluminum.[i]” The end result? Less wear on the tires and better fuel mileage.

Other industries:

Other industries taking advantage of friction stir welding include the automotive, construction, and defense industries, among others. It has even been incorporated to make stronger snowmobiles and lighter coolant systems.

The strong, lightweight welds that can be used on hard-to-weld alloys have every industry that uses aluminum and aluminum extrusions looking to gain a competitive advantage.

Companies that have specialized in aluminum and aluminum extrusions are the front line for delivering FSW benefits to customers. For more information, please visit Taber Extrusions. With a long tradition of proving aluminum and aluminum extrusion solutions, Taber Extrusions provides companies all the advantages of FSW in one location.

Industries Served by Taber Extrusions:

 

  • Distributors
  • Government | Military Contracts | Department of Defense
  • Aircraft | Aerospace
  • Marine | Shipbuilding
  • Infrastructure | Platforms | Decking
  • Electrical | Power Transmission | Electronics
  • Transportation
  • Sporting Goods
  • Industrial, Agricultural, and Mining Equipment
  • Structural Components
  • Specialty Architectural

About Taber Extrusions: 

Founded in 1973, Taber Extrusions originally pioneered a process for extruding rectangular billet which enables the company to extrude solid profiles up to 31 inches wide or hollows up to 29 inches. Taber expanded with the purchase of an extrusion facility in Gulfport, MS., in 1995 which houses a new state of the art cast house and two additional presses, micro-extrusion capabilities, and the fabrication area has been expanded multiple times.

Taber continues to extrude billet in a wide range of alloys and sizes, and has diversified its markets beyond military since its inception to include aerospace, automotive, marine, infrastructure, and sporting goods, among many others. For these markets, the company supplies cast and extruded products in a variety of soft and hard alloys.

Today, Taber Extrusions has completed the addition of in-house Friction Stir Welding capabilities, and carries on their offering of extruded aluminum components, value-added machining services and raw material supply to the North American market – making them a vertically integrated supplier of FSW panels and assemblies never before seen in North America.

Follow Taber Extrusions

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/8843183/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/taberextrusions/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/taberextrusions

Interested in becoming a part of the Taber Team?  Submit your resume to careers@taberextrusions.com.

Become a customer today! Visit us or request a quote: https://taberextrusions.com or call us at (888) 985-5319.

 

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i https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/market-size/public-transportation-united-states

ii https://www.twi-global.com/who-we-are/who-we-work-with/industry-sectors/aerospace/joining-of-airframe-structures/friction-stir-welding-of-airframe-structures

iii https://www.twi-global.com/technical-knowledge/published-papers/industrialisation-of-friction-stir-welding-for-aerospace-structures-december-2001

iv https://www.twi-global.com/who-we-are/who-we-work-with/industry-sectors/aerospace/joining-of-airframe-structures/friction-stir-welding-of-airframe-structures

v https://www.twi-global.com/technical-knowledge/published-papers/creating-a-stir-in-the-rail-industry-november-2001

vi https://www.ttnews.com/articles/fontaine-brings-friction-stir-welding-revolution-trailer

 

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17 02, 2020

Taber: Advanced Friction Stir Welding Capabilities

2020-02-17T19:42:22+00:00February 17th, 2020|

Something big is happening at Taber: Friction Stir Welding has been added to their already extensive portfolio of capabilities. #TheShapeOfEndlessPossibilitiies #Taber #Aluminum Extrusions #FSW

12 09, 2019

What is Friction Stir Welding?

2019-09-12T18:36:18+00:00September 12th, 2019|

This image depicts a friction stir-welding machine joining two large, cylindrical aerospace vehicle components.

What is friction stir welding?

As the name suggests, “friction stir welding” (FSW) is a metal joining technique that uses friction heat to unite metal structures. In traditional welding, high levels of heat are applied thereby melting two metal parts into one another. By contrast, FSW is a solid-state joining technique that takes advantage of metal atom’s cohesive forces that cause them to diffuse into each other. The friction generates temperatures below the melting point, but high enough where the plasticized material can move around.

How does friction stir welding work?

The key in FSW is the non-consumable rotating tool. The tool, that looks similar to a drill bit, is made up of two components: a probe, a small cylinder which will penetrate into the width of the metals at their joint; and a shoulder, a larger cylinder which will spin along the surface of the metal pieces. The rotating tool supplies both the heat and the pressure needed for the weld.

The metal pieces are clamped tightly in a butt or lap joint configuration, and the mechanical rotating tool is programmed to run along the joint. The spinning tool inserted between the tightly clamped metal creates enough friction heat for the atoms of the two metals to move around. The plasticized metal moves around the probe and then fills the cavity behind the tool before coalescing into a single piece of metal.

Close up image of the drill bit-like rotating tool on a friction-stir welding machine.

What are the advantages of friction stir welding’s solid state joining for aerospace, shipbuilding, rail, aerospace, automotive industries?

There are various advantages to using FSW for metal joining:

  1. Flexibility: FSW allows efficient welding for difficult projects. FSW can be used on high-strength aluminum that can be difficult to join using conventional welding. Companies such as Taber use FSW to create aluminum extrusions in a wide array of profiles and sizes ranging from micro extrusions to 65-foot long extrusions.
  2. High strength welds: Traditional welding can introduce corruption into metals during the welding process, as it can manifest solidification cracks and porosity problems. Solid-state joining creates joints that are as strong as the metal from which they are created and are a good choice for high-strength aluminum.
  3. High quality welds: Characteristics of FSW welded metal include low distortion, reduced weight (no filler material), and excellent bonding properties.
  4. Green welding: Traditional welding consumes electrodes, energy, shielding gas, and produces noxious fumes. FSW with its non-consumable rotation tool eliminates waste.

Limitations of friction stir welding for metal joining:

The FSW spin tool must resist heat and corrosion as it moves the metal around it. Therefore, FSW best works with malleable materials with low welding temperatures.

Four, large cross-sectional profiles of aluminum parts with different patterns, shapes, and widths, and underneath an aluminum tablet with micro-aluminum profiles.

Therefore, aluminum continues to be one of the most important metals used in FSW. Aerospace, shipbuilding, rail, aerospace, automotive industries all look to aluminum FSW for high-precision aluminum extrusions and aluminum welds of high strength and quality. Aluminum FSW is particularly important because high-strength aluminum can be difficult to join using traditional methods and FSW precision allows almost infinite variety in shape and size in aluminum extrusions.

More on Taber Extrusions 

Founded in 1973, Taber Extrusions originally pioneered a process for extruding rectangular billets which enables the company to extrude solid profiles up to 31 inches wide or hollows up to 29 inches. Taber expanded with the purchase of an extrusion facility in Gulfport, MS in 1995 which houses a cast house and two additional presses, with a fabrication area that has been expanded multiple times. Besides their recently expanded capabilities to include micro-extrusions and 7” billet molds, Taber Extrusions is proud to announce friction stir-welding technology. The addition of in-house FSW capabilities creates a vertically integrated supplier of FSW panels and assemblies never before seen in North America.

Connect: Call Us Today! (888) 984-5279

15 05, 2018

Hard and Soft Alloys for Aerospace and Firearms

2018-05-22T17:21:02+00:00May 15th, 2018|

Inside Taber Extrusion’s new state-of-the-art casthouse, aluminum billets are cast and extruded into a wide range of shapes and sizes.  Taber offers the full range of aluminum alloys, including, hard, soft, marine, and armor grade, a unique capability in the industry.

Taber’s capabilities allow the company to serve several industries, including aerospace and firearms. The hard alloys that are created are ideal for these industries due to their high strength and corrosion resistance.

Taber serves both relatively small and large firearm manufacturers, establishing unique profiles for each customer. Customers have the option of requesting custom shapes with unique specifications or purchasing from  Taber’s existing inventory.

To highlight some of the company’s services: Taber offers custom extrusions to be used in the manufacturing of AR-15 variant rifles.  The aluminum alloys used for these shapes are the same as those used in military grade jets. Taber can provide both oversized extrusions as well as shapated that are as small as 1 millimeter for manufacturing firearms.

Taber’s resumé includes service to all the major aerospace manufacturers in the U.S. The extruded shapes provided by Taber are used for important components of aerospace vehicles, including the fuselage/pressure cabin, seat/cargo tracks, lower and upper horizontal stabilization, and upper and lower wing skin/spars/stringers.  Another unique service offered by Taber, that is applicable to the aerospace industry, is large press, hard alloy extrusions.

With unique capabilities and decades of experience, Taber is the go-to company for all of your extrusion needs.

Contact Taber today: (888)-985-0763.

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