| US 7,568,608 B1 | ||
| Ultrasonic stir welding process and apparatus | ||
| R. Jeffrey Ding, Harvest, Ala. (US) | ||
| Assigned to The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C. (US) | ||
| Filed on Jan. 29, 2007, as Appl. No. 11/700,972. | ||
| Application 11/700972 is a division of application No. 10/928877, filed on Aug. 20, 2004, abandoned. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/525110, filed on Nov. 25, 2003. | ||
| Int. Cl. B23K 1/06 (2006.01); B23K 20/12 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 228—110.1 [228/112.1; 228/1.1; 228/2.1] | 15 Claims |
| 1. A method of welding comprising:
providing a rotatable pin located on a distal end of a shaft having a rotation axis,
a motor assembly operably coupled to the shaft, said motor assembly imparting rotation to the shaft about the rotation axis;
a shoulder located proximal of a distal end of the pin; and
an ultrasonic heater located proximate to the pin;
providing two metal work pieces adjacent to one another;
activating the ultrasonic heater wherein the ultrasonic heater provides sufficient energy to ultrasonically weld the two metal
workpieces to provide a metal weld independent of heat provided by rotation of the pin; and simultaneously rotating the pin
to stir the metal weld.
|