The Vanderbilt University Welding Automation Lab (VUWAL) conducts research in areas pertaining to welding and robotics. Currently research focuses on friction stir welding.
Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid-state welding technique patented by TWI in 1991. Its use is becoming more and more prevalent in aerospace, rail, automotive, and naval applications.
Friction stir welding research at VUWAL focuses on process optimization for manufacturing and automation. Specific FSW research topics at VUWAL include seam-tracking, torque and force based feedback control methods, variable penetration tools, counter-rotating shoulder tools, FSW of metal-matrix composites, FSW of magnesium alloys, FSW of dissimilar metals, underwater FSW, FSW with heating, FSW of pipes and hemispheres, FSW of blind T-joints, friction stir spot welding (FSSW), and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling of the FSW process.