JP2023063788A - Friction stir welding device, friction stir welding method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a friction stir welding device with high credibility that suppresses decentration to RS (retreating side) due to rotational deflection of a welding tool, and can advance the welding tool according to a welding line with good accuracy.SOLUTION: A friction stir welding device, which inserts a welding tool in a component to be welded while rotating the same at a target rotational speed, softens an insertion part or the vicinity of the component to be welded, advances the welding tool and solid phase-welds the component to be welded, comprises a rotational vibration suppression mechanism that presses RS (retreating side) of a main spindle housing via an advancement auxiliary member without interfering with advancement of the welding tool and continuously restricts a working range in a lateral direction of the main spindle housing with respect to a welding direction when the welding device solid phase-welds the component to be welded while advancing in the welding direction, thereby suppressing meandering due to rotational deflection.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2B

Description

The present invention relates to the configuration and control of a friction stir welding apparatus that joins members to be joined by friction stir welding, and is particularly applicable to the joining of members to be joined that require high-quality (high-precision) joining. Regarding effective technology.

Friction Stir Welding (FSW), in which the materials to be welded are joined together by softening the materials to be welded by the frictional heat generated by rotating a cylindrical welding tool and stirring the softened part, is Because it does not use any raw material, it has high fatigue strength, and since the material does not melt, it is possible to join with less welding deformation (distortion).

As a background art of this technical field, there is a technique such as Patent Document 1, for example. In Patent Document 1, "a pressing motor (corresponding to the Z-axis vertical movement drive motor 16 of the present application) and a stirring motor (corresponding to the main shaft motor 14 of the present application) are provided, and the stirring motor and the pin are provided at the tip. In a friction stir spot welding apparatus in which a welding tool whose rear end is connected to the output shaft side of a stirring motor is arranged on the same axis, a ball nut is fixed to the rear end side of the stirring motor and an LM guide is attached. a guide rail along which the LM guide moves is provided at a position close to the stirring motor in the axial direction; A friction stir spot welding device in which a ball screw is arranged in the body, the rotational force of the pressing motor is transmitted to the ball screw, and the stirring motor is moved forward and backward by a ball nut screwed with the ball screw. disclosed.

According to Patent Literature 1, the eccentricity of the LM guide and the stirring motor is reduced to suppress vibrations, thereby facilitating the joining operation.

JP 2005-211989 A

In the welding step of friction stir welding, it is necessary to proceed faithfully along the welding line in order to maintain a high-quality welded state. However, when the welding tool is inserted into the members to be welded while being rotated at the target rotational speed, and the members to be welded are solid-phase welded by plastic working, the friction stir welding apparatus receives a reaction force due to the deformation resistance of the members to be welded. Become.

The higher the strength of the member to be welded, the greater the reaction force, and the effect is more pronounced than that of a fixed installation type friction stir welding device such as a machine tool. The splicing device is larger. This is because the robot-type friction stir welding apparatus has low rigidity and is easily shaken.

Friction stir welding equipment generates eccentric rotational vibration (eccentric force) due to the action of the movement advancing in the welding direction and the rotating movement of the welding tool when receiving a reaction force due to deformation resistance when friction stirring the members to be welded. Sometimes. This eccentric force is greater than AS (Advancing Side) where the rotational direction of the welding tool and the welding direction are the same as RS (Retreating Side) where the welding direction is opposite to the rotational direction of the welding tool. , the welding tool is eccentric to RS. This eccentric rotational vibration (eccentric force) causes meandering due to rotational shake. In friction stir welding equipment, it is important to suppress meandering due to this rotational shake in order to maintain high-precision welding quality.

However, in the method of performing solid-phase welding of members to be welded using the welding tool disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is not possible to reliably suppress meandering due to rotational shake of the welding tool.

In particular, in a robot-type friction stir welding apparatus in which a welding unit including a welding tool is attached to the tip of an arm of an articulated robot, rotational vibration of the welding tool is more pronounced, and it is extremely difficult to suppress meandering due to rotational vibration. .

In addition, in the robot friction stir welding apparatus, the rotational reaction force generated when the welding tool rotates at the target rotational speed also affects the robot arm. cannot be suppressed.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable friction stir welding apparatus capable of suppressing eccentricity to the RS (retreating side) due to rotational vibration of the welding tool and advancing the welding tool along the welding line with high accuracy. An object of the present invention is to provide a friction stir welding method.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention inserts a welding tool into a member to be welded to a target depth while rotating at a target rotational speed, softens an insertion portion of the member to be welded and its vicinity, and moves the welding tool. A friction stir welding apparatus for performing solid-phase welding of the members to be welded by advancing the welding tool, wherein the welding tool advances in the welding direction to solid-phase weld the members to be welded. Rotation by pressing the RS (retreating side) of the spindle housing through an auxiliary member to continuously limit the range of lateral movement of the spindle housing with respect to the welding direction without impeding the progress of the welding tool. It is characterized by comprising a rotational vibration suppressing mechanism that suppresses meandering due to shaking.

The present invention also provides a friction stir welding method for performing solid phase welding of members to be welded using the above-described friction stir welding apparatus, wherein the welding tool is used to perform solid phase welding of the members to be welded. an inserting step of inserting the tool to the target depth while rotating at the target rotational speed; a heat input step of continuously rotating the welding tool without advancing until the joint reaches the target heat input state; and a guide receiving step. The members come into contact with the guide member, the welding tool is rotated at the target rotation speed, and while the guide member suppresses rotational shake due to eccentric force in the direction of the guide member, from the welding start position to the welding end position in the welding direction. and a withdrawal step of withdrawing the welding tool from the members to be welded when the welding tool has advanced to the welding end position.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a highly reliable friction stir welding apparatus capable of suppressing eccentricity to RS (retreating side) due to rotation blurring of the welding tool and advancing the welding tool along the welding line with high accuracy, and friction stir welding. A joining method can be realized.

This enables high-quality (high-precision) friction stir welding of the members to be welded.

Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will be clarified by the following description of the embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a figure which shows the whole outline|summary of the robot-type friction stir welding apparatus which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. FIG. 2 is a side view of the friction stir welding unit 18 of FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a front view of the friction stir welding unit 18 of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a diagram conceptually showing the relationship between a spindle motor load factor and a tool insertion operation; 2B is a top view of the guide receiving member 24 of FIGS. 2A and 2B; FIG. 4B is a side view of FIG. 4A; FIG. It is a modification of FIG. 4A. (Modification 1) It is a modification of FIG. 4B. (Modification 2) 4 is a diagram showing an example of a positional relationship between a guide member 23 and a guide receiving member 24; FIG. FIG. 8 is a top view of a guide receiving member 24 according to Example 2 of the present invention; 6B is a side view of FIG. 6A; FIG. It is a modification of FIG. 6B. (Modification 3) FIG. 11 is a top view of a guide receiving member 24 according to Example 3 of the present invention; 7B is a side view of FIG. 7A; FIG. It is a modification of FIG. 7B. (Modification 4) FIG. 11 is a side view of a guide receiving member 24 according to Example 4 of the present invention;

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, in each drawing, the same configurations are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptions of overlapping portions are omitted.

In addition, the term "pressing" described below is not necessarily limited to pressing with a certain pressure, and the guide member is fixed at a predetermined place and is pushed to RS (retreating side) due to rotational shake of the welding tool. It also includes acting (guiding) so as to suppress the eccentricity of.

A configuration and control of a friction stir welding apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall outline of a robot-type friction stir welding apparatus according to this embodiment. 2A is a side view of the friction stir welding unit 18 of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a front view of the friction stir welding unit 18 of FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram conceptually showing the relationship between the spindle motor load factor and the tool insertion operation. 4A is a top view of the guide receiving member 24 of FIGS. 2A and 2B, and FIG. 4B is a side view of FIG. 4A. FIG. 4C is a modification (modification 1) of FIG. 4A, and FIG. 4D is a modification (modification 2) of FIG. 4B. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the positional relationship between the guide member 23 and the guide receiving member 24. As shown in FIG.

The robot-type friction stir welding apparatus 1 of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. ing.

The articulated robot arm 2 is a vertical articulated robot generally called a "robot arm", and can freely operate (move) in three-dimensional space by means of an articulated structure and servo motors. Although the movable range changes depending on the number of joints (the number of axes), here, a multi-axis type multi-joint having a leg portion 2b, a lower arm portion 2c, an upper arm portion 2d, and wrist portions 2e, 2f, and 2g on a pedestal portion 2a. An example of a robotic arm is shown.

A friction stir welding unit 18 is connected to the distal end of the wrist portion 2g of the articulated robot arm 2 .

As shown in FIG. 2A, the friction stir welding unit 18 includes a Z-axis vertical motion drive mechanism 3 having a Z-axis vertical motion drive motor 16 and a Z-axis vertical motion drive motor 16 (Z-axis A spindle 15 and a spindle housing 17 attached to the vertical motion drive mechanism 3), a tool holder (bonding head) 5 arranged inside the spindle housing 17, and a welding tool supported by the tool holder (bonding head) 5 6 and a spindle motor 14 indirectly connected to the welding tool 6 to rotate the welding tool 6 at a predetermined number of revolutions.

The main shaft motor 14 is rotated at a predetermined rotational speed to generate a rotational force. (pulley or the like) 19 and a connecting means (belt or the like) 21 that connects the driving side rotating body 20 and the driven side rotating body 19 to each other. directly transmitted to the welding tool 6 .

As shown in FIG. 2A, for example, a ball screw, a linear guide, or the like is used for the Z-axis vertical motion drive mechanism 3, and a Z-axis vertical motion drive motor 16 drives the wrist portion 2g (main shaft support) of the articulated robot arm 2. The main shaft 15 can be driven in the Z-axis direction (vertical direction) with respect to the portion 4).

The joining tool 6 is composed of a shoulder portion 7 and a probe portion (joining pin) 8 , and is indirectly connected to the spindle motor 14 via a driven side rotating body 19 , a driving side rotating body 20 and a joining means 21 . A spindle motor 14 rotates the welding tool 6 in a predetermined direction.

The articulated robot arm 2 supports the main shaft support portion 4, the main shaft 15, and the main shaft housing 17 via the Z-axis vertical movement drive mechanism 3. ) 11, a drive signal is applied to the Z-axis vertical drive motor 16 and the main shaft motor 14 to drive the main shaft 15 in the Z-axis direction (vertical direction) and rotate the welding tool 6 to advance along the welding line. That is, the articulated robot arm 2 holds the main shaft support 4, the main shaft 15, and the tool holder (joining head) 5, rotates the joining tool 6, and moves the joining tool 6 in the X-axis direction in FIG. Let

While rotating the welding tool 6 at a predetermined number of rotations, the shoulder portion 7 and the probe portion 8 are pressed onto the bonding line of the surfaces of the members to be welded 9 (9a, 9b) placed on the mounting table 10 to generate frictional heat. is generated to soften the member to be welded 9, the shoulder portion 7 and the probe portion 8 are inserted into the member to be welded 9 by the required amount, and the number of rotations is maintained to generate plastic flow and stir the insertion portion. . By pulling out or moving the welding tool 6, the stirring portion (joining portion) is cooled, and the members 9 to be joined are joined.

The shoulder portion 7 and the probe portion (joining pin) 8 may be the same joining tool (that is, only the shoulder without the probe), or even if the shoulder portion 7 does not rotate. good.

FIG. 1 shows an example in which the articulated robot arm 2 and the mounting table 10 are installed on the same pedestal 12 and the legs 13 of the pedestal. You can install it.

The robot-type friction stir welding apparatus 1 includes a control unit (control device) 11 containing a motor controller, a CPU unit, and the like. It comprehensively controls the movement of the arm 2 and the welding conditions of the friction stir welding unit.

A control unit (control device) 11 outputs a welding condition signal for determining the welding condition of the welding tool 6 and a vertical (Z direction) holding position of the welding tool 6 by the Z-axis vertical movement drive mechanism 3 (insertion position of the welding pin 8). A storage unit (not shown) for storing bonding parameters (FSW bonding conditions) such as a holding position determination signal for determining the amount) is provided.

Note that the control unit 11 may be built in, for example, the pedestal 2a of the articulated robot arm 2, or may be configured separately from the articulated robot arm 2 as a control device as shown in FIG. Further, the control section of the friction stir welding unit may be shared with the control section of the articulated robot arm 2, or may be configured separately.

Here, the robot-type friction stir welding apparatus 1 of this embodiment is configured to include a rotational vibration suppressing mechanism. The rotational vibration suppressing mechanism presses the RS (retreating side) of the spindle housing 17 to move it in the welding direction from when the welding tool 6 starts solid phase welding of the workpiece 9 until it finishes solid phase welding. By limiting the lateral movement range of the welding tool 6, eccentricity to the RS (retreating side) due to rotational shake of the welding tool 6 is suppressed.

As described above, the eccentric force generated in the welding tool 6 causes the rotating direction of the welding tool 6 and the welding direction to be opposite from the AS (Advancing Side) where the rotating direction of the welding tool 6 and the welding direction are the same. It greatly acts on the RS (Retreating Side), and the welding tool 6 is eccentric to the RS. Therefore, of the AS (advancing side) and RS (retreating side) of the spindle housing 17, only the RS (retreating side) needs to be pressed.

2A and 2B show a schematic configuration of the rotational vibration suppressing mechanism.

The rotational vibration suppressing mechanism includes a guide receiving member 24 attached to a spindle housing 17 that accommodates a spindle 15 that rotates the welding tool 6, and a guide support that is arranged on the mounting surface of a mounting table 10 on which the workpiece 9 is mounted. The guide receiving member 24 is supported by the member 22 and the guide supporting member 22 so that at the target depth, at least a part of the side surface of the guide receiving member 24 and the position in the vertical direction from the mounting surface are the same. and a guide member 23 arranged on the RS (retreating side) of.

The target depth is determined by the welding conditions of the members to be welded 9 (the material and thickness of the members to be welded 9). , it is possible to obtain high-quality joining accuracy.

Rotational blurring occurs in the welding tool 6, the spindle 15, and the spindle housing 17 as well. Therefore, by suppressing rotational shake of the spindle housing 17, it is possible to suppress rotational shake of the spindle 15 and the welding tool 6 as well.

In the rotation vibration suppressing mechanism, the guide receiving member 24 attached to the spindle housing 17 and the welding tool 6 are mounted on the spindle housing 17 from the position where the welding tool 6 is inserted by the insertion step, that is, the welding start position, which is the welding start position, to the welding step end position. 6 is inserted to the target depth and the guide member 23 engaged with the guide receiving member 24 presses the RS (retreating side) of the spindle housing 17 to limit the lateral movement range of the spindle housing 17. to suppress rotational shake.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the guide receiving member 24 is configured by attaching, for example, a sliding member 26 to a spindle housing 17 that accommodates the spindle 15 .

4A, the guide receiving member 24 may be arranged on the entire outer circumference of the spindle housing 17 at a position where it engages with the guide member 23, or as shown in FIG. (retreating side) may be placed only partly.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, on the RS (Retreating Side) where the eccentric force of the joining tool 6 (joining pin 8) is greater, the guide receiving member 24 and the guide member 23 are kept in contact with each other. , the guide receiving member 24 and the corresponding guide member 23 are brought into contact when the joining tool 6 (joining pin 8) is inserted to the target depth.

On the other hand, on the AS (Advancing Side), the guide member 23 is not provided in order to smoothly insert the joining tool 6 (joining pin 8) in the insertion step.

The contact portion between the guide receiving member 24 and the guide member 23 is configured as follows so as not to hinder the movement of the welding tool 6 even if they come into contact with each other.

At the portion where the guide receiving member 24 and the guide member 23 contact each other, an advancement assisting member is attached to either the guide receiving member 24 or the guide member 23 to assist the advancement of the welding tool 6 . As the movement assisting member, a sliding member processed to slip is attached to the contact portion between the guide receiving member 24 and the guide member 23 to reduce the coefficient of friction so as to slip, or a rotatable rotating member is attached.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, a sliding member 26 is attached to the outer peripheral portion of the spindle housing 17 as a movement assisting member. Other configuration examples such as a rotatable rotating body will be described later in the second embodiment.

The guide receiving member 24 has a sliding body having a sliding surface whose outer side surface is slip-processed so that it slips when it comes into contact with the guide member 23. A sliding body is attached to a part of the outer peripheral portion of the spindle housing 17 or so as to surround the entire circumference. to constitute a movement assisting member. The contacting portions of the guide receiving member 24 and the guide member 23 are flattened or curved.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 4D, it is also possible to perform step processing on the spindle housing 17 and attach the sliding member 26 to the stepped portion.

Alternatively, the spindle housing 17 may be directly subjected to the sliding process without attaching the sliding member 26 to the spindle housing 17 .

Further, instead of attaching the sliding member 26 to the spindle housing 17 side, it is also possible to provide the sliding member 26 or the sliding processing to the guide member 23 side. The guide member 23 has a sliding surface formed by slip processing at least from the welding start position to the welding end position of the welding tool 6 on the side surface of the guide member 23 on the side of the guide receiving member 24 so that the guide member 23 slips when it contacts the guide receiving member 24 . A slide body having a structure is attached to constitute a movement assisting member.

The portion of the guide receiving member 24 that contacts the guide member 23 is flattened or curved.

Next, the relationship between the spindle motor load factor and the tool insertion operation will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the welding tool position is related to the load factor of the spindle motor 14 .

When the probe portion (joining pin) 8 is brought into contact with the member 9 to be joined and the insertion of the joining tool 6 is started, the load factor of the spindle motor 14 increases as the position of the joining tool becomes deeper.

When the shoulder portion 7 contacts the workpiece 9 while the welding tool 6 is being inserted, the rate of increase in the load factor of the spindle motor 14 temporarily decreases. The rate of increase in load factor rises again.

When the welding tool 6 reaches the target load factor or the target welding tool position when the welding tool 6 is inserted, the welding tool 6 insertion process is terminated, and the welding tool 6 is rotated for a certain period of time while the welding tool position is fixed. An input heat treatment is performed on the members to be joined 9 .

After that, the members to be welded 9 are subjected to friction stir welding. During the friction stir welding process, the driving of the spindle motor 14 and the Z-axis vertical movement drive motor 16 is controlled so that both the spindle motor load factor and the welding tool position are held at constant values (target values).

When the welding tool 6 is pulled out when the friction stir welding process ends, the load factor of the spindle motor 14 decreases as the welding tool position becomes shallower.

Here, with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5, the operation of the friction stir welding apparatus equipped with the rotational vibration suppressing mechanism of the present embodiment described above will be described.

First, in the inserting step, the welding tool 6 is inserted as follows.

While rotating the main shaft 15 at the target rotation speed, the guide receiving member 24 moves downward so as not to interfere with the guide member 23 and is inserted into the welding start position of the member 9 to be welded. The welding tool 6 is inserted by moving the spindle 15 downward until the welding tool 6 reaches the target depth. When the welding tool 6 reaches the target depth in the member 9 to be welded, the descending movement of the main shaft 15 is stopped.

At this point, if a reaction force due to deformation resistance is generated in the joined member 9, the guide receiving member 24 and the guide member 23 will come into contact with each other at RS due to the eccentric force. On the other hand, since the guide member 23 is not arranged in the AS, the guide receiving member 24 does not come into contact with the guide member 23 .

Before the welding tool 6 contacts the surfaces of the members 9 to be welded, the main shaft 15 may be moved in the RS direction to position the guide receiving member 24 and the guide member 23 in contact with each other.

In the heat input step, the welding tool 6 is rotated at a target rotational speed until the desired heat input state is achieved at the position where the welding tool 6 was inserted in the insertion step.

In the joining step, the joining tool 6 is advanced and joined as follows.

The guide receiving member 24 comes into contact with the guide member 23, and while the guide member 23 presses the guide receiving member 24, it advances in the bonding direction while rotating at the target rotational speed.

Since the eccentric force is greater on the RS (retreating side) of the spindle housing 17, this state is normally maintained to suppress rotational blurring of RS, and even if the eccentric force increases on RS, horizontal rotational blurring is prevented. will be suppressed.

In other words, when the RS (retreating side) has a large eccentric force, the guide member 23 suppresses lateral rotational shake of the main shaft 15, thereby suppressing meandering of the welding tool 6. FIG. This state is continued from the welding start position to the welding end position of the welding tool 6 to suppress meandering of the welding tool due to rotational shake in the welding step.

In the removing (pulling out) step, the welding tool 6 is pulled out from the member 9 to be welded after the welding step is completed.

As described above, eccentricity to the RS (retreating side) due to rotational shake of the welding tool 6 can be suppressed, and high-precision welding quality can be ensured.

As shown in FIG. 2B, by fixing the member to be welded 9 to the mounting table 10 by the member clamp 25, the member to be welded 9 is prevented from being displaced during the friction stir welding, and the friction stir welding can be performed with higher accuracy. It can be carried out.

A friction stir welding apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6A to 6C. This embodiment uses a bearing instead of the sliding member 26 described in the first embodiment.

6A is a top view of the guide receiving member 24 of this embodiment, and FIG. 6B is a side view of FIG. 6A. FIG. 6C is a modification (modification 3) of FIG. 6B.

The guide receiving member 24 is configured by attaching a rotatable annular body so as to surround the outer peripheral portion of the spindle housing 17 so as to rotate when it comes into contact with the guide member 23 . The contacting portions of the guide receiving member 24 and the guide member 23 are flattened or curved.

The annular body is composed of a member fixedly attached to the spindle housing 17 and a rotating member rotatable in the joining direction of the joining tool by a bearing.

In addition, since the outer peripheral portion of the bearing (advancement assisting member 27) that abuts against the guide member 23 is configured to be replaceable, it is not necessary to replace the entire bearing when the outer peripheral portion of the bearing is worn. You get the benefits.

Also in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6C, the spindle housing 17 can be stepped and the bearing can be attached to the stepped portion.

A friction stir welding apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 7A to 7C. This embodiment is an embodiment using a trackball type rotating body instead of the bearing described in the second embodiment.

7A is a top view of the guide receiving member 24 of this embodiment, and FIG. 7B is a side view of FIG. 7A. FIG. 7C is a modification (modification 4) of FIG. 7B.

The guide receiving member 24 is formed by attaching at least one rotatable trackball type rotator to a contact portion with the guide member 23 on the outer peripheral portion of the spindle housing 17 so as to rotate when it comes into contact with the guide member 23 . configure.

A portion of the guide member 23 that contacts the trackball-type rotator is flattened or curved.

Further, instead of attaching the trackball type rotor to the spindle housing 17 side, it is also possible to provide the trackball type rotor to the guide member 23 side. The guide member 23 is provided with a rotatable trackball-type rotator on the side surface of the guide member 23 on the side of the guide receiving member so that it rotates when it comes into contact with the guide receiving member 24. A plurality of pieces are attached at predetermined intervals up to and constitute a movement assisting member.

The interval at which the trackball type rotors are attached is set by performing test welding or the like before starting the actual operation of the friction stir welding apparatus.

Note that the trackball-type rotator may be placed at a position where it abuts against the guide member 23, and may be installed at two locations, for example. When changing the direction of travel at right angles without changing the direction of the spindle housing 17, it is desirable to install them at four or more locations on the top, bottom, left, and right. is also necessary.

A friction stir welding apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. This embodiment is an embodiment in which the vicinity of the tip of the spindle 15 and the spindle housing 17 is covered with a cap-shaped guide receiving member 24, and the configuration described in the first to third embodiments is applied to the vicinity of the tip that abuts on the guide member 23. be.

Since it is assumed that the portion of the guide receiving member 24 that abuts on the guide member 23 will be heavily worn, the vicinity of the leading end of the main shaft 15 and the main shaft housing 17 is covered with the cap-shaped guide receiving member 24 (advance assisting member 27). By doing so, it can be replaced with one touch. Since the advance assist member 27 is a consumable item, attaching the advance assist member 27 to the guide receiving member 24 facilitates replacement work.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the described configurations. In addition, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, and it is also possible to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. Moreover, it is possible to add, delete, or replace a part of the configuration of each embodiment with another configuration.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Robotic friction stir welding apparatus, 2... Articulated robot arm, 2a... Base part, 2b... Leg part, 2c... Lower arm part, 2d... Upper arm part, 2e, 2f, 2g... Wrist part, 3... Z-axis Vertical motion driving mechanism 4 Main shaft support 5 Tool holder (joining head) 6 Joining tool 7 Shoulder 8 Probe (joining pin) 9, 9a, 9b Members to be joined DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Mounting base 11... Control part (control apparatus) 12... Base 13... Leg part of a base 14... Spindle motor 15... Main shaft 16... Z-axis vertical motion drive motor 17... Main shaft housing 18... Friction stir welding unit 19 driven side rotating body (pulley) 20 driving side rotating body (pulley) 21 joining means (belt) 22 guide support member 23 guide member 24 guide receiving member 25... Member clamp, 26... Sliding member, 27... Advance assisting member, 28... Track ball.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention inserts a welding tool into a member to be welded to a target depth while rotating at a target rotational speed, softens an insertion portion of the member to be welded and its vicinity, and moves the welding tool. A friction stir welding apparatus for performing solid-phase welding of the members to be welded by advancing the welding tool, wherein the welding tool advances in the welding direction to solid-phase weld the members to be welded. Without interfering with the movement of the welding tool via an auxiliary member, the RS (retreating side) of the spindle housing where the rotation direction of the welding tool and the welding direction are opposite to each other is pressed to press the spindle housing against the welding direction. It is characterized by comprising a rotational vibration suppressing mechanism that suppresses meandering due to rotational shake by continuously limiting the range of motion in the lateral direction.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention inserts a welding tool into a member to be welded to a target depth while rotating at a target rotational speed, softens an insertion portion of the member to be welded and its vicinity, and moves the welding tool. A friction stir welding apparatus for performing solid-phase welding of the members to be welded by advancing the welding tool, wherein the welding tool advances in the welding direction to solid-phase weld the members to be welded. Without interfering with the movement of the welding tool via an auxiliary member, the RS (retreating side) of the spindle housing where the rotation direction of the welding tool and the welding direction are opposite to each other is pressed to press the spindle housing against the welding direction. A rotation vibration suppression mechanism for suppressing meandering due to rotational shake is provided by continuously limiting the lateral movement range , and the rotation vibration suppression mechanism is attached to a spindle housing that accommodates the spindle that rotates the welding tool. a guide receiving member, a guide supporting member fixedly arranged to the RS of the welding tool on a mounting surface of a mounting table on which the member to be welded is mounted, and at least the guide at the target depth supported by the guide supporting member solid-phase welding from a starting position indicating a position where the welding tool starts solid-phase welding of the member to be welded in an engaged state in which a portion of the side surface of the receiving member and the position in the vertical direction from the mounting surface are the same; a guide member extending to an end position indicating the end position of the guide receiving member and fixed to the RS of the guide receiving member, the guide member moving the guide receiving member from the start position to the A rotatable annular body is attached so as to surround the outer peripheral portion of the spindle housing so that the guide receiving member rotates when the guide receiving member contacts the guide member. It is characterized by

Claims (9)

The welding tool is rotated at a target rotational speed and inserted into the member to be welded to a target depth, softening the insertion portion of the member to be welded and the vicinity thereof, and advancing the welding tool to perform solid phase welding of the member to be welded. A friction stir welding apparatus,
The friction stir welding apparatus performs solid phase welding of the members to be welded while the welding tool advances in the welding direction. Friction stir welding characterized by comprising a rotational vibration suppressing mechanism for suppressing meandering due to rotational blur by continuously limiting the operating range of the spindle housing in the lateral direction with respect to the joining direction by pressing the side). Device. The friction stir welding apparatus according to claim 1,
The rotation vibration suppressing mechanism presses only the RS (retreating side) of the AS (advancing side) and RS (retreating side) of the spindle housing, thereby suppressing vibration in the lateral direction of the spindle housing with respect to the joining direction. A friction stir welding apparatus characterized by suppressing meandering due to rotational shake by continuously limiting the operating range of the. The friction stir welding apparatus according to claim 1,
The rotational vibration suppressing mechanism includes a guide receiving member attached to a spindle housing that accommodates a spindle that rotates the welding tool;
a guide support member fixed to the RS of the welding tool on a mounting surface of a mounting table on which the members to be welded are mounted;
The welding tool is supported by the guide support member and is engaged with the member to be welded in an engaged state in which at least a part of the side surface of the guide receiving member and the position in the vertical direction from the mounting surface are the same at the target depth. a guide member extending from a start position indicating a position at which solid phase bonding is started to an end position indicating a position at which solid phase bonding is terminated and fixed to the RS of the guide receiving member;
The friction stir welding apparatus, wherein the guide member presses the guide receiving member from the start position to the end position. The friction stir welding apparatus according to claim 3,
The guide receiving member is characterized in that the movement assisting member is constructed by attaching a rotatable annular body so as to surround the outer peripheral portion of the spindle housing so as to rotate when it comes into contact with the guide member. Friction stir welding equipment. The friction stir welding apparatus according to claim 3,
The guide receiving member includes a sliding body having a sliding surface whose outer side surface is slip-processed so that it slips when it contacts the guide member. A friction stir welding apparatus comprising the advance assisting member. The friction stir welding apparatus according to claim 3,
The guide receiving member is provided with at least one rotatable trackball type rotator attached to a contact portion with the guide member on the outer peripheral portion of the spindle housing so as to rotate when contacting the guide member. A friction stir welding apparatus comprising a member. The friction stir welding apparatus according to claim 3,
The guide member has a sliding surface formed by at least a side surface portion of the guide member on the side of the guide receiving member slip-processed from the start position to the end position by the welding tool so as to slip when contacting the guide receiving member. A friction stir welding apparatus, wherein the advancing assisting member is configured by attaching a sliding body having The friction stir welding apparatus according to claim 3,
The guide member has a rotatable trackball type rotator on a side surface portion of the guide member on the side of the guide receiving member so that the guide member rotates when at least the welding tool moves from the starting position to the ending position. A friction stir welding apparatus, wherein a plurality of said advancing assisting members are attached to a position at predetermined intervals. A friction stir welding method for solid-phase welding members to be welded using the friction stir welding apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
an inserting step of inserting the welding tool to the target depth while rotating the welding tool at the target rotational speed in a step prior to solid-phase welding the members to be welded by the welding tool;
a heat input step of continuously rotating the welding tool without advancing until the joint reaches a target heat input state;
The guide receiving member comes into contact with the guide member, the welding tool is rotated at the target rotation speed, and welding is performed from the welding start position in the welding direction while suppressing rotational shake due to eccentric force in the direction of the guide member with the guide member. a joining step of proceeding to an end position;
a withdrawal step of withdrawing the welding tool from the members to be welded when the welding tool has advanced to the welding end position;
A friction stir welding method comprising:

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