Understanding the Impact of Cooling Systems on Bulk Additive Friction Stir Deposition of Aluminum

This work presents an investigation of two cooling systems used in additive friction stir depositions (AFSD) and the related effect on process temperature, feed material, and life of processing equipment. A new AFSD cooling system, Mazak MegaStir Liquid-cooled Toolholder (LCTH), was integrated onto MELD Manufacturing AFSD machines using both continuous and discrete material feeding systems. The LCTH is compared to the original MELD cooling system to understand how process temperatures are controlled by the cooling system, how feed material interacts with the process under different cooling conditions, and how well the cooling systems protect the equipment. It is shown that both the original MELD cooling system and the LCTH can deposit Al-Mg-Si alloy (AA6061) for large scale depositions. Four configurations of tool and cooling system are discussed. Configurations with short working face to cooling distances shows the best potential robust operation of AFSD at bulk scales.