Journal of Manufacturing Processes 15 (2013) 495–500

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Journal of Manufacturing Processes

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Technical Paper

Simultaneous measurement of tool torque, traverse force and axial

force in friction stir welding
H. Su a , C.S. Wu a,∗ , A. Pittner b , M. Rethmeier b
a
MOE Key Lab for Liquid-Solid Structure Evolution and Materials Processing, and Institute of Materials Joining, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China
b
Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Berlin 12205, Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Simultaneous measurement of the tool torque, traverse force and axial force during friction stir weld-
Received 30 July 2013 ing process is of great significance to the understanding of the underlying process mechanism and the
Received in revised form 28 August 2013 optimizing of the process parameters. Different from the traditional measurement methods using load
Accepted 5 September 2013
cell or rotating component dynamometer, an indirect but economical methodology is used in this study
Available online 1 October 2013
for the simultaneous measurement of the traverse force, axial force and tool torque by monitoring the
output torques of the servo motors and main spindle three-phase AC induction motor inside the FSW
Keywords:
machine. The values of the traverse force, axial force and tool torque are determined under different
Friction stir welding
Measurement
welding conditions, and the influencing factors are examined. The measured results in friction stir weld-
Traverse force ing of AA2024-T4 aluminum alloys at different combinations of tool rotation speed and welding speed
Axial force lay foundation for process optimization.
Tool torque © 2013 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Friction stir welding (FSW) has got wide applications in joining
high strength aerospace aluminum alloys, such as highly alloyed
2XXX and 7XXX series [1]. FSW is a solid-state joining process in
which a non-consumable rotating tool with a specially designed
pin and shoulder is inserted into the abutting edges of plates to
be joined and traversed along the line of joint as shown in Fig. 1.
The tool serves two primary functions: (a) heating of workpiece,
and (b) movement of material to produce the joint. The heating is
generated by friction between the tool and the workpiece and plas-
tic deformation of the workpiece [2]. The localized heating softens
the material around the pin and combination of tool rotation and
translation transport material from the front of the pin to the back
of the pin where it is forged into a joint [1,2].
During FSW process, the tool shoulder makes firm contact with
the top surface of the workpiece. The tool rotation speed, tool
traverse speed along the line of joint (welding speed), the verti-
cal pressure on the tool, the tilt angle of the tool and the tool design
are main independent variables that are used to control the FSW
process [1]. The tool torque, traverse force and axial force generated
by the simultaneous rotating and linear motion of the tool as well as
∗ Corresponding author at: Institute of Materials Joining, Shandong University,
No. 17923 Jingshi Road, Jinan 250061, China. Tel.: +86 0531 8839 2711; fax: +86
0531 8839 2711.
E-mail address: wucs@sdu.edu.cn (C.S. Wu).
the vertical pressure during FSW process are critical for the process
parameters optimization [3–6], and the research & development of
tool design [7–9].
Various methods have been used to measure the tool torque,
traverse force and axial force during FSW process. The traditional
load cells were used to measure the tangential load on the alu-
minum alloy sheets (tool torque) [10]. Cui et al. [11] used a specially
designed LowStirTM device to measure the tool torque, and devel-
oped a satisfactory model relating the tool torque to the two major
FSW parameters, tool rotation speed and welding speed. Kumar
et al. [12] used load cells to detect the axial force and traverse
force, and the tool power was measured by measuring the spindle
motor current. Trimble et al. [13] employed the rotating compo-
nent dynamometer to measure the torque and forces in the X,
Y and Z directions. However, usage of such auxiliary devices is
hugely expensive, and often needs an enormous modification of
the welding machine, which is complicated and costly. During FSW
process, the linear motion of the worktable and the tool, and the
rotation of the tool are driven by the electrical motors. Therefore,
the conditions of the electric motors are indirect response of the
tool torque and process forces. Recently, the tool torque and forces
were recorded directly or indirectly by monitoring the instanta-
neous power or current of the motors. Pew et al. [14] recorded the
tool torque by monitoring the motor torque output. The methodol-
ogy presented by Mehta et al. [15] were able to measure the torque
and traverse force from the corresponding electrical power and
current usage of the driving spindle motor and feed motor. Such
a methodology is a more robust and economical route for indirect

1526-6125/$ – see front matter © 2013 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2013.09.001
496 H. Su et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 15 (2013) 495–500

Table 1
Chemical composition of the workpiece (AA2024-T4).

Element Si Fe Cu Mn Mg Ni Zn Ti Al

Wt.% 0.15 0.25 4.58 0.63 1.59 <0.10 0.20 <0.10 Balance

Fig. 4. Schematic view of main spindle conveyer system: (a) main spindle motor,
(b) conveyor system, (c) FSW tool.
Fig. 1. Schematic of friction stir welding.

25
X-axis Torque
20 Z-axis Torque
Spindle Torque

15
Torque (N m)
10

Fig. 2. Schematic view of (a) workpiece and (b) profile of the FSW tool.
monitoring the tool torque and forces during FSW process. How-
ever, little work has been done for simultaneously measuring the
tool torque, traverse force and axial force in a single welding pro-
cess from the electrical parameters of the driving motors. The axial
force is of critical importance to ensure the weld morphology and
weld quality in friction stir welding, because the friction heat gen-
eration is directly proportional to the axial force applied on the
tool. The measured date of the axial force will be used to calibrate
the heat generation model for next step. Thus, measuring the axial
force is of great significance.
In this study, the electrical signals of the motors inside the FSW
machine were used to detect the tool torque, traverse force (X-axis)
and axial force (Z-axis) simultaneously. The output torques of the X-
and Z-servo motors and the main spindle three-phase AC induction
motor were monitored and recorded in real time, and the actual
axial force, traverse force and tool torque were then determined.
Finally, the influence of various parameters on the weld formation
is discussed.
-5
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Time (s)
Fig. 5. Output torques of the motors during a FSW process. (Rotation speed
ω = 1000 r/min, welding speed v = 40 mm/min.)
2. Experimentation
The workpieces were AA2024-T4 aluminum alloys of the thick-
ness 5.90 mm, and the chemical composition is listed in Table 1.
The plates were 120 mm in length and 60 mm in width, as shown
in Fig. 2(a). A taper screw threaded tool was used, and the cross-
section profile is shown in Fig. 2(b). The diameter of tool shoulder
is 15.00 mm, the top and bottom diameter of pin is 6.00 mm and
2.50 mm, respectively, and the length of pin is 5.50 mm. The tilt
angle of tool toward trailing direction was kept constant at 2.5◦
during the welding process. The plunged depth was 0.1 mm. The
welding procedure includes three stages: (1) the plunging stage
with the tool plunging velocity 8 mm/min and dwelling time 10 s;
(2) the welding stage with the welding velocity v; and (3) the pulling
out stage of tool after dwelling 5 s.

Fig. 3. Schematic view of X-axis ball screw driving mechanism: (a) worktable, (b) ball screw, (c) planetary gear reducer, and (d) servo motor.
 H. Su et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 15 (2013) 495–500 497

35 35
40mm/min 600r/min
30 80mm/min 30 800r/min
120mm/min 1000r/min
25 25

Tool Torque (N m)
Tool Torque (N m)

20 20

15
15

10
10
5
5
0
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 40 80 120
Time (s) Welding speed (mm/min)
(a) Rotation speed 600r/min Fig. 7. The averaged tool torques under various welding conditions.
35
40mm/min
30 80mm/min The experiments were conducted by using FSW-3LM-3012
machine. As schematically depicted in Fig. 3, the X-axis or Y-axis
120mm/min
25 horizontal motion of the worktable is obtained by the servo motors
which drive the ball screw units via the planetary gear reducers.
Tool Torque (N m)

20 Similarly, the Z-axis vertical motion of the tool is obtained by the

servo motor which drives the ball screw unit, but Z-axis driving
15 mechanism has an additional torque sensor. For the tool rotation, a
three-phase AC induction motor is used to drive the main spindle
10 via a conveyer system, as schematically shown in Fig. 4.
During the welding process, the output torques of the X- and Z-
axis servo motors and the spindle three-phase AC induction motor
5
are monitored by the internal correlations of the electrical param-
eters and recorded once per second in real-time. Then, the specific
0
formulas for the ball screw driving mechanism and the conveyer
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 system can be used to calculate the actual forces and torque. It is
Time (s) mentionable that the transmission efficiencies  of the ball screw
(b) Rotation speed 800r/min driving mechanism and conveyer system can be up to 95% under
35 normal circumstances, and are set to constants, i.e. 1.0, for conve-
nience in this study.
40mm/min
30 80mm/min
120mm/min 3. Results and discussion
25
3.1. Output torques of the motors during FSW process
Tool Torque (N m)

20
Fig. 5 illustrates the output torques of the X- and Z-axis servo
15 motors and the main spindle motor versus time in the FSW pro-
cess. During the plunging stage (0–43 s) and the first dwelling stage
10 (43–53 s), the output torque of the X-axis motor keeps steady as the
moving velocity of the worktable is zero. It is worth pointing out
5 that the torque value during these two stages is not zero because
of the static torque of the ball screw, but it will not affect the mea-
0 sured value during the welding stage. On the other hand, during the
plunging stage, the output torques of both the Z-axis motor and
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 the main spindle motor rise quickly, reach the first peak values,
Time (s) and then decrease as the plunging depth increases and the local
(c) Rotation speed 1000r/min softening extent around the pin is improved. When the shoulder
of the tool is immersed into the workpiece, the output torques of
Fig. 6. Tool torque versus time for various welding conditions. (a) Rotation speed both the Z-axis motor and the main spindle motor rise again and
600 r/min; (b) rotation speed 800 r/min; (c) rotation speed 1000 r/min. reach the second peak values. As time goes on, they drop again
due to the sufficient friction heating of the workpiece during the
first dwelling stage. As soon as the welding starts, all three output
torques of the Z-axis motor and the main spindle motor as well as
the X-axis motor reach steady states promptly, and remain relative
stable values during whole welding stage.
498 H. Su et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 15 (2013) 495–500

10000 4400
40mm/min 40mm/min
80mm/min 80mm/min
8000 120mm/min 120mm/min

Fricon Resistance Force (N)

4000

6000
X-axis Force (N)

3600

4000
3200

2000
2800

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 0 20 40 60 80 100

Time (s) Time (s)

(a) Rotation speed 600r/min Fig. 9. Friction resistance force versus time.
10000
40mm/min and axial force) can be calculated by the special formulas of the
80mm/min conveyer system and the ball screw driving mechanism.
8000 120mm/min
3.2. Tool torque
6000
X-axis Force (N)

For the spindle conveyor drive system, the transfer ratio of the
conveyor is 2, so that the correlation between the tool torque and
4000 the main spindle motor torque is:

MT = 2M0 (1)
2000 where MT is the tool torque and M0 is the spindle motor torque.
Fig. 6 shows the tool torque versus time under various weld-
ing conditions. It is clear that for the same rotation speed the tool
0
torques are highly consistent during the plunging and the first
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 dwelling stage. The rotation speed has a remarkable influence on
Time (s) the tool torque in the welding stage, while the effect of the welding
speed on the tool torque is minor. Fig. 7 shows the averaged value of
(b) Rotation speed 800r/min
10000 tool torque in the welding stage, the tool torques are about 24 N m,
40mm/min 13 N m and 10 N m at the rotation speed of 600 r/min, 800 r/min and
80mm/min 1000 r/min, respectively.
8000 120mm/min
3.3. Traverse force
6000
X-axis Force (N)

During the welding process, the output torque of X-axis servo

motor corresponds to two forces: the traverse force and the fric-
4000 tional resistance force caused by the relative movement between

2000 5000 600r/min

800r/min
1000r/min
0 4000
Traverse force (N)

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

Time (s) 3000
(c) Rotation speed 1000r/min
Fig. 8. X-axis force versus time. (a) Rotation speed 600 r/min; (b) rotation speed
2000
800 r/min; (c) rotation speed 1000 r/min.

1000
The above-mentioned observation matches well with the mea-
surement results from the rotation component dynamometer [13].
0
Thus, this measurement methodology by monitoring the output 40 80 120
torques of the driving motors is able to capture the characteris- Welding speed (mm/min)
tics of the FSW process. Based on the measured output torques of
the driven motors, the actual tool torque and forces (traverse force Fig. 10. The averaged traverse forces under various welding conditions.
 H. Su et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 15 (2013) 495–500 499

20000 20000
40mm/min 600r/min
80mm/min 800r/min
16000 120mm/min 16000 1000r/min

12000
Z-axis Force (N)

12000

Axial force (N)

8000
8000

4000
4000

0
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 40 80 120
Time (s) Welding speed (mm/min)
(a) Rotation speed 600r/min
Fig. 12. The averaged axial forces under various welding conditions.
20000
40mm/min
80mm/min friction resistance force. The X-axis forces (f + F) can be calculated
16000 120mm/min by Eq. (2), as shown in Fig. 8.
The friction resistance force f can be determined by measuring
the no-load (F = 0) output torque Mf0 of the worktable:
12000
Z-axis Force (N)

C
Mf 0 = ·f (3)
2
8000
Fig. 9 shows the friction resistance force under different welding
speeds in 100 s. Then, based on Eqs. (2) and (3), the traverse force
4000 F can be written as:
2 · (Mf − Mf 0 )
F= (4)
0 C
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Fig. 10 shows the averaged values of the traverse forces under dif-
Time (s) ferent welding parameters. It is comprehensible that the traverse
force is directly proportional to the welding speed. Moreover, the
(b) Rotation speed 800r/min
traverse force is much larger at high rotation speed (1000 r/min)
20000
than that at low rotation speed (600 r/min and 800 r/min).
40mm/min
80mm/min
16000 3.4. Axial force
120mm/min

Similar to the traverse force, the axial force (Z-axis) can be deter-
12000 mined by monitoring the Z-axial output torque of the motor. Fig. 11
Z-axis Force (N)

shows the axial force versus time for various welding parameters.
During the plunging stage, the axial force undergoes a severer varia-
8000 tion with two peak values. Compared to the tool torque and traverse
force, the values of the axial force are not constant during the weld-
ing process. Fig. 12 demonstrates the averaged axial force under
4000
different welding conditions. Generally, a positive correlation is
evident between the axial force and the welding speed. However,
0 the relationship between the axial force and the rotation speed is
not distinct. The axial force is between 7000 N and 13,000 N, which
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
is much larger than the traverse force.
Time (s)
(c) Rotation speed 1000r/min 3.5. Weld morphology

Fig. 11. Z-axis forces versus time for various welding parameters. (a) Rotation speed
600 r/min; (b) rotation speed 800 r/min; (c) rotation speed 1000 r/min.
the worktable and the ball screw. For the ball screw driving unit,
the relation between the forces and the output torque is given by:
C
Mf = · (f + F)
2
where Mf is the load output torque, C is the helical pitch of the screw,
 is the transmission efficiency, F is the traverse force, and f is the
Fig. 13 shows the appearance of weld formation made at dif-
ferent welding parameters. As demonstrated in Fig. 13(g), the best
weld morphology is achieved at low welding speed (40 mm/min)
and high rotation speed (1000 r/min). Under such a set of weld-
ing parameters, the tool endures the least resistance and the tool
(2) torque is minimum, as shown in Fig. 6(c).
Generally, the shear strength decreases significantly at high
rotation speed, which means that the material is easier to flow
around the tool. On the other hand, the tool forces are lower at
500 H. Su et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 15 (2013) 495–500
Fig. 13. Weld formation for different parameters (welding speed v/rotation speed ω). (a) 40/600, (b) 80/600, (c) 120/600, (d) 40/800, (e) 80/800, (f) 120/800, (g) 40/1000, (h)
80/1000 and (i) 120/1000 (RS: retreating side, AS: advancing side).
low welding speed, as illustrated in Figs. 10 and 12. The weld for-
mation in Fig. 13(d), (e) and (h) are also acceptable. However, the
worst weld appearance is obtained at high welding speed and high
rotation speed, as shown in Fig. 13(i). The burr indicates the inad-
equate and unsteady flow of the material caused by high welding
speed, and the material is unable to fill in the cavity made by the pin,
especially at the advancing side (AS). Similar phenomena are also
found in Fig. 13(c) and (f) with the same welding speed as Fig. 13(i).
4. Conclusions
(1) An indirect but economical and reliable methodology is used
to experimentally measure the tool torque, traverse force and
axial force simultaneously in real time through monitoring the
output torques of the servo motors and spindle three-phase AC
induction motor equipped inside the FSW machine. The mea-
sured results agree well with the published data captured by
rotation component dynamometers and load cells.
(2) The higher is the tool rotation speed, the lower is the tool torque,
while the influence of the welding speed on the tool torque is
negligible.
(3) The traverse force is proportional to the welding speed. The
higher is the tool rotation speed, the larger is the traverse force.
The axial force is significantly larger than the traverse force.
(4) The best weld appearance is obtained at low welding speed
and high rotation speed, because the shear strength decreases
significantly at high rotation speed and the tool forces are least
at low welding speed.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to the financial support for this research
from the Sino-German Center for the Promotion of Science (Grant
No. GZ-739).
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