Cooperation feedback from the Kurchatov Institute’s Prometey Central Research Institute of Structural Materials

The Gabarit-A mobile friction stir welding (FSW) system is designed for welding aluminium vessels. It has been commissioned at the Kurchatov Institute’s Prometey institute in St Petersburg. Gabarit-A welds large panels from aluminium profiles, which are then assembled into a ship’s hull.

FSW can produce a weld stronger than the parent metal, with no defects or porosity and no distortion of the workpieces. The system is mobile: before transport, it raises itself so that a low-loader can be positioned underneath. It then lowers onto the platform, its supports are retracted, and the machine is transported. This allows it to be deployed quickly at any enterprise.