A review on sensor based monitoring and control of friction stir welding process and a roadmap to Industry 4.0

Abstract

This review is on the various techniques and methodologies applied to sensor based monitoring of the quality and control of defects in an advanced joining process named friction stir welding (FSW). This study is aimed to come up with Industry 4.0 automation of the same, which will help in exchanging data efficiently for a sustainable growth in the industrial sector. The implementation of sensors into the existing FSW machine channelizes the information about the process in real time, and subsequently helps in controlling the process anomaly, and thereby ensures product quality and precision. Important aspects of FSW viz. its process parameters, weld zones, and defects have been discussed from the monitoring and control point of view. In this context, the applicability of various sensors such as force, torque, current, power, temperature, vibration, acoustic emission, and imaging to acquire information about the process have been discussed. In addition to the sensing systems, processing techniques have also been discussed. A case study has also been presented to introduce the readers with the behavior of some of the signals, and semantic utilization of the processing techniques in FSW. Towards the end, a roadmap for implementing the idea of Industry 4.0 in FSW has been proposed.