Feasibility Study for Fabricating Smart Structures Using Hybrid Additive Manufacturing Based on Friction Stir Welding

This article describes a novel manufacturing route for the fabrication of smart structures consisting of embedded electronic parts inside an aluminum structure. The process utilizes a solid-state joining method, i.e., friction stir welding (FSW), for additively joining aluminum sheets and followed by periodic machining operations. The integrated computer aided process planning (CAPP) framework along with fabrication strategies have been developed for this process. An experimental study has been carried out by embedding a PVC-K-24 type electric wire into an additively built aluminum structure. The different FSW parameter combinations and layer joining strategies have been investigated to determine effective operational settings. The temperature profiles are also recorded during welding runs which shows that the body temperature remains under 200 °C, other than in the stirred zones. The outcomes show that the low tool rotational speed and shoulder offset toolpath strategy are much more effective in the case of embedding electronics without damaging their functionality. This feasibility study validates the capability of manufacturing electronic embedded parts and smart structures by the aforesaid hybrid-AM process while adopting a proper process planning strategy.