Advanced titanium welding in particle physics and aerospace engineering

The quest for answers that will unlock the mysteries of the cosmos and broaden our perception and understanding of the physical laws that govern the universe, demands studying particle collisions of high energies at particle accelerators. Monitoring of these collisions requires complex detectors whose development pushes the boundaries of engineering. In the present study advanced titanium welding is explored in the development of the new ATLAS Inner Tracker detector to be installed in line with the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Pulsed welding currents are employed to join thin titanium pipes used in the detector’s evaporative CO2 cooling system. The benefits of the low heat input enabled by the welding process are utilised in the repair and remanufacturing industry of aerospace applications. Wire arc additive manufacturing is applied in the regeneration of aerospace components providing successive material deposition on a layer-upon-layer manner. To this extent investigations and implementations related to Pulsed Gas Tungsten Arc Welding are explored in the presented work aiming to further understand, implement and advance the welding process. Assurance of the weld quality is furthered studied, as the outcome of the process depends on maintaining input parameters and welding conditions at optimum levels for the whole duration of the process. By implementing process monitoring methodologies, invaluable data are recorded whose analysis can be utilised in the detection of process disturbances and weld quality assessment