A coworker of mine ran a thought past me the other day; what would it be like to weld in space? Sounds funny, but what if some debris breaks some part of the spacestation and it can't be taken apart and fixed by conventional bolting and unbolting? How would the zero oxygen in space affect stainless and high alloy chrome, nickel and moly welds with GTAW for example? How would the lack of gravity affect welds made with any process? Would the temperature in space have a major impact on materials with a high heat sink and/or materials that hold heat for prolonged periods? How would NASA prepare a WPS for welds in space conditions that they possibly couldn't create on Earth? And last but not least, wouldn't you like to possibly be the first person to weld in space? I know I would, but without all the other duties, like chores and duty on the shuttle...."I just came here to weld!"
This should create some interesting posts.
John
Don't hog the reefer dude. pass it around so we can all get high. lol.
I wonder if you would need any shielding flux or gas since outer space is in a vacuum there is probably no contamination in the "atmosphere". You may be able to weld with a bare electrode. What do you think? Take a "toke" for me!
The first thought that ran through my mind is that NASA probaly has a suped up type of epoxy solution for emergency repairs.
Next was that allthogh repair welding may not be practical for the shuttle, NASA will definetly need a welding process for building construction on the Moon ,or Mars, eventually.
Then I took another toke, got the munchies, and lost my train of thought...
I think the real question is how do you get home when they run you off or you have to drag up cause the overeducated supervision decided to get stupid. I'd have to hold off until I could get my own rig.
Whilst Astronauts have not yet welded in space, NASA certainly has considered the prospect that the need may arise. As a matter of fact they have spent some pretty impressive capital in pursuit of *spacewelding*.
No don't visualize silly astronauts punching holes in 0.030 shuttle bulkheads with a wild laser or EB shots, that just wouldn't do eh?
To approach realism in field trials, NASA fitted a C130 with a big vacuum chamber to simulate the vacuum of space. In the chamber they set up a GTAW orbital welder.
One of the first challenges is to get an arc to initiate without atmosphere, this one was solved by milling a tiny hole down the center of the tungsten electrode and so that a puff of argon could be passed through it.
Another Challenge was simulating Zero gravity. In order to do this they ran the orbital welder in the vacuum while the C130 flew an Elliptical pattern. (dives and recoveries) during the dives Zero Gravity is simulated and the welds were made. Astronauts are trained using this technique.
The welds came out as planned with penetration pretty much unaffected just as the eggheads had predicted.
My thought would be to question some thermal aspects. Space is mighty cold and the radical difference between the heat effected zone and the rest of the component a *spaceweld* would be another variable to be contended with. Just think of the overlarge crystal formation when Titanium freezes too quickly. This may be exaggerated in space.
How does one get hold of amazing welding trivia such as this? By attending lectures at the professional session of the AWS Welding Expo of course!
Lawrence
Bravo, very interesting topic. More please (not the narcotics).
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