Stirweld FSWed liquid cold plate

1. FSW LIQUID COLD
PLATE
Thermal management
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

2. CONTENTS
01 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
02
FSW ADVANTAGES
03 OUR REFERENCES
04 WHO WE ARE
Types of liquid cold plate, welding parameters
Operating cost, quality control cost & process
Liquid cold plate references, quality standard
Stirweld, FSW is now accessible
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

3. TECHNICAL
SPECIFICATIONS
Types of liquid cold plate, welding parameters
01
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

4. BREAKDOWN OF A FSW LIQUID COLD PLATE
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Cold plate housing Cold plate cover Cold plate housing &
cover
Cold plate welded by
FSW
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

5. COVER / HOUSING ASSEMBLY
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Cover and housing assemblied by butt weld configuration. Cover and housing assemblied by lap weld
configuration.
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

6. TYPES OF LIQUID COLD PLATES
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Standard liquid cold plate Low pressure cold
plate
High pressure cold plate Cast cold plate
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

7. TYPES OF LIQUID COLD PLATES
TECHNICAL
SPECIFICATIONS
Large liquid cold plate:
Size: 400 x 400 x 20 mm
Aluminium alloy: 6061 T6
Complex water-cooling channel
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

8. TYPES OF LIQUID COLD PLATES
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Thin liquid cold plate
Total thickness: 3mm Welding process: lap welding of 3 1-mm
aluminium sheets in one step.
Copyright
Stirweld
2022
Pressure resistance: 9 bars

9. TYPES OF LIQUID COLD PLATES
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Standard liquid cold plate:
Size: 200 x 50 x 20 mm Size: 200 x 100 x 8 mm
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

10. TYPES OF LIQUID COLD PLATES
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Standard liquid cold plate:
From aluminium block, we obtain a ready to use waterproof thermal management part.
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

11. TYPES OF LIQUID COLD PLATES
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Circular liquid cold plate:
Cover made in 6061-T6 and housing in 5754-H111
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

12. TYPES OF LIQUID COLD PLATES
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Circular liquid cold plate:
Complex water-cooling channel
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

13. TYPES OF LIQUID COLD PLATES
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Copper liquid cold plates
FSW can weld aluminium or copper (Al with Cu is also possible)
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

14. TYPES OF LIQUID COLD PLATES
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Copper liquid cold plates
FSW can weld aluminium or copper (Al with Cu is also possible)
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

15. WELDING PARAMETERS
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
DESIGN OF LIQUID COLD PLATE
COVER
The cover size is one of the parameters
that influences the welding operation
but also the mechanical strength of the
welded cold plate.
There are two ways to increase the
pressure resistance of the part: increase
of the cover thickness or decrease of its
width.
FRICTION STIR WELDING
PARAMETERS
For an efficient and quality FSW welding of
your liquid cold plate, several elements
must be considered:
The thickness and the width of the
cover,
The definition of the tool path,
The definition of the dead zone (area
of FSW tool exit).
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

16. FSW
ADVANTAGES
Operating cost, quality control cost & process
02
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

17. WHY ASSEMBLE YOUR LIQUID COLD PLATE BY FSW?
FSW ADVANTAGES
LOW COST
2 to 10 times less
expensive than existing
processes
HIGHER RESISTANCE
Up to 300 bar
EXCELLENT THERMAL
CONDUCTIVITY
Metallurgical junction
EXTREMELY USER-FRIENDLY
Compared with EBW or
vacuum brazing
ASSEMBLY
You can assemble several
liquid cold plates together
MATURITY
Technology already used in
thermal management
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

18. FSWed COLD PLATE COST
FSW ADVANTAGES
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

19. FSW VS. COPPER TUBER (OR DIPPED
LIQUID COLD PLATE)
FSW ADVANTAGES
Copper tuber liquid cold plate
Cooling performance are limited: not possible to
have a high channel density.
Lack of reliability of tube conductivity due to
critical manufacturing steps (bending, thermal
paste or hydroforming).
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

20. Copyright
Stirweld
2022
FSW VS. COPPER TUBER (OR DIPPED LIQUID COLD PLATE)
FSW ADVANTAGES
The welding between the tube and the end connectors
is not required using FSW. The end connectors are
directly machined into the housing.
Epoxy coating + pressing operation for epoxy drying
are not required using FSW.

21. FSW VS. COPPER TUBER (OR DIPPED LIQUID COLD PLATE)
FSW ADVANTAGES
Steps of dipped liquid cold plate manufacturing: Steps of FSW liquid cold plate manufacturing:
Housing machining
Tube bending
Welding between the tube and the
connectors
Thermal paste coating
Pressing operation
Tube hydroforming
Final machining
Housing machining (cover is laser cut at
low cost)
Friction Stir Welding
Final machining
Due to the drastic manufacturing step
reduction, FSW results in drastic cost
reduction and quality improvement.
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

22. FSW VS. GUN DRILLING
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Gun drilling cold plate
Limited design freedom in terms of the cooling
surface: the liquid paths are only straight lines.
For cold plates longer than 500mm, gun drilling
becomes very difficult.
Connectors are very sensitive for leakage.
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

23. FSW VS. BRAZING OR EBW
FSW ADVANTAGES
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

24. FSW VS. BRAZING OR EBW
FSW ADVANTAGES
X-ray: up to 50% of the part cost.
EB welding: 5 to 30% of parts are scrapped.
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

25. FSW VS. BRAZING OR EBW
Pros and cons: FSW impact on
liquid cold plate design
FSW
ADVANTAGES
Pressure resistance: up to 300 bars
The minimum size of FSW weld is
9mm wide with a step of 3,5mm
under the cover to support the
FSW vertical load
Higher mechanical strength
All aluminium alloys can be used
and possibility to mix aluminium
alloys
All copper alloys can be weld
Possibility to weld aluminium with
copper
Machining of plugs or ribs into the
channel (or onto the cover) to
increase the thermal efficiency
Minimum cover thickness of 1mm
Maximum weld penetration of
12mm (no limitation of cover
thickness)
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

26. FSW VS. BRAZING OR EBW
Pros and cons: FSW impact on
liquid cold manufacturing
process
FSW
ADVANTAGES No requirement of post heat
treatment to recover the
mechanical strength
Post FSW distortion of 0,5mm/m:
requirement of post machining in
case of high flatness specification
Easy process tuning: only 30mins
are necessary for the
determination of new welding
parameters on a new component
High repeatability: solid state
welding process
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

27. FSW VS. BRAZING OR EBW
FSW & Vacuum brazing impact
on cost & on safety
FSW
ADVANTAGES
All in one: hybrid welding and
milling machine
High expensive process: vacuum
furnace can cost more than €1M
Fast manufacturing process for
large plates (about 10mins per
plate) or small plates (about 1min
per plate, possibility to clamp up to
40 plates on the same table)
Low energy consumption (like
machining operation
Easy training: 1 day to train a CNC
operator to FSW
High annual maintenance costs
No risk in service
Surface treatment of all assembly
parts are necessary
Long brazing cycle: about 8 hours
Only batch production is possible:
number & size of the parts depend
on the furnace size
Risk in service: brazing failure due
to no-detected initial sticking
defect
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

28. OUR
REFERENCES
Liquid cold plate references, quality standard
03
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

29. OUR LIQUID COLD PLATE REFERENCES
OUR REFERENCES
TEMISTH
Design office
specialising in
thermal
management.
ITS COOLING
Thermal expert for
the electronics
industry: heat
sinks, heat pipes…
CALIP GROUP
Expert in machining &
assembly of
mechanical assemblies
and sub-assemblies.
GLOBAL-THAIXON
Quality oriented and
competitive trusted
source for a variety of
manufacturing industries.
WIELAND PROVIDES
Specialised in the
production of metallic
office furniture.
TALENDI
Industrial know-how
and tertiary know-
how.
ARMOR MECA
Expert in the machining of
complex parts and assembly
of sub-assemblies.
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

30. OUR REFERENCES
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

31. QUALITY STANDARD
OUR REFERENCES
APPROVED EXPORTER
Stirweld has been certified as an
approved exporter, which ensures the
efficiency and safety of each shipment
around the world.
Our export areas are: North America,
South America, Europe, Asia, Middle
East, Africa.
ISO 25239 – FRICTION STIR WELDING
Stirweld rigorously follows the
guidelines set out in ISO 25239 –
Friction Stir Welding: design of weld
joints, qualification of welding
operators, specification and
qualification of welding procedures,
quality and inspection requirements.
ISO 9001 STANDARD
The ISO 9001 standard guarantees the proper
implementation of our company’s quality
management system. This involves the
constant integration of improvement systems
to ensure product & service provision that
meet customer requirements & applicable
legal & regulatory requirements.
TWI INDUSTRIAL MEMBER
Stirweld is an industrial member of TWI, a
leading independent research and
technology organization and the inventor
Friction Stir Welding. This membership gives
us access to exclusive information on the
latest innovations in FSW R&D, enabling us
to keep growing rapidly and steadily.
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

32. WHO WE ARE?
Stirweld, FSW is now accessible
04
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

33. HOW TO
SUCCESSFULLY
IMPLEMENT FSW
IN YOUR
COMPANY?
WHO WE
ARE?
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

34. STIRWELD
SINCE 2017
WHO WE ARE?
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

35. STIRWELD, FSW IS NOW ACCESSIBLE
WHO WE ARE?
Stirweld was founded in 2017 based on
Friction Stir Welding (FSW) with 2M€ of
turnover in 2022.
Our mission is to guide you in your
discovery and easy implementation of this
technology.
We support our customers throughout the
entire engineering cycle: prototyping,
quality control, installation, training, after-
sales service.
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

36. STIRWELD FSW
EQUIPMENTS
WHO WE
ARE?
FSW HEAD FOR CNC
MACHINE
Low investment cost,
adaptability, easy of use.
Know more
FSW HEAD WITH
RETRACTABLE PIN
Ideal for aeronautics
applications.
Know more
FSW SPINDLE FOR
ROBOT
Ideal for 3D welding and
large parts welding.
Know more
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

37. STIRWELD FSW TOOLS
WHO WE ARE?
For FSW, the weld quality depends on geometry and
quality of the tool.
Our goal is to provide you a solution for every type of
parts and materials.
The tool selection has a direct impact on its lifetime
and on the weld quality.
Thanks to the FSW experience of its team, Stirweld
offers you the best tool, combining quality, price and
reliability.
The tools are tested on a wear bench to control their
reliability.
Want to know more about our FSW tools and FSW
tools with retractable pin? Download our catalogue!
Download
Copyright
Stirweld
2022

38. Watch here
Want to know more about liquid cold
plate welded by FSW?
Watch our video!
Visit us: www.stirweld.com
Contact us: laurent.dubourg@stirweld.com
+33 (0)6 47 49 74 19
Copyright Stirweld 2022