SpaceX's Upgrade Everything On Starship's V3 Welding, Unlike any other...

SpaceX's Upgrade Everything On Starship's V3 Welding, Unlike any other...
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#techmap #techmaps #elonmusk #starshipspacex #starship
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Intro: 0:00
Starship welding method: 0:31
Starship’s material:7:27
History’s lesson: 12:35
Outro: 14:37
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1) SOURCES OF THUMBNAIL
2) SOURCES OF IMAGES AND VIDEOS
John Randolph:
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SpaceX's Upgrade Everything On Starship's V3 Welding, Unlike any other...
Starship V2 is here!
And it brings new improvements.
One of the most noticeable is the change in the welds.
The welding technique that Starship uses has always been an important aspect of its development. I mean, it's the technique that turns Starship from looking like a patched-together metal water bottle into a real spaceship.
So, what is the purpose of this new V2 change? Well, turns out SpaceX’s welding method contains even more genius than you think.
While everyone is making their own theories about the use of these new welds, I think we need to look back at the evolution of SpaceX’s welding techniques to make the most accurate judgment.
Starships were originally intended to be built with carbon fiber because of its light and strong properties. However, while carbon fiber is highly durable, it begins to degrade at approximately 200 degrees. Because of that, a very thick heatshield would be necessary to withstand the 1600-degree temperatures during multiple reentries. Furthermore, carbon fiber is expensive, at around 150 dollars per kilogram, making it harder to turn the ship into a commercial vehicle like SpaceX wants.
SpaceX's Upgrade Everything On Starship's V3 Welding, Unlike any other...
Stainless steel is different, although it is a bit heavier than carbon fiber, it has a better ability to withstand extreme temperatures, both hot and cold, making it more suitable for the harsh conditions of re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. With the price of only 3 dollars per kilogram, stainless steel is also significantly cheaper and easier to manufacture in large quantities. Although stainless steel possesses outstanding advantages, there are difficulties when working with this material, especially when welding.
Stainless steel retains heat very efficiently, it has a higher rate of thermal expansion compared to mild steel and aluminum alloys, which makes welding it a bit more difficult, especially for novice welders. When faced with excessive welding heat, stainless steel can warp from the high temperatures and even distort during the cooling process. Additionally, stainless steel has a higher tendency to form heat-affected zones or (HAZ), which can lead to loss of corrosion resistance and weakening of the weld. To overcome these challenges, specialized welding techniques and filler metals must be used when welding stainless steel.
SpaceX's Upgrade Everything On Starship's V3 Welding, Unlike any other...
The initial Starship prototypes employed a welding technique known as Flux-Cored Arc Welding. This technique also known as dual shield welding, is a semi-automatic arc welding process that is similar to metal active gas (MAG) welding. Flux-cored arc Welding uses heat generated by an electric arc to fuse base metal in the weld joint area. This arc is struck between the metallic workpiece and the continuously-fed tubular cored consumable filler wire, with both the wire and the metallic workpiece melting together to form a weld joint.

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[FredDavis-pr]

I can weld myself and have experience with multiple versions, the changes SpaceX has made over the years makes perfect sense and has even impressed me!

[fortitudevalance]

Stainless steel, depending on what grade, can withstand temperature variables. Like Doc Emmet Brown explained to Marty McFly about why a DeLorean is used, the stainless can withstand temperature variables during time travel. The DMC12 used 304 and 316 grade.

[warrentuckwell]

The effort money people and scale of this project and mother nature behind it makes it look miniscule!

[robertboeckmann]

Hmmm how can we make an update on a minor change to welding, into a 15 minute video?

[madelineremy]

I love Great SpaceX an love to watch theirs astounding launches and landings on the heavy super bouster . It is magnificent . ❤😂🎉

[ironspider]

0:53 you should've been more specific. Which kind of degrees? 200 degrees F or C?

[timothymf]

Not sure if I missed it. Do you know what GAUGE stainless steel they use ? BT 🇨🇦

[clavo]

Excellent video! Thank you much! from a retired welder.

[MArcoMArti-hgoi]

Stainless steel welding is by far easier then Aluminium, 50% of it is bullshit or just common for welding as of the infos given in this video

[jaydeister]

<must be miles of welding between starship and booster heavy!?>

[mrvaticanrag]

Please - steel is "denser" (not heavier) than Carbon fibre for the same structural strength purposes...?

[Papershields]

Steel makes perfect sense for the booster. They shoulda built the ship out of titanium if they want the bare metal to handle the crazy conditions at entry interface. Steel will work, but it’s heavy and I wouldn’t at all be surprised if the heating severely limits the reusability. Titanium is both more resilient to the heat and it’s way lighter. A titanium ship is the way to get to the payload numbers they originally promised.

[StevenRedcay-gwci]

Ok. But can they make the booster out of carbon fiber ?
It doesn't need heat shield and would make it lighter in weight but could it handle 35 raptors ?

[rocroc]

So, it is no easy task to follow SX into the use of stainless steel for rockets. Even if you told a competitor how to do it it would still be very difficult to do. By comparison New Glenn uses a costly structural aluminum product on their comparable Super Heavy (stage 1) rocket. I guess we'll know soon enough how they compare. Up to now it looks to me like some of the steel joints on the SS corrode or rust. If that's the case, I wonder how long they would last in space and can they be used as hull material for a space station? I've always presumed they could but am not certain now. Development of the ISS was a years long task and included a study of materials that could be used in construction including the aluminum hull canisters. There have been new materials developed since the ISS but if you started today it would take years to consider. I presume that's what the now nearly bankrupt Axiom group has been doing. Surely SX is doing something similar in developing a rocket ship to the moon or mars. I thought it would be possible to use a Starship as a temporary space station if it had to be done. I am not so sure of that now. Once the Super Heavy design becomes a proven product, I wonder if SX would consider using a different material in construction?

[boballen]

Jeez but YouTube's voice-to-text translation is so _LAME_. Example: "JZ" translates to "shaysed" (ref 2: 20).
OTOH, learned a BUNCH about welding techniques specific to Stainless Steel, e.g. "Tip Tig Welding". Wel ldone TECH MAP.
But otherwise, TECH MAP is top-notch delivering actual value on a highly technical level.
2nd example: "hammering and compressing the weld" (10:54 mark) "ensures it is consistent with the welded material".

[caspernowak]

Wouldn’t weathering steel like corten be a stronger, cheaper and more durable option than stainless steel?

[jimeditorial]

Convair was welding stainless for Atlas ICBMs and launch vehicles in the mid 50s. The collapse of the Atlas Agena had no impact on the program. Atlas was a successful program for decades.

[nakawung]

Question… since the booster doesn’t go through the dynamics of reentry, and is meant to be fully reusable… carbon fiber will be good, no?being much lighter and stronger, the chopsticks will undergo less stress, and in the event of a failure, the lesser mass would… (well I’m not so sure how much, but… less mass means less impact energy, no?)
Anyway… the engineers at spaceX know what they’re doing, I’m quite sure.

[jamesbraxton]

You are sure showing that you don't weld

[Will-equh]

Is this gonna be another AI SLOP video?