How to turn a real drawback into an advantage : example from the welding industry

Friction stir welding - FSW- was invented by TWI (The Welding Institute) in England in 1991. This is a very interesting process, which allows to weld metals in their solid state. The principle of FSW is visible on the above figure (usually the plates are static and the tool advances) :

In comparison to older similar older processes (rotary friction welding was first developed ; linear friction welding later, in 1969), FSW is a strong step forward. Actually this process has a lot of advantages. One very interesting possibility is to butt weld aluminium alloys which are otherwise not arc-weldable. This is the case of 2000 series aluminium alloys containing magnesium, and of 7000 series aluminium alloys containing copper, among which one finds the usual aerospace aluminium alloys. An example of application is the assembly of many parts of the Eclipse low-cost private jet with the intensive help of FSW (60% of the rivets have been eliminated on the structure of this aircraft).

FSW is an innovation which has generated an important amount of related research studies, industrial applications and patents. As of today around 2700 patents related to FSW have been applied for and delivered. And there are around 180 licensees of this technology all around the world.

Actually FSW has also allowed the invention and development of related processes (for example): 

* friction stir processing 

    * for the elimination of casting defects

    * for the modification of the metallic microstructure 

          * in order to generate superplasticity (thanks to fine grains)

          * in order to enhance formability
* friction stir spot welding (as an alternative to usual resistance spot welding)

* friction stir channeling

The latter process is very interesting from the TRIZ point of view. Actually FSW is not straightforward, because a lot of parameters are to be controlled. It was observed that under certain circumstances (= certain set of welding parameters) internal channelling defects are produced when welding two metal sheets (see photograph above). Advantageously an internal continuous hole can be generated in a monolithic sheet or plate, as explained in US patent 6923362, in order to manufacture heat exchangers, where fluids circulate within the holes. Therefore this provides an alternative route for the manufacturing of such products.

Finally friction stir channelling illustrates how it is possible to turn a harmful effect into a benefit. More precisely, this transformation of a harmful effect into a benefit is operated in this specific case from one industry (welding) to another industry (heat exchangers). It could benefit some other specific applications.

But how ? I mean the following: imagine a situation where somebody looks for a solution where this channeling effect could be helpful for him/her (for example: lower cost). But this person does not know this possibility. How can this person come to this idea ? In the case this person does not know TRIZ ? And in the case where this person knows TRIZ, will TRIZ help ?
If not, how to change TRIZ to take this lack into account ?

Remark : there is an opportunity to develop specific FSW tools which allow the production of holes whose geometrical aspect is as close as possible to a round cylinder