Higher Productivity Welding of Titanium Alloys

This paper will review recent welding developments at TWI concerned with improving productivity when welding titanium alloys without a loss of product quality. Work carried out using high frequency pulsed TIG welding, plasma arc welding, reduced spatter MIG welding and fibre laser welding will be presented based on work from the TWI Core Research Programme and with some data from an industry driven development project. In addition, development work on the joining of titanum by stationary shoulder friction stir welding and linear friction welding will be presented, along with examples of product forms that can be manufactured. This results in a significant reduction in buy to fly ratio by substantially reducing the machining required.