Developments In Friction Welding Technology

This presentation will give an overview of developments in Friction Stir Welding (FSW) and Linear Friction Welding (LFW). In FSW, recent innovations at TWI called ‘Stationary Shoulder Corner FSW (SSCFSW)’ and ‘AdStir’ are two new techniques which have the potential to be applied to a range of new joint geometries, extend the product design possibilities and bring the benefits of FSW to a wider range of applications. Initial trials in aluminium alloys using SSCFSW have clearly demonstrated that this technique has the ability to produce high quality internal and external corner welds. Further enhancements to this technique have allowed fillet radii to be added to internal corners. Using the SSCFSW technique, a shaped shoulder is used to form a chamfer into the desired fillet form and, in the case of the AdStir technique, a consumable filler is added and provides the material for the fillet.

In the area of LFW, TWI has been very active in manufacture of blisks, and in the production of several types of pre-form to save money on raw material procurement, reduce post process machining and reduce the buy to fly ratio of parts. A review of machine and process developments will be given in this talk to indicate the extensive developments that have taken place at TWI in recent years.