Linear Friction Welding of Ti Aerospace Structures

This presentation will provide an update on recent work at TWI on the development and industrialisation of Linear Friction Welding (LFW) for critical aerospace structures in Ti alloys.

LFW is currently used in industry for the manufacture of front stage compressor blisks, typically in Ti-6Al-4V. The process is also under development for intermediate stage blisks, in both Ti and Ni alloys. This presentation will demonstrate the application of the process to a 42 blade Ti-6Al-4V blisk and will summarise the key benefits of LFW technology for this case.

LFW is also under development for the manufacture of structural components, mainly in Ti alloys. LFW is used in this application to allow solid phase additive manufacture of simple block shapes to create part pre-forms. Such pre-forms typically offer significant production cost and time advantages when compared to solid block product and heavy section forgings. The advantages of LFW manufacture will be demonstrated by considering a recent test case component produced at TWI.

Finally, this talk will summarise the general process development and industrialisation strategy typically adopted at TWI for new LFW applications. The approach makes use of a range of LFW machines (from simple lab equipment through to industry standard state-of-the-art equipment) and employs a stage gate review process to manage the advancement of technology readiness level for each new application.