A method of friction welding a first workpiece to a second workpiece, includes the first workpiece with a first faying surface having a first faying length, the second workpiece with a second faying surface having a second faying length, the second faying length greater than the first faying length; positioning the first workpiece adjacent the second workpiece; reciprocating the first workpiece and the second workpiece against one another, the first faying moves relative to the second faying by a sweep length, a temperature at the first and second faying surfaces increases to create a weld interface; each of the first and second workpieces are consumed into the weld interface, adjusting the sweep length the sweep length remains equal to a difference between the second and the first faying lengths; and stopping the reciprocating and allowing the first and second workpieces to cool to weld the first and second workpieces together.

A linear friction welding machine comprising a compression unit and an oscillator unit, each having a clamping holder for a workpiece. Both clamping holders are configured such that workpieces are held with the surfaces thereof to be welded, aligned and facing each other. The clamping holder of the compression unit is linearly movable relative to the clamping holder of the oscillator unit, and the latter is movable in an oscillating manner at right angles transversely with respect to the direction of travel of the compression unit and fixed to ends of vertical and horizontal supports which can be deflected laterally in a sprung manner in the oscillation direction, the other ends of which are anchored rigidly on supporting bodies. The supports are flexible under deflection in the oscillation direction but are designed to resist buckling when the clamping holders are loaded in the direction of travel of the compression unit.

A method for producing a rack for a steering gear may involve providing a toothed segment and a shaft segment aligned on a longitudinal axis and connecting the segments by axial joining faces by friction welding at a welding joint. For friction welding, the joining faces may be brought into frictional contact by an initial friction force, the segments may be rotated relative to one another, the joining faces may be mutually compressed by way of a contact pressure force until a predefined joining path has been reached by way of a welding force 10 to 20 times the initial friction force, thermal input friction may be performed by an input force 5 to 12 times the initial friction force, and the segments may be moved toward one another in an axial direction by the predefined joining path. The segments may be held in position without friction.

A component for use in a linear friction welding system includes a base portion terminating at a predefined boundary plane associated with a weld interface between the component and a further component when the component is welded to the further component. The boundary plane defines a cross sectional area of the component. A shaped charge portion extends from the boundary plane. The shaped charge portion includes a contact initiation portion having a surface area and is configured to provide initial contact between the component and the further component during the welding procedure. The cross sectional area is larger than the surface area.

The present disclosure provides a system and method for measuring energy conversion efficiency of an inertia friction welding (IFW) process in a non-contact manner. The system includes an IFW machine, a Hall sensor, a data acquisition module, a processing module and a stabilized direct current (DC) power supply. The stabilized DC power supply provides electrical energy for the Hall sensor. The Hall sensor is provided beside a flywheel of the IFW machine, so that the flywheel is within a detection range of the Hall sensor. A magnet is provided on the flywheel. The data acquisition module acquires a Hall electric potential change caused by a relative movement between the magnet and the Hall sensor during the IFW process, and transmits the Hall electric potential change to the processing module to calculate the energy conversion efficiency of the IFW machine.

A low-temperature joining method effectively suppresses reductions in the mechanical properties of a junction of various types of high-tensile steel or aluminum, and of a heat-affected zone; and produces a joint structure. A method for joining two metal materials by forming a joint interface in which the two metal materials face each other at a joint portion and plunge a rotation tool caused to rotate at a prescribed speed into the joint, the method for low-temperature joining of metal materials characterized in that the peripheral velocity of the outermost periphery of the rotation tool is set to 51 mm/s or less, whereby the recrystallization temperature inherent to the metal materials is reduced by introducing a large strain to the joint, and recrystallized grains are generated at the joint interface by setting the joining temperature to less than the recrystallization temperature inherent to the metal materials.

A friction welding apparatus is provided, which includes a tool, a rotary driver, a linear driver, and a control device. The control device controls the linear driver and the rotary driver so that the tool is rotated while a tip-end part thereof is pressed against a to-be-joined part of a to-be-joined object to increase a temperature of the to-be-joined part at or above an A1 transformation point, the tip-end part of the tool reaches a given first position so that a softened second member sticks into a softened first member, and the tool is drawn out from the to-be-joined part while the tool is rotated.

An automated electric portable friction welding system is disclosed for friction welding a fixture onto a substrate, the welding system having a linear actuator received to produce a defined stroke within a tool housing and a rotary motor engaged to said linear actuator to slide therewith. A control module controls welding operations as a function of encoded instructions and the sensor data from the linear actuator and the rotary motor, whereby the control module affords both active control of the linear actuator and rotary motor, individually to performance parameter instructions, and in coordination through phases of the weld process in response to linear actuator operation sensors and motor operation sensors. Another feature of some embodiments of the present invention is a portable friction welding network and a method for supporting portable friction welding on the cloud.

A method of friction welding a first component to a second component, the method having the steps of: rotating the first component relative to the second component about a rotation axis; and bringing the first component into contact with the second component; wherein, while the first component and the second component are in contact, a first average force is applied during a first stage of the friction welding process and a second average force is applied during a second stage of the friction welding process; and the second average force is different from the first average force.

A method of joining a first component to a second component at respective connection surfaces, comprising, in order, applying a local surface treatment to the connection surface of at least one of the first and second components in order to locally alter the microstructure to a depth of between 60 m and 10 mm below the connection surface; and joining the first component to the second component using a welding process.