A component of hydraulics, via which a pressure medium connection or flow can be controlled, includes a first portion which is additively manufactured at least in part and on which there is formed at least one control geometry for controlling the pressure medium connection or flow, and a second portion joined thereto.

A method is provided for manufacturing an article. The method comprises depositing by additive friction stir deposition a wear-resistant material on a surface of a preform to provide an intermediate article. The preform comprises a first composition and the wear-resistant material comprises a second composition. The second composition is substantially different from the first composition. The method also comprises machining the intermediate article to remove therefrom at least a portion of the wear-resistant material.

A vehicle door beam and related methods of making door beams include a flat-rolled aluminum alloy sheet, where two edges of the sheet that are transverse to the roll direction of the sheet are brought together to form a tube. The two edges are friction stir welded together to form a butt joint along a length of the tube. The tube is arranged, along with other optional components, as a side-impact door beam in a vehicle door, such that the butt joint is facing away from an expected impact direction of the vehicle door.

A continuous feed method for friction stir processing includes continuously feeding a tubular material having a first grain microstructure from a bulk source into a processing chamber, and forcing the tubular material between a die and a textured end portion of a mandrel as the tubular material is advanced through the chamber. The continuous feed method further includes rotating the mandrel within the tubular material while forcing the tubular material across the textured end portion to friction stir process the tubular material and transform a structure of the tubular material from the first grain microstructure to a second grain microstructure. The second grain microstructure is a finer equiaxed grain microstructure than the first grain microstructure. The method further includes converting the tubular material having the second grain microstructure into a stiffened sheet form.

A fluid vessel assembly is provided with a first vessel body with a first mating surface with a first plurality of generally planar nonparallel regions. The first vessel body forms a first portion of a fluid cavity. A second vessel body is provided with a second mating surface with a second plurality of generally planar nonparallel regions sized to engage the first mating surface. The second vessel body forms a second portion of the fluid cavity. The first mating surface and the second mating surface are friction stir welded together. The fluid vessel assembly does not include any threaded fasteners attaching the first vessel body to the second vessel body and does not include an additional gasket associated with the first mating surface or associated with the second mating surface between the first vessel body and the second vessel body.

A method of manufacturing an induction motor rotor assembly, the method includes the steps of: providing a rotor; machining a plurality of re-entrant slots axially along an outer surface of the rotor; positioning a sleeve concentrically over the outer surface of the rotor; applying a friction stir welding process to the sleeve along each re-entrant slot axially along the outer surface of the rotor to cause the sleeve material to plasticise and flow into the axial re-entrant slot to form an axial re-entrant slot bar; and providing an electrical connection at each of the opposing axial ends of the rotor between respective ones of opposing ends of each of the axial re-entrant slot bars to thereby form the induction motor rotor.

A method for producing a welded metal blank (16) includes cutting a first initial metal sheet (1) and a second initial metal sheet (3) from a first and second metal strip (4); joining the first and second initial metal sheets (1,3) by welding so as to obtain an initial welded metal blank (9), the initial welded metal blank (9) comprising a weld joint (10) joining the first and the second initial metal sheets (1,3); and cutting said initial welded metal blank (9) by a process involving metal melting so as to obtain at least one final welded metal blank (16) comprising a first metal blank portion (17) and a second metal blank portion (18) joined by a weld joint portion (19) consisting of a portion of the weld joint (10) obtained during the joining step.

A method of manufacturing a high-pressure fluid vessel includes forming a first portion of a high-pressure fluid vessel with a molding process. The high-pressure fluid vessel includes a stack of capsules. Each capsule includes a first domed end, a second domed end, and a semicylindrical portion extending between and connecting the first domed end to the second domed end. The method further includes forming a second portion of a high-pressure fluid vessel with the molding process. The second portion of the high-pressure fluid vessel is positioned adjacent to the first portion of the high-pressure fluid vessel. The second portion of the high-pressure fluid vessel is welded to the first portion of the high-pressure fluid vessel.

Provided are a friction stir welding apparatus and a friction stir welding method that achieve highly accurate and highly reliable joining while minimizing an effect of bending of a pressing force receiving portion (carrying table) as a result of a press by a joining tool unit. The friction stir welding apparatus joins joining target members by friction stir welding. The friction stir welding apparatus is characterized by including: an apparatus main body; a control device that controls an operation of the friction stir welding apparatus; a C-shaped frame connected to the apparatus main body via a first vertical movement drive mechanism unit; a holder unit connected to one end of the C-shaped frame via a second vertical movement drive mechanism unit; and a joining tool held by the holder unit. The C-shaped frame includes a held portion connected to the apparatus main body via the first vertical movement drive mechanism unit, a holder unit holding portion connected to the holder unit via the second vertical movement drive mechanism unit, and a pressing force receiving portion connected to the other end of the C-shaped frame and receiving a pressing force from the joining tool. The control device includes a first joining mode that performs friction stir welding based on a joining command signal that determines a joining condition of the joining tool, and a first holding position determining signal that determines a first holding position of the first vertical movement drive mechanism unit, and a second joining mode that performs friction stir welding based on the joining command signal and a second holding position determining signal obtained by correcting the first holding position determining signal such that a depth or a range of a joined portion becomes constant in accordance with a state of the pressing force receiving portion. The first joining mode and the second joining mode are included in one joining pass from insertion of the joining tool into the joining target members to extraction of the joining target members.

A friction stir spot welding device which welds an object to be welded, by softening the object by friction heat and by stirring the object, has a tool with a cylindrical shape, the tool being rotatable around an axis thereof, advanceable along a direction of the axis, and retractable along the direction of the axis, a temperature detector which detects a temperature of the tool when a welding step for the object starts, and a controller configured to compare the temperature of the tool which is detected by the temperature detector to a predetermined reference temperature to set a plunging force applied by the tool to press the object.