A method of forming a stamped part includes forming a tailor welded blank by friction stir welding (FSW) a first blank to a second blank, removing a FSW start spot and a FSW stop spot from the tailor welded blank using a machining process such that a finished tailor welded blank is formed and stamping the finished tailor welded blank into the stamped part such that a weld formed by FSW the first blank to the second blank is plastically deformed. The first blank and the second blank can be aluminum alloy blanks and a predetermined amount of material is machined from the FSW start spot and the FSW stop spot, the predetermined amount of material being equal to or greater than a thickness of the first blank and the second blank.

The invention relates to an expansion clamping device having a main body (2) and an expansion sleeve (5) which is inserted into the main body (2) or surrounds the body, forming a pressure chamber (8), the pressure chamber (8) being capable of being acted upon by a hydraulic medium with resilient deformation of the expansion sleeve (5). The expansion sleeve (5) is integrally fixed to the main body (2) at the front axial end region (16) and/or at the rear axial end region (17) of the pressure chamber (8) via a friction-welded connection (14).

A method for forming a large-diameter special-shaped cross section thin-wall tubular part. A tailor welded barrel blank is adopted as an original blank for forming of the large-diameter special-shaped cross section thin-wall tubular part. After a desired shape is formed, the original weld joint is removed and butt joint tailor welding is performed on the tubular part again. Since the tailor weld joint of the original barrel blank is removed from the final part, there is no need to consider the consistency or coordination of the microstructure of the weld joint and the base metal during the forming process and the subsequent thermal treatment process.

A method of sealing a hole in a wall of a hollow structure comprises providing a sealed chamber that is external to the structure and that is in fluid communication with an internal space of the structure via the hole. The structure may be a pipe-in-pipe structure and the internal space may be an annulus between outer and inner pipes. Fluid flows through the hole into or out of the chamber as the pressure and/or composition of fluid in the internal space is adjusted. Then, a plug is spun and friction-welded into the hole. The plug is inserted into the hole from within the chamber.

A method of friction stir processing (FSP) includes contacting a first workpiece with a FSP tool, where the first workpiece is a low-melting temperature metal or alloy and the FSP tool is a single-body FSP tool having a diamond working surface. The method also includes rotating the FSP tool in contact with the first workpiece at an interface and generating thermal energy at the interface to heat the first workpiece. The method further includes conducting thermal energy away from the interface with the FSP tool, and friction stirring the first workpiece at a temperature of the FSP tool below 800° C.

The disclosure sets out a method for producing an electrical line arrangement by integrally joining a free end of an electrical conductor to a metal component. The method includes reshaping a section of the metal component to form a receiving sleeve, inserting the conductor into the receiving sleeve, attaching a friction welding tool to the receiving sleeve, and moving the friction welding tool relative to the metal component and/or the conductor for generating welding energy for at least partially melting a portion facing the conductor, e.g. an inner wall, the metal component and/or the conductor.

A method and apparatus for joining using friction and current, wherein the friction/current joining apparatus includes a friction device, a forging device, an electrical current source, and a programmable controller, as well as workpiece holders for the workpieces to be joined. The friction/current joining apparatus is controlled such that, in a contacting phase, the workpieces are initially moved along a process axis, and their mutually facing joining surfaces oriented transverse to a common process axis are brought into contact. In a grinding phase, while subjected to contact pressure by mutual relative movement, the joining surfaces, are ground together and made smooth. At the end of the grinding phase, the relative frictional movement is permanently stopped and, in a forging phase following the grinding phase, the workpieces are pressed together, plasticized, and joined while subjected to contact pressure on their contacting joining surfaces along the process axis, and subjected to conductive heating with electrical current.

The present invention includes: a preparation process configured to provide a first metal member including an end portion with a vertical face, and a second metal member including an end portion with an inclined face, a higher melting point and a smaller plate thickness than the first metal member; a butting process configured to butt the end portions of the first metal member and the second metal member against each other and form a butted portion with a V-shaped gap; and a joining process configured to join the first metal member and the second metal member together by inserting the rotating rotary tool from only a front face of the first metal member and relatively moving the rotary tool along the butted portion while only the stirring pin is in contact with at least the first metal member.

An electrical conductor, in particular a flat conductor, comprising at least one through opening, and a contact part connected to the conductor at the through opening in a substance-to-substance bond, the contact part having an axially extending first section and a radially extending second section, characterized in that the second section is formed as a flange and a side of the flange facing the conductor has a surface having at least one recess and/or at least one protrusion and a surface welded to the conductor.

An axle assembly and method of manufacture. The axle assembly may include a sleeve that is disposed in a spindle and that is in sealing engagement with the spindle proximate opposing ends. The sleeve has a smaller diameter than the spindle such that a fluid passage is provided between the spindle and the sleeve.