Solid-state joining of preformed features, such as bosses, flanges, gaskets, centralizers and other features to substrates or cast parts by a solid-state additive manufacturing process is disclosed. Joining can be between same or different materials using same, similar or dissimilar filler material than the materials of the feature and the part that need to be joined.

The invention relates to a method and a device for the residue-free friction stir welding of workpieces with different thicknesses, having the following method steps: a) two workpieces (6) to be welded are mounted such that the workpieces can be approached by a holding bell (3) for the friction stir welding tool and the drive head (2) thereof, b) after the welding device is started up, a welding pin tip (5) is immersed into the plastified material of the two workpieces (6) to be connected, wherein a welding shoe (4) is used which has a trapezoidal structure that extends in the diagonal direction of the welding shoe (4) for receiving the welding pin tip (5), and a circular opening (14) is mounted in a web with a smoothing surface (13) which has a front edge (12) that is part of a stepped Spahn guide stage (11), c) in order to improve the method, a welding shoe (4) is used in which the stepped Spahn guide stage (11) has material conducting channels on the front edge (12).

A method for solid-state, one-shot, butt-welding of multiple coaxial metal pipe subassemblies that have a prescribed annular clearance to allow them to be welded separately yet simultaneously is described. The nested pipes or tubes making up of these subassemblies can thus be joined end to end to form pipelines or wells for oil, gas and geothermal and the like with specific desired advantages over conventional single-wall pipelines or wells casings. The advantages include an ability to monitor the condition of all or selected portions of the pressure envelope constituted by the pipeline or well casing and thereby identify damage with ample advance warning before failure and leakage or major spills occur.

A method of forming a monolithic aircraft structure having multiple aerodynamic surfaces includes forming a body component to have a body skin defining a body skin outer surface, and a body side wall integrally formed with the body skin and defining a body mating surface, the body skin outer surface providing a first aerodynamic surface. A cover component is formed to have a cover mating surface and a cover outer surface opposite the cover mating surface, the cover outer surface defining a second aerodynamic surface. The body component is positioned relative to the cover component so that the body mating surface engages the cover mating surface. At least portions of the cover mating surface are friction stir welded to the body mating surface to form friction stir welded joints between the body component and the cover component.

According to an embodiment, a method for manufacturing a thin plate comprises placing a copper piece on a side of an aluminum piece, forming a heterogeneous metal joined body by performing friction welding on the side of the aluminum piece and a side of the copper piece to thereby form a spread layer of the aluminum piece on the side of the aluminum piece, and a spread layer of the copper piece on the side of the copper piece, the respective spread layers of the aluminum piece and the copper piece being mixed into a mixed layer that is then cured, and forming the thin plate by roll-milling the heterogeneous metal joined body.

A method for reducing stress and distortion in a component during a friction welding process includes securing first and second workpieces of the component within an inertia welding machine such that the first and second workpieces are affixed in opposition to each other. The method also includes securing at least one annular support member at least partially around the first workpiece and/or the second workpiece at a location having a reduced cross-section as compared to remaining portions of the first workpiece and/or the second workpiece. Further, the method includes rotating the first workpiece to a predetermined rotational speed. In addition, the method includes engaging the second workpiece with the rotating first workpiece so as to generate frictional heat therebetween, thereby welding the first and second workpieces together. As such, the annular support member(s) supports the location having the reduced cross-section during welding.

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.

A drive shaft is configured by joining solid stub shafts formed of a medium carbon steel to both ends of a hollow tubular body formed of a medium carbon steel. When expressed as grain size number, the grain size of the hollow tubular body at joint parts where the hollow tubular body and the solid stub shafts are joined together ranges from #5 to #9, and the grain size of the solid stub shafts at the joint parts ranges from #10 to #12.

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.

The present invention relates to methods to join at least first and second metallic components in which a pre-treatment is applied to one or more region(s) of at least one of the components to be welded together before welding takes place. The pre-treatment involves contacting at least a region of the first metallic component with a rotating and translating tool such that the rotating and translating contact locally heats, softens, and mixes successive portions of at least the region of the first metallic component. The first and second metallic components are placed together such that a joint is provided between at least the pre-treated region of the first metallic component and the second metallic component. At least the pre-treated region of the first metallic component is welded to the second metallic component along at least a portion of the joint.