1.

INTRODUCTION
Friction welding was first developed in the Soviet Union, with first experiments
taking place in 1956. The American companies Caterpillar, Rockwell International,
and American Manufacturing Foundry all developed machines for this process.
Patents were also issued throughout Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Friction welding, as the name implies, uses friction to weld joints. There is no
external heat that is applied in the joining process. Friction welding is a class of solid-
state joining technique. Solid state joining technique refers to welding processes that
don’t use external heat. Instead, external pressure is applied to a solid state to form
the weld.

Friction welding produces coalescence in workpieces by generating heat through

mechanical friction between a moving component and a stationary one, and at the
same time a lateral force called ‘upset’ is applied to the parts, in order to plastically
displace and fuse the material. Under normal conditions, the faying surfaces do not
melt. Filler metal, flux and shielding gas are not required with this process.

Figure 1: Friction Welding

2. PROCESS PRINCIPLE

2.1 Principle
If you rub your palms against each other, you’ll observe that your palms will
become hot. As you increase the pressure and speed further, you will start feeling
warmer. The same principle of heat generation by friction is used in friction welding,
where the metal parts are made to rub against each other at extremely high speed
and pressure.

In this welding process, the friction is used to generate heat at the interference
surface. This heat is further used to join two work pieces by applying external
pressure at the surface of work piece. In this welding process, the friction is applied
until the plastic forming temperature is achieved. It is normally 900-1300 degree
centigrade for steel. After this heating phase, a uniformly increasing pressure force
applied until the both metal work pieces makes a permanent joint. This joint is
created due to thermo mechanical treatment at the contact surface.

Figure 2: Basic principle of friction welding

2.2 Working Step

Figure 3: Principle step of friction welding

The principle step for friction welding is firstly, both the workpieces are
prepared for smooth square surface. One of them is mounted on a rotor driven chuck
and other one remains stationary. The rotor allows rotating at high speed. A little
pressure force is applied on the stationary work piece which permits cleaning the
surface by burnishing action.

Next, a high pressure force applied to the stationary work piece which forces it
toward rotating work piece and generates a high friction force. This friction generates
heat at the contact surface. It is applied until the plastic forming temperature is
achieved. When the temperature is reached the desire limit, the rotor is stopped and
the pressure force is applied increasingly until the whole weld is formed.

3. EQUIPMENTS
Friction welding process is involved with equipment, which is easy to construct. A
schematic view of a typical friction welding apparatus is shown in Figure 4. A friction
welder can operate at different applied load conditions, which depend on the parts
size and parts material. The maximum typical load for metallic parts is in the order of
120 KN. In general, the welder motor has variable speed, which could be controlled
by a computer. A typical welder speed for metallic parts is in the order of 3500 rpm.
The friction welder operating parameters include rotational speed, friction pressure,
friction time, forging pressure, feed rate, brake delay time, upset delay time, and
upsetting time. The operating parameters can be controlled by a computer for a
desired end product quality.
 Figure 4: Schematic view of friction welding apparatus

4. ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS OF THE PROCESS

4.1 Advantages
 Easily joins dissimilar metals. This means the ability to use more expensive
corrosion resisting materials where needed, and less resistant but sufficiently
strong materials where there is no need
 The full surface of the cross section is made up of both metals, airtight and
absent of voids.
 Friction welds are higher strength than other means of joining.
 Friction welds often cost less as there are no consumables like filler metals
fluxes etc.
 Friction welds minimize the Heat Affected Zone (HAZ).
 Friction welding minimizes the need to clean furnace residues from the entire
part, post welding.

4.2 Disadvantages
 This is mostly used only for round bars of same cross section.
 Non-forgeable material cannot be weld.
 Preparation of work piece is more critical
 High setup cost.
 Joint design is limited.
5. APPLICATION OF THE PROCESS IN MODERN INDUSTRIES
 It is used to make tubes and shafts.
 It is mostly used in aerospace, automobile, marine, and oil industries.
 Used in electrical industries for welding copper and aluminium equipment.
 It is used to weld gear levers, drill bits, connecting rod, etc.
6. REFERENCES
 Techminy. “Friction Welding Process and Its Various Application.” TechMiny,
22 Nov. 2016, techminy.com/friction-welding/.

 “What Is Friction Welding?” TWI, www.twi-global.com/technical-

knowledge/faqs/faq-what-is-friction-welding.

 Akinlabi, Esther Titilayo, and Rasheedat Modupe Mahamood. “Introduction to

Friction Welding, Friction Stir Welding and Friction Stir Processing.”
Mechanical Engineering Series Solid-State Welding: Friction and Friction Stir
Welding Processes, 2020, pp. 1–12., doi:10.1007/978-3-030-37015-2_1.

 “Friction Welding: Operation, Machines and Applications.” Your Article

Library, 6 Feb. 2017, www.yourarticlelibrary.com/welding/friction-
welding/friction-welding-operation-machines-and-applications/97490.