Vibrations in friction welding

Abstract

For more than 50 years rotational friction welding has been successfully used for joining metallic materials. Since lightweight structures became established in industry new challenges emerge to rotational friction welding, that have not yet been studied. This report considers vibrations in rotational friction welding in order to identify possibilities and means and to avoid damage of the component structure by the production process. First the solutions available in the patent literature with the main scope on the reduction of the load are discussed. The literature does not address the source of the vibrations. Therefore, in a further step, the measured oscillations are investigated in experiments. There the focus is the origin of the oscillations building up within the workpiece. Diagrams show in which sections of the process the vibrations have to be expected. In addition to the investigation regarding the origin an analytical method enables the calculation of the oscillations. Finally, novel possibilities to reduce the vibrations, based on the results are introduced.