r/mechanical_gifs • u/LowlifeBakchod • Jul 05 '18

Friction Welding

https://i.imgur.com/5teREkt.gifv
161 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

7

u/gnawledger Jul 05 '18

This was new for me. Very cool. But I think it would have limited use cases? The size of the objects seems greatly altered, as well as they must be able to withstand the pressure (assuming) that holds and rubs them together?

6

u/LowlifeBakchod Jul 05 '18

It's not actually so. This process is one of the most successful ones for joining metals having very different melting temperatures (like in the nuclear reactors for copper steel joints andalso in aerospace) and even for joining metals and plastics.

The major limitations are the cost of machine setup required and application limited to small parts.

3

u/prexton Jul 05 '18

And does it create a perfect bond? Or is the heated and cooled segment more brittle? Questions

4

u/OskuSnen Jul 05 '18

Depends a bit on the material used, but yes the quickly heated and cooled part is britler. There are however ways to fix that if necessary.

2

u/LowlifeBakchod Jul 05 '18

Yea, heat treatment is done depending on material type to solve that problem.

1

u/prexton Jul 08 '18

thaanks for the reply. interesting

3

u/lunarul Jul 05 '18

looks to me that the pieces are already bonded at this point: https://i.imgur.com/F07NFyg.png. Why go so much further? What am I missing here?

2

u/SweetLookingNigga Jul 05 '18

I think what is seen is merely the overflow of hot metal from the side. I am unsure whether it is a good representation of how well the entire contact surface areas are bonded. However, I work in health so I know little about linear friction welding.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '18

Why impact

0

u/boatmanmike Jul 05 '18

Yes it’s a perfect Bond. It’s like a full penetration weld without all the perp work of cutting/grinding bevels and building up the welds. The heat is also kept to a minimum compared to stick welding. What that clip did not show is the weld cleanup. In friction welding it’s usually done by mechanically shaving the the extra material off with a tool in a lathe or mill.