UK researchers hope to bring rotary friction welding to the manufacturing mainstream

News

Engineers at The University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) are exploring the use of rotary friction welding to help reduce materials wastage and production time.

Rotary Friction Welding is a solid-state technique that works by rotating one part at high speed whilst pressing it against another stationary part. The resulting friction heats the parts and “welds” them together.

As well as being faster and more energy efficient than alternative welding techniques, the process is also claimed to produce higher integrity welds.

Though it is currently used across a number of niche manufacturing areas within the aerospace and oil and gas sectors, the AFRC team hopes that its work will help open up wider applications for the process.

Working with two rotary friction welding machines, the biggest of their kind in any UK research centre, AFRC engineers and technicians are looking at how the capability could be integrated with other advanced manufacturing techniques used at the centre.

One of the initial projects using the new equipment will see rotary friction welding used alongside other capabilities at the centre to develop a high performance, high integrity component for aerospace applications.

Register now to continue reading

Thanks for visiting The Engineer. You’ve now reached your monthly limit of news stories. Register for free to unlock unlimited access to all of our news coverage, as well as premium content including opinion, in-depth features and special reports.  

Benefits of registering

  • In-depth insights and coverage of key emerging trends

  • Unrestricted access to special reports throughout the year

  • Daily technology news delivered straight to your inbox

Register
Or continue by

Signing in with your registered email address