Improving Joint Properties of Friction Welded Joint of High Tensile Steel

This report describes the improvements in the joint properties of friction welded joint of 780MPa class high tensile steel. Welded joint made by a continuous drive friction welding machine, the conventional method, had not obtained 100% joint efficiency despite applying forge pressure. This was due to the softening of the welded interface zone for heat input during braking times. Therefore, we developed a continuous drive friction welding machine with an electromagnetic clutch to prevent heat input during braking time. We proposed the process as “The Low Heat Input Friction Welding Method (the LHI method).” In this case, the joint had the same tensile strength as the base metal at friction time when the friction torque reached the initial peak torque. That is, the welded joint obtained 100% joint efficiency by using only the friction stage up to the initial peak torque without the forge (upsetting) stage, despite the existence of a slightly softened region adjacent to the welded interface. Furthermore, the softened region was hardly generated when this joint was made by applying forge pressure at the initial peak torque. In conclusion, a welded joint of high tensile steel made by only the friction stage of the LHI method had excellent joint properties. The LHI method has a lot of advantages for joining such materials as super fine grain steel with which conventional fusion welding processes have difficulty.