Friction welding – critical assessment of literature

Friction welding is now well established as a means of joining many different types of materials, because it has proved itself to be a reliable and economical way of producing high quality welds. The present paper introduces different friction welding processes, their advantages and shortcomings. The history of friction welding and typical applications are also reviewed. In the context of friction welding, a number of subjects, such as frictional behaviour, joining mechanism, interface temperature and heat generation, still exist, where different concepts for explanation of the physical mechanisms have been proposed by different investigators. To clarify some inconsistencies in the interpretation of the friction welding process, a thorough review and critical assessment of the literature associated with this process is attempted.