Machine Talk Blog

You might not realize it yet, but friction welded parts are all around us, from the cars you drive to the planes you fly in.

Here’s a look at some everyday objects you never knew were friction welded:

Friction welding is rooted in a fairly simple, yet effective concept: make good parts great and strong parts even stronger.

Following a nearly seven-week closure of our buildings amid the COVID-19 pandemic, MTI reopened its doors on May 11 to resume US operations after Indiana's governor deemed it was safe for non-essential manufacturers to do so.

The future of integration is now. What do I mean by that? I mean, we have seen many examples of how friction welding is seamlessly integrated into an automated manufacturing process. A number of our customers are already working with us and integrating friction welding technology into their production process. Based on their successes, it is the right time to take advantage of this innovative process that leads to (1) process repeatability, (2) improved cycle time, (3) increased production volume, and (4) cost savings.

The solid state, forged quality bonded joint offered by friction welding has made it an ideal manufacturing process for the automotive industry. With the ability to create highly durable, customized components for everything from commercial to personal use vehicles, friction welding helps Tier One manufacturers design flexible solutions to ever-changing challenges of the automotive industry.

As the world continues to grapple with the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, we want to ensure our customers understand how MTI is responding to the situation and how the restrictions will impact our business operations in the coming weeks.

Whether it's as small as adding a protective case to your new smartphone or as advanced as installing a state-of-the-art security system to monitor your home, it's natural and sensible to want to keep your personal property safe.

The whir of machines, the beep of a forklift— a manufacturing floor isn't exactly a place you'd go to find some peace and quiet. But nestled among the hustle and bustle of MTI's Manufacturing Services building, you'll find a much quieter place; one that fosters thorough analyses and a methodical evaluation process that's one part science, one part art.

2020. We made it.

The confetti has fallen, the noisemakers have been tucked back into storage, and now, we're left with an unfiltered view of both a new year and a new decade (unless you're one of those people who believes the new decade doesn't begin until 2021, but that's a separate discussion.)

Though MTI is eager to dive head-first into 2020, we first want to pause and reflect on our accomplishments from 2019 – after all, without them, we wouldn't be where we are now!

Developing and engineering a part for the aerospace industry is no easy task — but then again, why should it be? Companies depend on these parts to help keep passengers and cargo safe each time a plane takes off, lands and every step in between.

Friction welding is not a one-size-fits-all process — that's what makes it such a versatile joining method.  It's just as effective for joining components that you can fit in the palm of your hand as it is for joining parts that require a crane to move from one place to another.

Throughout the past few episodes of Whiteboard Wednesdays, we've walked you through some of the key benefits of Low Force Friction Welding.

Long before the word "Tesla" spurred any thoughts beyond the iconic inventor of the 1800s, companies around the world were relying on friction welding to join their parts.  But just as automotive technology has shifted throughout the decades, friction welding has followed right along, aligning with the demands of the modern consumer and commercial vehicle market.

Technology innovator EWI is pleased to introduce Manufacturing Technology, Inc, as its newest Strategic Technology Member. Together, EWI and MTI, a leading manufacturer of inertia, direct drive, and hybrid friction welders, will work in collaboration to advance the new hybrid joining technology known as low force friction welding.

If you haven't seen the recent headlines about manufacturing across the Midwest, allow us to summarize: the skills gap is growing.

If you've been following along with our Whiteboard Wednesdays series, by now, you are likely beginning to understand some of the key benefits of Low Force Friction Welding.

In this episode, we will walk you through one of the biggest advantages of Low Force — the ability to accomplish little to no interior flash (ID.)

If you peel back the exterior of an airplane, you will find thousands of parts working together to help safely lift the plane into flight. And if you look a little closer, you'll notice some of those parts were joined by friction welding.

MTI has successfully friction-welded dozens of parts for aircraft and the aerospace industry. But perhaps no part is more complicated to take from concept to completion than the blisk.

Jim Hoffman, MTI's Chief Metallurgist, examines a weld at the Sheridan Street lab.

Resting his face against the eyepiece of a microscope, MTI Chief Metallurgist Jim Hoffman meticulously spins a cluster of knobs, gradually bringing a customer’s latest weld into focus. He squints, rotates another dial then shifts his eyes toward his computer.  His keyboard clicks rhythmically as he adds to the notes sprawled across his two monitors.

In our last episode of Whiteboard Wednesday, we introduced you to a brand-new style of solid-state joining, Low-Force Friction Welding.

You've read our blogs, you've watched our videos and you feel like you have a basic understanding of how friction welding works.

Adding to its growing list of value-added services, MTI’s Manufacturing Services division has welcomed two new CNC machines to its 117-thousand square-foot facility.

For decades, MTI has been using friction welding to create unique joining solutions for customers across a variety of industries.

Oil sands production is a tough, demanding operation. The impact loads are earth-shattering, and the often brutally cold temperatures do little to provide any relief to the machinery operating in this highly abrasive environment.

Constanza Lengerich (right) chats with controls engineer, Ray Szajko.

Situated in a quiet office on the second floor of MTI’s global headquarters in South Bend, Indiana, Constanza Lengerich carefully examines a new batch of data from her team’s latest weld. The numbers excite and energize her – they signal pivotal progress in the company’s research and development of a new form of solid-state joining, Low-Force Friction Welding.

GLASGOW — Two MTI-built rotary friction welding machines have found a new and purposeful home at the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC), which specializes in innovative manufacturing technologies, metal forming and forging research.

When it comes to aerospace and automotive applications, bigger isn't always better.  In fact, companies invest a lot of time and money into figuring out how to trim the weight of their critical parts.

The world of friction welding is vast -- and so is the vocabulary used to describe it! We've compiled a list of the most commonly used friction welding terms -- from machine components to MTI's processes -- to help you grow your engineering mind!

It's no secret Friction Welding is a highly scientific process; it involves a lot of calculations, engineering and research to get it right. But thanks to the MTI-engineered control system found on each of our friction welding machines, you can trust our technology to do the complex work for you on your shop floor!

We understand life's biggest moments don't always wait until the end of the work day. On most occasions, MTI employees can take advantage of a flexible schedule — meaning you can do things like volunteer in your child's classroom or tag along on a field trip without using any time off.

DETROIT – The first and only linear friction welder capable of full-sized part development in North America is now fully operational and ready for project work at LIFT - Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow, a national manufacturing innovation facility operated by the American Lightweight Materials Innovation Institute, in Detroit.

Steel and Inconel: they look similar, but metallurgically speaking, they’re two very different materials. They melt at different temperatures, they have different densities and their forgeabilities vary greatly.

Starting a new career can be intimidating. But at MTI, you don't have to do it alone. 

Kingswinford, UK – MTI Welding Technologies, Ltd. is building a state-of-the-art friction welding machine for a leading truck manufacturer in Europe.

South Bend, Ind. - Recently recognized for its role in high-profile space missions, Manufacturing Technology, Inc. (MTI) is gearing up to showcase its friction welding expertise to some of the biggest aerospace influencers in the nation.

Technology and infrastructure have certainly grown over the past 49 years, but so has MTI's commitment to helping our environment.

At MTI, there’s a reason why we use the word “family” so often – it’s at the core of who we are as an organization.

Friction Welding has become the premier choice for companies looking to join dissimilar metals.  Because Friction Welding is a solid-state joining process that does not require melting, it allows for the bonding of two metals, such as Copper and Aluminum, that may be impossible to join with more traditional welding techniques.

With fusion welding processes like MIG and TIG welding, it can be challenging to join dissimilar metals because they often differ substantially in composition and physical, mechanical and metallurgical properties.

At MTI’s Manufacturing Services, we do more than bond parts together; we provide you with a proven, turnkey solution. Whether you need help with just one portion of the friction welding process or want guidance every step of the way, MTI’s team of highly skilled engineers is ready to help.

Tom Budd, MTI Friction Welding Solutions Manager, poses in the MTI booth at the Pacific Design & Manufacturing Show in Anaheim, California

More companies than ever now understand the benefits of Friction Welding, thanks to MTI's recent appearance at the Pacific Design & Manufacturing Show.

Jamie Clews (right) looks over the controls on a machine.

In part five of MTI's Eyes of an Engineer series, we sit down with Global Controls Technical Lead Jamie Clews.  Read on to see how an MTI college program transformed into a full-time job and a move to a new country for Jamie.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The friction welding experts at Manufacturing Technology, Inc. (MTI) are helping welcome the next generation of American space travel and preparing to launch NASA astronauts on missions to deep space through the world’s only exploration-class space systems: NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Orion spacecraft and the Exploration Ground Systems that launch these vehicles.   

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Continuing its longtime dedication to excellence, Manufacturing Technology, Inc. (MTI) has renewed its AS9100 certification, a key quality indicator for companies working in the aerospace and defense industries.

As the global leader in Friction Welding, Manufacturing Technology, Inc. (MTI) is always looking forward, searching for ways to help put the future of innovative manufacturing into customers’ hands.

WELDING PROBLEMS THE RAIL INDUSTRY FACES TODAY

For decades, railroad companies have been welding 80-foot rails to form Continuous Welded Rails (CWRs) that span from 400 feet to several miles. To accomplish this, they’ve heavily relied on two forms of welding: thermite and flash-butt. However, despite the wide use of these two processes, a significant percentage of railroad failures are a result of low-quality welds.

Friction welding is a solid state joining process. It’s actually a forging process: not a welding process. In the Friction Welding process we use relative motion and high force in order to create frictional heat at the weld interface. This heats the materials being joined to the point where they will plasticize without melting. The result is molecular intermixing at the weld interface and a forged quality joint.

  SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 9, 2018: Manufacturing Technology, Inc. (MTI) has shipped North America’s first linear friction welder capable of full sized part development to the LIFT - Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow facility in Detroit where it will contribute to cutting edge lightweighting research in the automotive and aerospace sectors.

PICTURED FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Jamie Clews (MTI Global Controls Technical Lead), Brian Roberts (MTI Manufacturing Operations Lead), Scott Knoll (Amerisure Senior Risk Management Consultant), Daniel C. Adams (MTI President & CEO), Mark Wobbe (Gibson Principal, Risk Advisor), MariClare Osborn (MTI Director of Human Resources), and Jeff Lovin (MTI Director of Technical Operations).  

SOUTH BEND, IN - SEPTEMBER 28, 2018:  Manufacturing Technology, Inc. (MTI) today was awarded for outstanding safety performance by Amerisure Insurance Company. MTI was presented the award at its world headquarters in South Bend, IN after maintaining 365 days without a recordable incident. The last time the company achieved this was in 2005.  Additionally, MTI has sustained an impressive 419 days without a loss time incident during the period beginning on July 2017 through September 2018.

For four decades, MTI has been a global leader in friction welding technology — a forging technique that offers many advantages over traditional, fusion welding. With the ability to create super-strong bonds of virtually any size, friction welding is uniquely capable of serving a broad spectrum of industries.

One industry in which we are constantly innovating, is that of aerospace. With changing priorities and advancing technologies that create more demanding joining applications, MTI is continually adapting the rotary and linear friction welding processes to meet the demands of aerospace engineers and manufacturers .

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining process that’s especially popular in the aerospace, transportation, and electronics industries.

Below, we'll explore some commonly asked questions about Friction Stir Welding.

In our fourth installment of Eyes of an Engineer, we introduce you to junior service engineer James Lovell and junior design engineer Luke Barratt.  Luke and James both graduated from MTI’s apprenticeship program in February of 2018.

Discover why they chose MTI, what they learned, and where they’re headed next.