MTI UK 
FWT
The International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) is held every two years in Chicago giving national and international manufacturing companies an opportunity to network, learn about new technologies and engage with colleagues. This year’s IMTS wrapped up on September 17, 2016 and once again MTI was thrilled to have spent the week meeting new people, hearing about new challenges and teaching people about friction welding.
Telling Our Story
Feeding off the energy of our 90th anniversary, we had a great time sharing our story with IMTS attendees. Since 1926, we have been partnering with customers to utilize the latest technologies and IMTS gave us the opportunity to talk about all of the forms of friction welding – rotary, linearand friction stir. As we spoke with people abut friction welding, many questions came up about our processes. One of the most recurring questions was about bi-metallic joining.
Bi-metallic joining is the process of joining two dissimilar metals with a forged quality bond. Using rotary, linear andfriction stir welding, we can join materials like copper and aluminum for battery components, or we can join carbon steel and stainless steel to make a submersible pump motor with a bi-metallic motor shaft (which requires both proper magnetic properties and corrosive resistance). This ability to join different materials with different properties sets MTI apart and provides a great benefit for our customers in the automotive, aerospace, military, power generation, consumer electronics and mining sectors.
Reading the Tea Leaves
Finding and understanding what the future holds in the joining industry is a key part of our work. These trends can lead to important advances in technology. We had some great conversations about trends in the joining industry. In addition to bi-metallic joining, we found that attendees were interested in additive manufacturing and partnering with other companies to develop new components, applications and processes. More specifically:
- Additive manufacturing consists of taking powdered material and fusion welding it together – layer by layer – to create a lattice structure and, ultimately, a finished product. You might have heard of this process: 3D printing. It’s been an increasingly popular form of designing and creating new components for various applications. Being able to join multiple smaller parts into a larger part increases the benefit of additive manufacturing. MTI has successfully joined 3D printed parts to standard structures which lowers costs and increases the benefits of this process.
- Partnering with other companies is a truly exciting part of our business. It is exciting to bring our bonding expertise to a problem an engineer is trying to solve. Working with other companies to develop components and applications that improve product function (i.e., fuel efficiency in the automotive industry) or effectiveness (i.e., reduced part weight) while using the latest friction welding technology is a trend we’re looking forward to continuing.
Friction welding technology provides the opportunity to save both time and money. We take pride in helping engineers understand friction welding, additive manufacturing, bi-metallic joining and how friction technologies may be an answer to their design challenges. Attending the IMTS is an important part of our educational work and we hope our time there, as well as our Machine Talk Blog, will continue to increase understanding of friction welding and how it can positively impact your business.
MTI Can Solve Your Problems
MTI offers the unique ability to design friction welded parts that will best serve you and save you money at the same time. Talk with our expert engineers today to identify your needs and let us design a specialized solution for you. We’ll build a machine that makes your part, we’ll make the part for you or we’ll help you make the part even better.
To learn more about MTI, explore mtiwelding.com to find out how we can work for you.