Industrial Members of TWI can now benefit from a radical approach to additive manufacture and multi-blade turbine production from a state-of-the-art linear friction welding machine.
The E20 linear friction welder, manufactured by Thompson Friction Welding, has a 20 tonne forging capacity, and features an open platform design, making it flexible for joining a wide variety of parts typically used in the aerospace sector, but also in other markets including automotive and power generation.
TWI can to use the E20 for welding a range of parts in materials including titanium, nickel and high strength aluminium alloys, for parts such as blisks and airframe structures. Equipped with Thompson's latest software for data capture and weld monitoring capabilities, the machine is suitable for joining similar/dissimilar materials in almost any shape from rings and blades to fans and square metal contactors.
Thompson recently produced the world's largest commercially-available linear friction welding machine, the E100, for joining parts up to 10,000mm.
The linear process offers many benefits for aero component makers compared with machining parts from solid billets. In particular, it provides significant opportunities to save raw materials and substantially reduce buy-to-fly ratios. This highly capable process has been used by jet engine makers to join safety-critical components for more than 20 years'.
For further information read about Linear Friction Welding at TWI or contact us.