INTERFACE WELDING

20722 Belshaw Ave. ? Carson, CA 90746 ? Tel (310) 323-4944 Fax (310) 635-7929

History.....
Since 1967, Interface Welding has been providing a service called "Inertia/Friction Welding". A wide variety of companies have been using our service successfully in their products for over 31 years. Many of these items are used in critical application areas. Our customer base includes many small manufactures as well as some of the world's largest and most prestigious. Most welds are made to generate cost reductions and product improvement on new parts. However, many welds are being made to reclaim used parts and to salvage or modify new ones.

With a wide variety of welding machines our weld size capacity ranges from approx. 1/8" diameter to 3" diameter in solid bar. Tubular sizes range from 1/8" diameter to 9 1/2" diameter. With complete complete toolroom capabilities, tools are designed and built in house.

The staff at Interface Welding, works with design and/or manufacturing engineers to design parts that can be both cost effective as well as have the proper pre-weld dimensions. In order to properly establish an acceptable weld, a development procedure is used place to determine the proper parameters. These parameters are repeatable so that production parts will be produced each time with the same quality weld. When necessary, welds that must be made to critical specifications, i.e. MIL STD 1252 and others, Interface Welding is highly qualified and is specified on many original drawings as vendor of choice.

The Process......

The Inertia Welding process is a solid state welding technique that actually forges metal together without causing or requiring a melt product to occur. As there is no melt product produced during the Inertia Weld, there is no recast metal or grain enlargement after the weld is completed.

The way it works, is by holding one component in a collet device on a rotatable spindle. Also attached to the spindle is a flywheel of a specific weight. The other component is held in a non-rotatable chucking device on the tail stock.

The weld cycle consists of the spindle being accelerated to a pre-determined and set speed which is controlled electronically to shut off the drive system when the set speed is reached. This allows the mass of the rotating components to be free and driven at kinetic energy alone. At that precise time, a controlled pressure is applied axially forcing the parts together and causing friction to accrue at the weld interface. This pressure or "load" is maintained until all of the energy in the rotating mass has been consumed in the weld, thereby stopping the rotating component. During the weld cycle, metal which was in the interface, became plastic as a result of the frictional heat and was forged out of the weld. The remaining plasticized metal was hot worked together to to accomplish the weld. This results in length loss, referred to as upset.

Because of the inherent repeatability of the energy input under controlled pressure, upset measurement, once it has been determined for a given weld become the first key factor in determining weld quality. It is really quite simple, in any given material combination, a given energy load, will cause a given amount of material to displace, called upset.

Commercial uses......
Many commercial parts are candidates for inertia welding due to the fact that the weld is accomplished quickly and with minimum clean-up. The fact that the weld is at 100% strength, it provides a stronger part than traditional welds.

Suggested uses are, but not limited to: Tool extensions, tool blanks, baseball bats, golf putters, air cylinders, munitions, fasteners, oil pipe and waterpipe fittings, bicycle parts, medical equipment, marine equipment, electrical equipment, photographic and sound equipment.

Aerospace.......
Full strength inertia welded parts are used in a wide variety of aerospace applications. Because of the localized weld, many critical heat treated and finish ground parts can be welded with minimal distortion. Items such as turbine wheels and shafts, pressure vessels, landing gear struts, ballscrew assemblies, actuator components, gear blanks and gear assemblies are just a few examples. Many Interface Welding parts have been used in satellites, space shuttles Hubble Telescope and numerous scientific missions.

Hydraulic.......

Hydraulic cylinders and valves are prime candidates for inertia welding. The cylinders can be completely machined and the caps can be weld on afterwards providing for cost reductions and minimal inventory requirements. For irregular shapes, the cylinder can be welded to a larger piece of material to reduce cost and machine time. This process also lends itself to the pistons and shaft weldments as well as side ports.

Automotive.......

In many automotive applications it is necessary to use different stress loads on various types of materials. In some cases the requirement of two types of metal on one part such as a valve serves the requirement of "putting the right metal in the right place". Using a stronger material for the stem and a heat tolerant material for the head. Other applications include, differential spools, drive shafts, axles, front wheel drive shaft joints, wheels and rims, certain camshaft and crankshaft applications. Depending on the application, the parts can be welded in a pre-weld configuration or a semi-finished condition.

Bi-Metal..........

Since 1966, Inertia Friction Welding, a solid state metal joining process, has been successfully used to join a wide range of metals that are commonly considered not weldable. These full strength welds, when helium leak tested, will exceed requirements of 10 -9, showing less leakage at the joint than thru parent metal. Many discriminating companies use bi-metal weldments produced by Interface Welding, which was founded in 1967.

Product applications range from electrical connectors, vacuum and pressure systems, satellite heat pipes and pressure storage systems, turbine engine components, cryogenic fittings, glass to metal seals and numerous other critical products. This technology is being expanded daily in our facility. You are invited to challenge us with your application needs. For a quick reference we have provided a glossary of weld combinations, Metal Index.The list by no means is the limit of our capabilities. It is only a guide to developed weld combinations. We are continually adding new combinations in a variety of metals.

What is a bi-metal transition?
It is a part made up of two metals that are welded together with a high integrity weld. Frequently these metal combination are ones that are considered not weldable with conventional methods. This transition part now allows conventional welding processes to be used for welding one metal to itself for a trouble free joint. Put the metal you want where you want it, for cost, wear, corrosion, protection or to simplify future processing. Bi-metal fittings like these are used in pressure vessels, vacuum and heat pipe systems. Joints can be made to standard production fittings.

These bi-metal Stainless Steel and Aluminum fittings are popular in cryogenic applications.

Copper to stainless steel is one popular combination used in nuclear piping systems.

Full strength bi-metal welds like these Inertia Welded parts are used in a wide variety of product applications. On the Space Shuttle several cryogenic fuel cells have caps that are made of stainless steel inertia welded to aluminum. The electrical connectors are made of copper, is also inertia welded to aluminum. It is the intelligent, cost efficient approach to producing these "impossible " joints.

Metal Index

This glossary is only a guide and is not intended to imply that metals not shown are not weldable.

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