6. Applications

Friction welding has found an interest in the small mechanical engineering sector, for which flash butt welding has the disadvantage of its heating-up phase, and electron beam welding that of its cost. This essentially mechanical process has proved popular with machine shops, the most common of which are in the automotive industry. It should be pointed out that friction conditions are not critical, and it is necessary to ensure that the area where the phenomenon is most active is present for both the dimensions and materials encountered in mechanical engineering. As soon as we move beyond these data, friction loses its relevance. Under certain conditions, for asymmetrical copper-aluminium assemblies where it is known that both can be cold-soldered, friction seems to have no role other than the mechanical cleaning of the surfaces required to install the bond.

When...