Overview of welding and joining of titanium

Dr. Richard Freeman TWI Ltd, Cambridge, UK European Titanium Conference 23-24 June 2009

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Agenda
Brief introduction to TWI Welding and joining of Ti Arc welding developments Friction welding developments Summary

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What is TWI ?
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Membership based Research and Technology Organisation since 1946 Professional society Company limited by guarantee 550 staff worldwide 45m turnover in 2008 Over 3500 Industrial members in 60 countries Non profit distributing

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Welding & Joining of Ti

Arc welding Laser welding and direct metal deposition Electron beam welding and surface texturing Friction welding Diffusion bonding Brazing and soldering

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Arc Welding
HF DCEN TIG TOPTIG Keyhole Plasma Reduced Spatter MIG

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High frequency TIG welding

INTERPULSE WELD DEPOSIT

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INVERTER WELD DEPOSIT

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TOPTIG
TOPTIG claims : High quality / No spatter Good welding speed (MIG) Reasonable Investment Costs
MIG Welding TOPTIG

Courtesy Air Liquide CTAS

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Keyhole Plasma Welding

Higher productivity than TIG and MIG Deep penetration in single pass - up to 18mm Above 4mm, welding speed is typically 3 times that of conventional TIG Reduced susceptibility to porosity

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Plasma keyhole weld joints

Square edge closed butt in 10 mm Ti6246 Single autogenous weld pass with 200mm/min welding speed

Edge joint in 10mm thick Ti-6246

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MIG welding using different wires

G-coat wire (WT2G)

Conventional wire

Welding Wire : Titanium (ErTi-2) ; 1.0mm Welding Condition : 100A-17V-60cm/min

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Bead-on-Plate
30mm

Novel wire(G-Coat) - Argon shield

30mm

Conventional wire (CP-Ti) - Argon shield

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Laser Direct Metal Deposition

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Laser DMD
Laser beam is focussed onto a substrate to create a molten pool into which a powder is delivered by a carrier gas Powder is melted onto substrate to form a solidified layer of material

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Deposition Nozzle
Tighter powder focus Better powder efficiency Reduced material waste Good localised shielding

Water circulation

Nozzle gas

Powder delivery Nozzle

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Ti Grading - Macros

Increasing Ti -6242
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Demonstrator

Material graded from Ti-6-4 to Ti 6242

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Titanium 6-4 in air Demonstrator

500mm

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Friction Welding
Friction Stir Welding Linear Friction Welding

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Friction Stir Welding

Novel non-fusion welding
process invented in 1991 by TWI Ltd.

Industrialised within 5
years.

Now licensed to 175

organisations world-wide.

Applications in marine,
aerospace, automotive, rail, and construction.

Developed for Al, Mg,

Cu, Zn, demonstrated in Steels, Ti, Ni.

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Development of FSW of Ti
Cold weld, poor root

Success of initial work led

to formation of a TWI group sponsored project (GSP).

GSP ran from 1996 to 2001 to

develop FSW for Ti alloys.

Trials conducted on 6.35mm

( inch) thickness Ti-6Al-4V.
Hot weld, poor surface

A major challenge was found to

be the generation of sufficient heat without causing oversoftening of the weld material.

Surface overheating resulted in

loss of weld containment.

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Stationary Shoulder Approach

New approach developed by TWI:
The FSW probe rotates
through a stationary shoulder/slide component.

The non-rotating shoulder

component adds no heat to the weld surface.

The resulting heat input

profile is basically linear.

This approach is of great

Copyright 2006, TWI Ltd. Patent Pending

help in the welding of low conductivity materials.

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Stationary Shoulder Approach

Inert gas is pumped into the system, both around and behind the tool giving a very weld clean surface.

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SSFSW of Ti - Properties
Welds typically have an excellent surface finish and near parent mechanical properties:

2mm

6.35mm Ti-6Al-4V butt weld produced at 100mm/min

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FSW Additive Manufacture in Ti

ProPro-Stir Stir Demonstration in a Ti alloy:

Lap welding of 4 sheets to build up a flange structure in Ti-6Al-4V

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Linfric Machine

LFW machine fixtures/systems have been developed using TWI exploratory funding and some European project funding. Improved process understanding has also been developed via exploratory work, using TWIs new high speed video system.

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LFW Weld Quality in Ti-6Al-4V

Fine grained hot forged weld microstructure
10mm

Recrystallised to fine grained equiaxed m/s at weld centre Near parent tensile and fatigue properties can be achieved
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100m

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FFP Technology - LFW

Linear Friction Welding Applications - Blisks

LFW of Blisks for the Eurofighter Typhoon by MTU, Munich

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LFW of Preforms - Examples

Additive Manufacture of Ti Alloy Preforms by LFW:
Initial Welds Secondary Welds

Finish Machine

Boeing Concept for Structural Assemblies and Machining Preforms formed by LFW Pat. No. US2005127140 (The Boeing Company)

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LFW of preforms
LFW of Machining Preforms
Part Specification LFW Preform (part machined)

LFW of Preforms - demonstration work carried out in conjunction with Thompson Friction Welding.

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Summary
TWI is involved in a multitude of welding and joining processes for its customer base in the aerospace, defence and oil and gas businesses Work in the welding and joining of Ti has trebled in the last 6 years

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