Titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) is frequently used for structural applications in the aerospace industry due to its excellent strength and lightweight. Ti-6Al-4V can be welded by almost all the fusion welding processes but it resulted in the formation of coarse-grained microstructure in the fusion zone.

To overcome these problems, solid state welding processes are now adopted in the aerospace industries because it avoids total melting of materials and provides finer grain structures in the nugget region.

Linear Friction Welding (LFW) process is a new variant of rotary friction welding (RFW) process and is widely employed to fabricate aero engine components. In this investigation, an attempt has been made to enhance the strength of the welded joint characteristics.

The joint is welded using the process parameter Friction Time 40sec, Friction Pressure 20MPa, Forging Time 3sec, Forging Pressure 10MPa and Oscillation Frequency 14Hz. The tensile properties of the joints were evaluated as per the standards. Microstructural features of various regions of welded joints were analysed.

From this study, it is found that during lower friction time, the relative motion between the mating surfaces is minimum and it results in poor joint strength. Higher friction time enhances the friction between the surfaces and facilitates the plastic deformation.

The Friction Time and Oscillation Frequency plays the major role in affecting the mechanical properties of the weld joint. The joint produced with the above-mentioned parameters have yielded higher tensile strength of 1015 MPa due to formation of the finer grains at the nugget region and hardness of 430 HV.

This paper presents the mechanical properties and microstructural characteristics of LFW joints with reference to the enhancement of mechanical properties of LF Wed Ti6Al4V joints.

This article is shared by C. Mukundhan, P. Sivaraj, Vijay Petlay, Shweta Varma and V. Balasubramanian.