ESAB Welding & Cutting Products has released a friction stir welding system said to be suited for welding high melting temperature materials such as ferrous alloys.
Friction stir welding is a solid state joining process. According to the company, it requires lower total heat input than arc welding, and also eliminates solidification defects.
The process does not melt the material, resulting in minimal distortion, no filler material, no fumes and high quality.
Friction stir welding had previously been limited to low melting temperature materials such as aluminium, brass and copper. The manufacturer says its new system allows the techniques to be used with metals with higher melting temperature such as ferritic steels, stainless and duplex stainless steels and nickel base alloys.
The new technology uses polycrystalline cubic boron nitride, polycrystalline diamond and abrasive materials such as metal matrix composites to achieve these results.

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