An investigation of metal flow during friction welding of SA 213 tube to SA 387 tube plate with backing block

Friction welding is widely used as a large scale production method for fabrication in various industries such as automotive, aeronautic and other industries. Friction welding of tube to tube plate using an external tool (FWTPET) is an innovative friction welding process which is accomplished of manufacturing leak proof high quality weld joints with good mechanical properties. In this study, the friction welding is carried out to weld two dissimilar materials of SA 213 tube to SA 387 tube plate with three different filler materials as brass sheet, filler plate and steel ball using an external tungsten carbide tool to enhance and validate the flow of metal pattern toward the center of tool axis. The micro structural studies are made to reveal about the welding configuration locate and discover the flow of metal path toward the center of the workpiece, then it is followed by the hardness test which ensures a high hardness value at welded zone determines the flow of metal toward the center of the hole has strong bonding structure. Finally, the workpiece with filler material and steel ball is used by the radiography test and the analysis is done by using ANSYS software.