Metallographic evaluation of welded forging preforms

Solid-state friction welding of forging performs is being investigated as a novel means to produce bi-metal performs, and for efficiently producing quality same-metal performs for metal forging. Bar-stock from several common alloys were friction welded on commercial equipment and then subsequently hot-forged in a laboratory press. As-forged mechanical properties and microstructural evaluations that were obtained are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of this unique processing approach. The work presented herein presents results for AA2024/AA2024 and AISI 304/304 same-metal welded preforms and dissimilar metal preforms composed of AISI 304/AISI 1018 and AISI 1018/ETP Cu.