Rotary Friction Welding of Copper Rods by Utilizing Lathe Machine

Due to unavailability of rotary friction welding machine in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, a study to use conventional lathe machine for rotary friction welding of copper rods is done.
A setup of a conventional lathe machine with 7.5kW power of motor was used. Rotational speed was selected as 2000 rpm, since this speed was the maximum speed of the machine and can heat the copper rods to a high temperature.
The characteristics of microstructure and microhardness in rotary friction welding of copper rods by utilizing conventional lathe machine were examined. The microstructure test showed processed copper rod had smaller grain size compared to unprocessed copper rod due to recrystallization and recovery of microstructure. The hardness of processed copper was lower than that of the unprocessed copper due to annealing effect.
This conventional lathe machine failed to join the copper rods. The major problem was due to high amplitude of vibration because of length of the coppers themselves and length of tailstock quill, the part that connected to stationary chuck. However, all tests were able to heat the copper rods to high temperatures until red heat occurred. So, there is a possibility for this machine to perform rotary friction welding of copper rods.