LFW Machine Design - Manufacturing Development

The Cyril Bath Company and ACB have been developing innovative design solutions in Linear Friction Welding for over five years.  We are currently under contract to design and build production LFW systems for several different turbine engine companies.  During this time, our customers indicated the need for access to LFW machines that could test tool and process designs.  To meet this need we developed and built two LFW machines to be used by our corporation for R&D projects, as well as for use by our customers:

THE PDS
A 6 ton, single forge axis machine for weld quality evaluation, exclusively for R&D work.

The MDS:
A 30/15 ton, dual forge axis machine for more advanced manufacturing purposes that can be used for R&D, as well as producing full part specimens. 

At the end of an ambitious R&D program, Cyril Bath and ACB recently revealed the LFW development unit named MDS for Manufacturing Development System.  The MDS is the first Linear Friction Welding machine equipped with a dual forge axis system, allowing a separate forge force perpendicular to the main upset forging force direction, thus offering full control and flexibility in application range.  This machine is available now for use by our customers to produce sample parts for testing, and to prove out tooling and process concepts, leading to the design and build of an efficient production machine.

The accuracy and flexibility of the MDS opens doors to homogenous and heterogeneous welding of titanium and nickel based materials; hence allowing the welding of HP and turbine stages or the welding of aero structures.  Other wider ranging applications such as zirconium, aluminium and 
copper based materials are also being studied.

(Production machine descriptions, specifications, and technical details are available upon request )