KUKA UK Sub-contract friction welding facility
With over 50 years of experience, the UK facility is one of the largest in Europe.
The department has capability across a range of rotary friction welding machines, supported by an in house metallurgical laboratory, pre and post weld heat treatment capability and full part preparation solutions.
Accreditation: ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004.
Relevant Standard: BS EN 15620:2019 Friction welding of metallic materials.
Wide range of components from very large section sizes to very small, also for bi-metallic materials.
Thompson's friction welding capabilities cover many material combinations (incl. similar
and dissimilar material welding ) and geometry options including bar to bar, tube to bar, bar to plate, tube to plate and tube to tube, for example. Commonly friction welded components include drill rods, axles, drive shafts, pump shafts and cv joints.
The department has capability across a range of rotary and linear friction welding machines
Additional friction welding services
- Turning & Machining Facilities – dedicated machining equipment for Sub-Contract Friction Welding for pre or post machine of components.
- Flash Removal – On certain machines and applications, the weld flash created can be removed by the friction welder.
- Pre-washing – Pre-wash certain components within our industrial cleaning machine to remove greases/oils and other possible contaminates.
- Weld Testing and Validation – Full destructive and non-destructive testing to welding standards.
- Post Weld Heat Treatment – Heat Treatment or stress relief of components following welding.
- Metallurgy Lab – Our in-house Metallurgy laboratory for; material selection, pre and post weld recommendations, inspection, analysis & reporting and testing of materials and bonded components.
- Material procurement & logistics.
