W
Water-Based Cutting Fluid
Cutting Fluid
Water-Jet Cutting
Carol Kong
Centre for Materials and Structures, University of
Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
Synonyms
Abrasive water jet; Plain water jet; Pure water jet
Definition
Water-jet cutting is a nonconventional machining
method that makes use of high-pressure water jets
with (i.e., abrasive water-jet cutting) or without
(i.e., plain water-jet cutting) fine abrasive parti-
cles to virtually cut any kind of materials into
two- or three-dimensional shapes, provided that
the machine has the capability of ultrahigh-
pressure pump (UHP) and the flexibility of
positional movement.
Theory and Application
Abrasive water-jet (AWJ) machining is con-
sidered to be a fast-growing nonconventional
The International Academy for Production Engineering (ed.),
CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-20617-7, # CIRP 2014
technology capable of processing any material
regardless of its properties. Modern AWJ
machining systems make use of high-pressure
water jets (up to 6,200 bar) forced through
a tiny orifice (0.10.3 mm) that enables
the entrainment and acceleration of abrasive
particles (e.g., garnet, Al2O3) to high velocities
(200800 m/s).
Early Water-Jet Cutting Technology
In the 1950s, Dr. Norman Franz, a forestry
engineer seeking new ways to slice trees into
lumber, becomes the first person to study UHP
as a cutting tool. The development of plain/pure
water jet (PWJ) started in the 1970s. In the 1979,
Dr. Mohamed Hashish invented the process of
adding abrasives to a standard water jet, i.e.,
abrasive water jet (AWJ). Figure 1 illustrates
the difference between PWJ and AWJ in the
cutting head. The worlds first commercial AWJ
cutting system was sold for automotive glass.
Early adopters of water-jet technology (primarily
in the aviation and space industries) found it is
a perfect tool for cutting high-strength materials
such as Inconel, stainless steel, and titanium,
as well as lightweight composites such as
carbon fiber.
The development of PWJ started in the 1970s
while AWJ was first introduced in 1983
as a commercial system for cutting glass
(Hoogstrate and Luttervelt 1997), but the
development pace of PWJ has been compara-
tively slow because of its narrower application
compared with AWJ. PWJ is usually employed
W 1298
Water-Jet Cutting, Pressurised pure water
Fig. 1 Illustration of
different conditions
between plain water-jet
(PWJ) and abrasive
water-jet (AWJ) machining
AWJ
cutting head
nozzle
Pressurised
pure water only
for cutting soft/light materials (e.g., plastics,
paper, food), while AWJ is usually employed
for cutting glass (e.g., stained/laminated glass),
metallic sheets (e.g., Ti, Al, stainless steel), and
advanced materials (e.g., composites, ceramics)
(Kulekci 2002).
Category of Water-Jet System
The water-jet system can be categorized based on
the following key characteristics:
Jet energy: this is usually related to the
pressure pumps utilized in the machine
systems: low pressures (p < 100 bar) that
usually need abrasive particles and find their
engineering use in surface polishing; high
pressures (300 bar < p < 7,000 bar) are
utilized for removal/deformation of the target
material.
Constitutive phases of the jet: plain fluid jets,
2 phases (liquid-air); abrasive fluid jets,
3 phases (liquidsolidair).
Type of the liquid: the most common liquids
are air only (blasting), water (with possible
additives), and oils.
Type of solids: high abrasives (garnet, SiC,
Al2O3, and even diamond) and soft abrasives
(ice, plastics).
Water-Jet Cutting
Pressurised pure water
Entrance of Entrance of
abrasive abrasive
AWJ
cutting head
nozzle
Pressurised
water with
abrasives
Method of generating the abrasive jets:
entrainment of solid particles within the jet
(i.e., this is done within a mixing chamber
where the particles are drawn from external
containers due to the difference in pressures)
and slurry jets where the abrasives are
premixed with the fluid before pressurizing.
It is noted that nowadays the commercial
market for AWJ systems is dominated by
entrainment system, so developments related to
these systems are considered in detail.
Key Cutting Parameters and Components:
An Example
A water-jet system is mainly composed of a pump,
a cutting head, an abrasive feeder, a water-jet ori-
fice, a focussing tube/nozzle, and a catcher with
water, as indicated in Fig. 2. The key cutting
parameters include pump pressure, traverse rate,
abrasive mass flow rate, and standoff distance.
Formation of Abrasive Water Jet
The pump is the heart of the water-jet system.
The pump pressurizes the water and delivers it
continuously so that a cutting head can then turn
that pressurized water into a supersonic water-jet
stream.
Water-Jet Cutting 1299 W
P

High-pressure water

Orifice

Abrasive inlet
Key cutting parameters:
Pump pressure, P [psi]
Traverse rate, Vf [mm/min]
Abrasive flow rate, ma [kg/min] Nozzle /
Stand-off distance, SOD [mm] mixing
Vf tube
Working area: 1.2m 0.65m
Max. Vf: 20k mm/min SOD
(distance
Max. P: 60k psi (i.e. 4137 bar) between
Orifice diameter: 0.05 0.4mm nozzle&w/p
surface)
nozzle diameter: 0.75mm, 1mm
Abrasives: Garnet AWJ
stream
Mesh size: 80 (150300 m)

Water-Jet Cutting, Fig. 2 An example of a typical water-jet system and its key cutting parameters

As illustrated in Fig. 3, the filtered and pres-
surized water jet passes through an orifice (usu-
ally made by sapphire/ruby) to form highly
pressurized PWJ in phase 1. The tiny hole of the
orifice to make a jet which travels through
a nozzle body in phase 2 creates a partial vacuum
and draws in abrasives through the abrasive inlet.
The abrasives are then accelerated by the jet
energy in the mixing tube to form a high-speed
AWJ.
When the resulting three-phase (water, abra-
sives, and air) jet plume impacts a target surface,
it removes material by abrasive erosion (i.e., ero-
sion by solid-particle impingement). Since AWJ
machining relies on erosion by fine abrasive par-
ticles (usually 100300 mm), negligible
mechanical loads (<30 N) are exerted on the
workpiece; hence, no material work hardening
occurs, while the high velocity flow of water
leads to insignificant heat generation, thus
resulting in virtually no thermal effect on the
workpiece (Momber and Kovacevic 1998).
General Applicable Fields for Water-Jet
Technology
PWJ is usually employed for cutting soft/light
materials (e.g., plastics, paper, food) while AWJ
is usually employed for cutting glass
(e.g., stained/laminated glass), metallic sheets
(e.g., Ti, Al, stainless steel), and advanced
materials (e.g., composites, ceramics) as shown
in Table 1.
General Applications of Water-Jet Machining
These are structured on the different level of
jet penetration on the target surfaces with
clear indication of industrial applications.
However, the most widely commercial use of
mode is through cutting. However, there has
been other applications such as controlled-
depth milling, tangential cutting, coating W
removal, water-jet penning, surface polishing,
and more recently micromachining. The
research proved that WJ machining is a versa-
tile processing method.
W 1300 Water-Jet Cutting

Water-Jet Cutting,
Fig. 3 Schematic diagram
for the formation of Water
high-speed water jet in the
cutting head

UHP Pump

Orifice

Highly pressurized PWJ Phase 1

Ab
ras es
ive rasiv
s
Cutting Ab
Head

Focusing
nozzle

High Speed Abrasive

Waterjet

Phase 2

Niche Applications of Water-Jet Machining Ultraprecision finishing of diamond turned

It can be regarded as a key enabling technology optical molding dies (nickel alloys) for
for the processing parts made of notoriously applications from visible to X-ray (Beaucamp
difficult-to-cut materials such as: and Namba 2013)
Ti/Ni alloys for aerospace applications Ultra-hard materials (e.g., diamond/CBN
(e.g., casings) (Kong et al. 2010) composites) for tooling fabrication (Axinte
NiTi/Ti alloys and biologic (bones) compati- et al. 2009)
ble materials for medical applications Precious metals (gold, silver)/gems (ruby) for
(e.g., implants) (Kong et al. 2011) jewelry
Engineered ceramics (SiC, Al2O3) for parts Natural stones (granite) for engineering
with chemical inertness and/or high wear applications
resistance (Gudimetla et al. 2002; Srinivasu Engineering composites (Wang
et al. 2009) 2003) for aerospace and automotive
Optical glasses (Zerodur) for high-precision applications
customized lenses (Fan et al. 2009)
Water-Jet Cutting
Water-Jet Cutting, Table 1 Applicable fields for pure water jet and abrasive water-jet technology (Kulekci 2002)
A. Fields of demand for PWJ
1. Cutting of plastics
2. Cutting of paper, pulp
3. Cutting of fiber, fabrics
4. Cutting of rubber, leather
5. Cutting of food
6. Cutting of timber, plywood
7. Others
B. Fields of demand for AWJ
1. Cutting metallic sheet: Ti, Al, stainless steel, high Aircraft industry; rolling stock industry; automobile industry;
tensile strength steel, superalloys
2. Cutting of glass: wire glass, stained glass,
laminated glass, etc
3. Cutting advanced materials: composite materials, Aircraft industry; rolling stock industry; automobile industry;
ceramics, other (magnetic materials, etc.)
4. Cutting of building material: board, lightweight Construction industry; housing industry; tile industry
concrete, etc
5. Others
C. Fields of demand for outdoor works
1. Cutting of reinforced concrete, cement mortar
2. Cutting of rocks-stones
3. Cutting of scraps (tank, tire)
4. Others
References
Axinte D, Srinivasu DS, Kong MC, Butler-Smith PW
(2009) Abrasive waterjet cutting of polycrystalline
diamond: a preliminary investigation. Int J Mach
Tools Manuf 49(10):797803
Beaucamp A, Namba Y (2013) Super-smooth finishing of
diamond turned hard X-ray molding dies by combined
fluid jet and bonnet polishing. CIRP Ann Manuf
Technol 62(1):315318
Fan JM, Wang CY, Wang J (2009) Modelling the erosion
rate in micro abrasive air jet machining of glasses.
Wear 266(910):968974
Gudimetla P, Wang J, Wong W (2002) Kerf formation
analysis in the abrasive waterjet cutting of industrial
ceramics. J Mater Process Technol 128:123129
Hoogstrate AM, van Luttervelt CA (1997) Opportunities
in abrasive water-jet machining. Ann CIRP
46(2):697714
1301 W
Engineering plastics molding industry; parts industry for
domestic use; film industry
Corrugated board industry; waste recovery; paper industry
Fiber industry; sporting goods industry; apparel/clothing
industry
Rubber industry; leather industry; synthetic leather processing;
shoe industry
Food industry; frozen food industry; confectionery manufacture
Forestry; housing industry; interior decoration industry
Explosive industry (cutting of solid fuel); icebreaker (cutting
floe)
ship building industry; mechanical engineering industry; steel
frame products; bridge manufacturing; ferrous industry;
nonferrous industry; manufacture of metallic products, etc.
Glass industry; housing industry; interior decoration;
advertising; medical appliances manufacture
sporting goods industry; (fine) ceramic industry; electronic parts
industry; optical fiber industry
Atomic power industry (cutting of spent nuclear fuel pipe);
manufacturing and processing of graphite
Building industry; dismantling; atomic industry; housing
industry
Mining; quarrying; coal mining; gardening; ceramic industry
Scrap handling; handling of scrapped vessel
Foundry (burr removal)
Kong MC, Axinte DA, Voicce W (2010) Aspects of mate-
rial removal mechanism in plain waterjet milling on
gamma titanium aluminide. J Mater Process Technol
210(3):573584
Kong MC, Axinte DA, Voice W (2011) Challenges in
using waterjet machining of NiTi shape memory
alloys: an analysis of controlled-depth milling.
J Mater Process Technol 211(6):959971
Kulekci MK (2002) Processes and apparatus
developments in industrial waterjet applications. Int
J Mach Tools Manuf 42(12):12971306
Momber AW, Kovacevic R (1998) Principles of abrasive
water jet machining. Springer, London W
Srinivasu DS, Axinte DA, Shipway PH, Folkes J (2009)
Influence of kinematic operating parameters on kerf
geometry in abrasive waterjet machining of silicon
carbide ceramics. Int J Mach Tools Manuf
49(14):10771088
Wang J (2003) Abrasive waterjet machining of
engineering materials. Trans Tech Publication, Z
urich
W 1302 Water-Miscible Cutting Fluid

given by F.W. Taylor (1907) using the so-called

Water-Miscible Cutting Fluid Taylor equation (see Cutting, Fundamentals).
Intensive scientific investigations about the wear
Cutting Fluid mechanisms were carried out from the 1940s
to 1960s by Shaw (1984), Opitz (1956), and
Merchant et al. (1953).
Wear
Loading
Wear Mechanisms The mechanical, thermal, or chemical loads
of cutting tools can be temporarily constant
(i.e., continuous turning or drilling) or
nonsteady/transient (milling or interrupted
Wear Causes turning) (Fig. 1).
The mechanical loading of the cutting wedge
Wear Mechanisms results from the introduction of forces via the
contact faces between the tool and the workpiece,
that is, the rake face and the major and minor
Wear Mechanisms flanks. The normal and shear stresses can be
determined, for example, by the finite element
Hans Kurt Toenshoff method (FEM) when the distribution of the
Institute for Production Engineering and contact stresses is known. It has to be noted that
Machine Tools, Leibniz University Hannover, normally only the global force components can
Burgwedel, Germany be determined by experiments or calculations
(see Cutting Force Modeling).
The thermal loading can be determined by
Synonyms the temperature distribution of the contact
faces. There are several measuring methods
Wear; Wear causes; Wear phenomena (see Cutting Temperature). The internal
temperature distributions in the cutting wedge
can be also calculated by the FEM. From
Definition that point on, these methods are able to derive
thermally induced stress distributions (Fig. 2).
Wear mechanisms result from mechanical, The alternating thermal loading is of special
thermal, or chemical loading. Cutting tools are interest because temperature changes cause stress
exposed to a combination of these wear causes. reversals. This is important for milling
These causes determine the wear phenomena. tools. Figure 3 shows the stress distribution
The functional chain can be stated as follows: over a specific period of time from a point on
the rake face.
Loading ! wear mechanism
! wear phenomenon Wear Mechanisms
According to the loads and their temporary
characteristics, different wear causes and
mechanisms are generated (Fig. 4).
Theory and Application Abrasive wear is produced by the slipping
between the effecting partners (tool and work-
History piece) due to hard particles of the workpiece
The first quantitative description of wear, material abrading tool material. It is a mere
depending mainly on the cutting speed, was mechanical action comparable to micro cutting
Wear Mechanisms 1303 W
Wear Mechanisms,
Fig. 1 Loading and wear loading wear mechanism
mechanisms of cutting
tools abrasion
stationary alternating
mechanical mechanical mechanical adhesion
load load
fracture
stationary alternating
thermal thermal thermal chipping
load load
cracking
internal superficial
chemical chemical diffusion
chemical
lnfluence Influence oxidation

long term short term

effect effect

temperature distribution A B
milling C
D
ceramic : Al2O3 / TiC E
F
cooling : h = 20 W/m2K G
H
heat flux in tool I
Q0 = 40 W J
t1 = 16 ms K
O N M L
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
y
x z temperat C 588 547 507 466 426 385 345 304 204 224 183 143 102 62 21

stress distribution J I H G F

E
D
C
D
E

A B C
mm
2,0 A B C D E F G H I J
0,5 m
m 1(MPa) 281 216 152 88 23 41 105 170 224 298

Wear Mechanisms, Fig. 2 Temperature and stress distribution in a milling tool (Denkena 1992)

which is though supported by elevated tempera-
tures of the cutting wedge on the rake face and
flank and the joined softening of the tool material.
Adhesive wear is caused when particles of the
cutting material cross over to the chip or cut face
by adhesion, that is, by atomic bonding forces at
micro contact spots. Adhesion during cutting is
supported by the fact that permanent slipping
keeps free the cutting wedge faces from
passivated layers. The cut faces and the lower
chip surface in statu nascendi are also of high
purity and chemical activity.
One kind of tribochemical wear in cutting is
diffusion. The rising temperature of a metal W
increases the mobility of its atoms and molecules.
It may lead to a thermal activated migration of the
cutting material or also to a reverse migration.
Due to the chemical reaction of tool material with
ingressed workpiece material or due to extraction
of tool material constituents, soft layers can be
W 1304 Wear Mechanisms

300 300
xy 1
MPa MPa
0 0
yz

principal stresses 1 and 3

300 300
stresses ii and ij

yy 3
600 600
xx zz

900 900 y
z
x

1200 1200

1500 1500

(0,2/0/0,9)
1800 1800
0 20 40 ms 60 0 20 40 ms 60
time t
time t
cooling

Wear Mechanisms, Fig. 3 Stresses on the rake face for a heating and cooling period (Denkena 1992)

crater wear
cracking

abrasion adhesion

material flank wear

deposition
surface tribochemical
breakup reaction

Wear Mechanisms, Fig. 4 Wear mechanisms and phenomena (Denkena and Toenshoff 2013)

generated which are excavated. Another kind of schematically the dependence of the cutting
tribochemical wear is oxidation. It may happen at speed and the cutting temperature on the different
the borders of the contact zones when the tem- kinds of wear (Koenig and Klocke 2008).
perature and oxidation inclination of the cutting Superficial cracking takes place due to the
material are high enough. Figure 5 shows alternating thermal load of the cutting wedge.
Welding 1305 W
Denkena B, Toenshoff HK (2013) Cutting fundamen-
tals. Springer, Heidelberg
Koenig W, Klocke F (2008) Fertigungsverfahren 1
Drehen, Fraesen, Bohren [Manufacturing processes 1
turning, milling, drilling]. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg
(in German)
Merchant ME et al (1953) Radioactive cutting tools for
rapid tool-life testing. Trans Am Soc Mech Eng 75:549
Opitz H (1956) Werkstattstechnik und Maschinenbau
[Shopfloor technologies and mechanical engineering]
46:210 (in German)
Shaw MC (1984) Metal cutting principles. Clarendon
Press, Oxford
Taylor FW (1907) On the art of cutting metals. Trans Am
Soc Mech Eng 28:31
Wear Mechanisms, Fig. 5 Influence of the cutting
speed on wear mechanisms
Wear Phenomena

Wear Mechanisms

Welding

Livan Fratini
Department of Chemical, Management,
Computer System, Mechanical Engineering,
University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
Wear Mechanisms, Fig. 6 Comb cracks at the cutting
wedge

Synonyms

There are cracks parallel and perpendicular to the Hot joining

cutting edge. They normally occur with regular
distances and are called comb cracks (Fig. 6).
Definition

Cross-References Fusion welding: Melting together with or with-

out a filler of materials which as they solidify
Cutting Fluid give rise to a single part.
Cutting Force Modeling Solid-state welding: Welding occurs without
Cutting Temperature melting of the involved materials (no filler is
Cutting, Fundamentals typically used).
W
References Theory and Application
Denkena B (1992) Verschleissverhalten von
Overview
Schneidkeramik bei instationarer Belastung [Wear
behavior of cutting ceramic at unsteady loads]. Dr.-Ing. In the following, the most relevant welding
Thesis Univ. Hannover (in German) processes will be briefly described. First,
W 1306 Welding

common classifications of the welding operations

are provided, following what is already
mentioned in the definition section, as part of
the wider concept of joining. The traditional
welding processes are subdivided into fusion
and pressure welding processes, the latter
indicating processes in which both fusion is
obtained and pressure is applied. Furthermore,
the welded joints are classified on the basis
of the mutual position of the blanks to be
welded (butt joints, lap joints, T-joints, and so
on) and in the cases of manual processes on
the position of the joint to be welded with respect
to the operator who is carrying out the welding
operation (plane weld, horizontal weld, vertical
weld, and so on).

Fusion Welding Operations

Arc Welding Operations
An electric arc is generated between an electrode
and the workpiece to be welded. The created heat
flux is divided between anode and cathode: two
third of the flux is directed to the anode and one
third to the cathode.
Stick Welding As shown in Fig. 1, in stick
welding the heat flux melts the base material
and progressively the electrode, which is a coated
stick manually advanced by the operator
(Kalpakjian 1997). As the fused material cools
down, a weld seam is obtained linking the blanks
to be welded. Power parameters, that is,
voltage and current, determine the wideness and
penetration of the seam.
Submerged Arc Welding It is an automatic arc
welding operation (Fig. 2) in which the electrode
is automatically advanced and melted; the arc is
shielded by a granular flux which partially melts
and determines a physical protection for the
melted metal. The advancing velocity of the
electrode is adjusted in such a way to keep
constant the arc length during the process. Such
operation is typically used for thick blanks to be
welded obtained a good quality joint.
Welding, Fig. 1 The stick welding operation
filler, but the protection of the melted material is
obtained through a gas shield (Fig. 3). Such
processes are characterized by either an inert
gas (MIG metal inert gas) or an active one
(MAG metal active gas), on the basis of the
type of used gas.
The gas metal arc welding operation is
characterized on the basis of the filler deposition
mode on the material melting bath: spray,
drop, short arc, and pulsed arc (Kalpakjian
1997; Schey 1997).
Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) In this case, an
unfusible tungsten electrode is used together
with a separated filler stick; the protection of
the melted material is obtained through an inert
gas shield (Fig. 4). Such processes are charac-
terized by either an inert gas (MIG metal inert
gas) or an active one (MAG metal active gas),
on the basis of the type of used gas. With respect
to other fusion welding operation, TIG is char-
acterized by a focused heat flux and a limited
heat-affected zone (Rodrigues and Martins
2005).

Gas Metal Arc Welding (MIG, MAG) In this Laser Welding

case again, a fusible electrode is used acting as Visit the specific page on laser welding.
Welding 1307 W
Welding, Electrode wire
Fig. 2 Submerged arc
welding
Power control

Flux hopper

Cleaner

x y

Welding, Fig. 3 Gas

metal arc welding

Electron Beam Welding heat-affected zone. The process requires large

Just few words on such process based on
the conversion in thermal energy of the energy
characterizing a flux of electrons properly
accelerated. A proper tungsten catod is used as
generator of electrons which are accelerated
using a proper voltage in a sort of cannon.
The welding is carried out in vacuum conditions
(Kalpakjian 1997) obtaining a very narrow
costs, and it is used just for specific added value
applications. W
Resistance Welding
Typically resistance welding operation is
characterized by both fusion of the base material
and a pressure applied between the two parts to be
welded. No filler is used for such kind of
W 1308 Welding

Welding, Fig. 4 Tungsten

inert gas (TIG)

operations: actually different configurations can

be carried out, namely, spot welding, seam
welding, projection welding, and so on
(Kalpakjian 1997; Schey 1997; Rodrigues and
Martins 2005). The heat generation (see Fig. 5
referred to the resistance spot welding process) is
due to the Joule effect generated as a high-level
electric current that goes through the two parts to
be welded placed in a lap-joint configuration. The
heat flux results concentrated at the interface
between the two blanks where the highest value
of electrical contact resistance is localized. Actu-
ally the generated heat is calculated as follows:

H I2 Rt (1) Welding, Fig. 5 Resistance spot welding

where H is the amount of heat [w], I is the electric
current [A], and R is the contact resistance
[Ohm]. It should be observed that the contact
resistances between the electrodes and the blanks
are reduced due to the applied pressure.
Solid-State Welding Operations
It should be observed that fusion welding
processes are often characterized by defects due
to the melting and subsequent solidification of the
metals and to impurities characterizing the
welding seam. In this way, processes in which
the melting of the metals is not reached can
provide effective solutions to get their effective
joining.
Ultrasonic Welding
Ultrasonic welding is a solid-state process in
which the actual bonding between the two parts
to be welded is obtained through the decaying
into heat of the friction forces work. The latter
are generated by a vibration induced by an ultra-
sonic transducer. As it is well known, ultrasonic
elastic waves are characterized by frequencies
which can reach 109 kHz. To obtain the
welding, electromechanical generators are used:
Welding
Welding, Fig. 6 The
rotary friction welding
operation
x x
y y
x x
y y
considering a lap joint, a normal force is applied
and a simultaneous shear oscillating action, due
to the ultrasonic waves. With reference to metal,
a temperature of about 50% of the melting one is
reached and the solid bonding is obtained.
Friction Welding Processes
Friction forces work decaying into heat can be
used in order to reach the solid-state bonding of
metals. Actually three different operations are
usually considered as described in the following.
Rotary Friction Welding Rotary friction
welding (RFW) is the most popular method,
where one workpiece is rotated as the two
workpieces are brought together under friction
pressure. It is widely used for the welding of
tubes (Fig. 6).
Linear Friction Welding As far as linear
friction welding (LFW) of metals is regarded,
the evolutions occurring during the process can
be described following four different subsequent
stages (Fig. 7) (Varis and Frost 2000). During the
initial phase, the two materials are brought in
contact under pressure; at this stage, the two
surfaces touch each other on asperities and the
heat is generated from solid friction. During such
stage 1, called initial phase, it should be observed
that the heat applied must be equal to that
conducted away from the interface and lost by
radiation. If not, a lower equilibrium temperature
is achieved, and this will lead to insufficient ther-
mal softening for the actual contact area to reach
1309 W
F0
F1>F0
100% and for a plasticized layer at the interface to
develop. Following stage 1, the so-called transi-
tion phase is observed (stage 2 of the LFW pro-
cess), and assuming that sufficient heat has been
produced in order to reach material softening
conditions, large wear particles begin to be
expelled from the interface, and the heat-affected
zone expands. The shear force begins to increase
although there is no evidence at this stage of axial
shortening. In the subsequent stage 3 so-called
equilibrium phase axial shortening of the two
parts to be welded begins as result of the expelled
material as flash. Finally, when the desired upset
is reached (stage 4, the deceleration phase), the
two materials are brought to rest very rapidly
(in less than 0.1 s), and forging pressure may be
applied to consolidate the weld.
Friction-Stir Welding Friction-stir welding
(FSW) was invented at The Welding Institute
(TWI) of UK in 1991 as a solid-state joining
technique, and it was initially applied to alumi-
num alloys and several other materials (Mishra
and Ma 2005). The basic concept of FSW is
definitively simple: a nonconsumable rotating
tool with a specially designed pin at its end and
a shoulder is inserted into the edges of sheets or
plates to be welded with a proper tilt angle and W
traversed along the line of joint (Fig. 8). The tool
plays two fundamental roles: heats the workpiece
due to frictional forces work and plastic deforma-
tion work decaying into heat and induces the
material plastic flow determining the actual
bonding of the blanks. The localized heating
W 1310 What-If Design

Welding, Fig. 7 The

linear friction welding
process

q References

Kalpakjian S (1997) Manufacturing engineering and

technology. Addison-Wesley, Reading
R Mishra RS, Ma ZY (2005) Friction stir welding and
v1 processing. Mater Sci Eng R50:178
Rodrigues J, Martins P (eds) (2005) Tecnologia Mecanica
(Mechanical technology), vol 1 and 2. Escolar, Lisbon
Schey JA (1997) Introduction to manufacturing processes.
Mc Graw Hill, New York
Vairis A, Frost M (2000) Modelling the linear friction
welding of titanium blocks. Mater Sci Eng
A 292(1):817

Welding, Fig. 8 The FSW process

What-If Design
softens the material around the pin, and combi-
nation of tool rotation and translation leads to Winnie Dankers
movement of material from the front of the pin Laboratory of Design, Production and
to its back. Management, University of Twente, Enschede,
As a result of this process, a joint is pro- The Netherlands
duced in solid state. Because of various geo-
metrical features of the tool, the material
movement around the pin can be quite complex. Definition
During FSW process, the material undergoes
intense plastic deformation at elevated temper- What-if design is an integrative method that sup-
ature, resulting in generation of fine and plies designers with information on the (hidden)
equiaxed recrystallized grains. The fine micro- effects of their design decisions (Houten and
structure in friction-stir welds produces good Lutters 2006).
mechanical properties of the joints, both static
and dynamic.
Theory and Application

Cross-References What-if design aims at proactively supporting the

designer in knowledge work that is considered
Laser Welding routine work in a specific field. Based on the
Working Spindles 1311 W
What-If Design,
Fig. 1 Overly simplified
example of a What-if
question: What if the type
of connection is changed
from key to spline?

simple axiom that a design decision leads to References

a change of the product definition, resulting in
one or more (updated) downstream analyses that Houten F, Lutters E (2006) What-if design as an inte-
grative method in product design. In: El Maraghy HA,
can be used to assess the consequences of the
El Maraghy WH (eds) Advances in design. Springer,
decision, it is possible to deduce a pattern for London, pp 3747
a structured way of working. This structure Lutters D, Vaneker THJ, Houten FJAM van (2004) What-
hypothesizes that design decisions can often be if design: a synthesis method in the design process.
CIRP Ann Manuf Technol 53(1):113116
rephrased as so-called what-if questions like:
What is the change in the environmental impact
of this part if the material is changed from alumi-
num to polyurethane? Fig. 1 shows another
example. By deriving rules of logic from the
Whole-Life Cost
routine in previous projects, what-if design is
Life Cycle Cost
able to take care of the larger part of the basic
knowledge work that is required to answer these
questions. Herein, it transgresses the boundaries
of the different disciplines in order to achieve
synthesis. Wire Drawing
What-if design focuses on an elaborate
ambition: the support of product development Drawing (Wire, Tube)
stakeholders by actually either automatically
or interactively raising solutions to their
what-if questions. Stakeholders can spend less
time on basic knowledge work and focus on Workability
what they do best: find creative solutions for
the more challenging problems (Lutters et al. Formability (Damage)
2004). W
What-if design is constructed as a growing
and flexible system: The more tasks are avail-
able for interfacing with the information con- Working Spindles
tent, the more complex questions can be
answered. Spindle