As manufacturers, particularly in the automobile industry, continue to work toward incorporating lighter metals like aluminum with heavier steel, the ongoing problem has been how to successfully weld them together. The problem is that the high heat created in the welding process actually weakens these lighter metals, creating a less than optimum weld. After 10 years of research, engineers at The Ohio State University have developed a new welding technique that may prove to solve this problem while also using 80 percent less energy and creating bonds that are 50 percent stronger.
"With our method, materials are shaped and bonded together at the same time, and they actually get stronger," says Glenn Daehn, professor of materials science and engineering at Ohio State, who helped develop the new technique.
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