Welding and Joining
About the centre
In affiliation with Outokumpu
The Welding and Joining Research Centre, in affiliation with Outokumpu, was founded in 1993 and since then has supported seven students through their PhDs.
We are a research group dedicated to the development of new, sustainable protocols for existing joining techniques and manufacturing processes. The main drive for this work is to push for the increased integration of stainless steel into the automotive industry.
Funding and support for the group is offered by case awards supplied by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Outokumpu Stainless Research Foundation.
The Materials and Engineering Research Institute is well recognised as one of the leading modern universities research centres in the UK by the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and the Research Excellence Framework in which, in 2014, we were ranked 1st for Research Power amongst modern universities.
Case Study: Wolstenhome Machine Knives Ltd
Novel joining techniques
In recent years the Japanese automotive industry has introduced substantial amounts of stainless steel into their production however the European automotive industry have not.
For this reason this project will investigate novel processes for joining high strength stainless steel grades to zinc coated mild steel which can be easily transferred and integrated cost effectively into current automotive manufacture.
Arc brazing of stainless steel to stainless steel and galvanised mild steel
Brazing is the joining process which occurs at a temperature above 450 degrees celsius and below the solidus of the parent material. Below 450 degrees celsius the process is known as soldering and above the solidus of the parent material the process is known as welding.
An Analysis of the Statistical Fatigue Behaviour of Single and Multi-Spot Welded Joints
Multi-spot welded joints are routinely used in the automotive and other industries to produce structurally critical components. Unfortunately the size and complexity of the joints often limits the practicality of testing their mechanical properties, particularly when long term testing is required, such as in the case of determining fatigue properties.