While welded forging preforms offer potential benefits for producing forged parts, work to date has mainly been concentrated on assessing static mechanical properties. As dynamic properties are an important consideration, the objective in the current study was to assess the high cycle fatigue properties of 6061-T6 aluminum forging performs which were prepared using friction welding. Monolithic and friction welded specimens were prepared and hot worked using a laboratory press. Fatigue data was then generated using a rotating beam test machine and a metallurgical evaluation of the weld zone performed. The results showed that, in general, forged preforms demonstrated superior fatigue life when compared to as-friction welded preforms in the same temper condition. Fatigue performance was also found to be comparable to that obtained from monolithic forging preforms which had an identical processing history.

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