MTI Delivers North America’s First and Only Linear Friction Welder of Full-Size Development Parts to LIFT Research Center

Manufacturing Technology, Inc. (MTI) has shipped North America’s first linear friction welder capable of full sized part development to the Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT) facility in Detroit where it will contribute to cutting edge lightweighting research in the automotive and aerospace sectors. Weighing 122,000 pounds (61 metric tons) – roughly the same weight as a Boeing 737 – the LF35-75 has the largest tooling envelope of any linear friction welder in the world, allowing for the production of the largest full-scale parts available. It will bring the same linear friction welding technology used in aerospace to achieve light-weighting blisks and Integrally Bladed Rotars (IBR) to aircraft engines and the automotive industry. In order to best serve North American customers, MTI and LIFT will have shared capacity of the machine. MTI, a world leader in friction welding technologies, will run and maintain the machine at LIFT’s facility in Detroit.