F-14 fighter aircraft inertia welded components

Let us examine a few diverse applications of these principles of inertia welding. Nearly every aerospace manufacturer in the free world employs inertia welding in the manufacture of components. The F-14 fighter bomber uses several inertia welded parts. Manufacturing Technology built the welder for the Rocketdyne division of Rockwell International, manufacturer of the Columbia engines. Inertia welding was found to be virtually the only practicable method of welding the 600 closely-grouped injector posts on the mammoth main engines of the space shuttle Columbia. Each weld of the cobalt-based alloy posts to the Inconel 718 stubs was accomplished in less than 5 seconds.