Role of friction on the thermal development in ultrasonically consolidated aluminum foils and composites

Ultrasonic consolidation is a solid-state bonding process capable of producing metal and metal matrix composite parts. In this work a friction-based heat generation model is proposed to characterize the thermal development of ultrasonically consolidated aluminum foils and continuous fiber alumina reinforced aluminum metal matrix composite tape as a function of process control parameters. The friction coefficient between mating surfaces is determined experimentally, and the credibility of using both a constant friction coefficient and a process dependent friction coefficient is assessed. In most cases a constant friction coefficient is capable of producing results that are within 15% error; while a process dependent friction coefficient achieves an average error of 7%.