Wed, 27 May, 2026
We were pleased to be able to bring the International Friction Welding Conference (IFWC) back to TWI’s headquarters near Cambridge from Tuesday 19 to Friday 22 May this year.
With 150 attendees drawn from across industry and academia, we were also able to welcome 22 exhibitors on the day including event sponsors Riftec, Stirweld The International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE), Compass, Bond and Element Six.
The four-day event included a social gathering at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, which is Britain's largest aviation museum, housing exhibits including nearly 200 aircraft, military vehicles, artillery and small naval vessels.
We welcomed a global array of speakers across the four days for a packed programme of presentations including the European Space Agency, Boeing, Fraunhofer, Technical University Munich, RIFTEC GmbH, Helmholtz Zentrum Hereon, INEGI, HBS Engineering ApS, the University of Stuttgart, Institute Maupertuis, Mazak Megastir, Stirtec, Stirlight, AM Energization, JWRI – the University of Osaka, the University of Sheffield, EWI, University of Kassel, Lortek S Coop, MS University Baroda Gujarat, Alustir, ACB, University of Nottingham, FuseRing Inc, Bingham Young University, CTC, Tra-c, Stirweld, PAR Systems LLC, Bond Technologies Inc., Papua New Guinea University of Technology, Leuphana University Luneberg, Nelson Mandela University, CIMNE, University for Applied Science Magdeburg-Stendal, University of West Attica, MTU Aero Engines, Mavlyutov Institute of Mechanics, Mercedes-Benz AG, FFRC, Manufacturing Behavioral Science LLC, Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies, IRT Jules Verne, Element Six (UK) Ltd., Cambridge Vacuum Engineering, The Ohio State University, UKAEA, Airbus Central R&T (ICA), LORTEK-BRTA, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, University of Twente, Enabled Engineering, Brigham Young University, PNNL, TWI, and more.
In addition to covering topics ranging from friction stir welding (which was invented at TWI by Wayne Thomas) to linear friction welding, additive friction stir deposition, process monitoring and control, and more, we also held an awards presentation to recognise the symposium’s best presentations in both friction stir and linear friction welding, as well as the conferring of The Wayne Thomas Innovation Award.
The four days also provided ample opportunities for attendees to network, speak with our experts and share knowledge, while there were also opportunities to take a tour of our facilities.
We would like to thank all the speakers for giving us their time and their expertise as well as all of those who took time to attend.
