Improving the Quality of the Friction Welding Process of Steel Components

The aim of the study was to implement an integrally configured method of quality control of frictional welding of piston forgings intended for Diesel Man trucks. The use of the method (consisting of the 5W2H method, the Ishikawa diagram and the ABCD - Suzuki method) would contribute to the detection of the causes of non-compliance and consequently to the elimination of non-compliant products. Steel pistons have become the subject of research due to significant problems with maintaining their expected level of quality after the introduced structural and technological changes. The proposed method has helped to identify the root cause of non-compliance. It was: incorrect design of the combustion chamber in terms of diameter and depth. The study shows that it is advisable to use an integrated approach to finding the causes of quality problems on the example of the friction welding process. This was a new solution for the company, as no in-depth analyses of quality problems using a sequence of quality management techniques have been carried out so far.