Dana Corp.'s Driveshaft Div. has introduced a magnetic-pulse welding process for joining ferrous and non-ferrous material to form lighter, more compact--and in some cases--previously non-producible driveshaft configurations. "The process results in a metallurgical attachment that outperforms conventional MIG welding and competing mechanical attachment processes," says Jim Duggan, Dana's chief engineer of advanced design. The process creates an intense magnetic field by downloading large amounts of electrical energy into a specifically designed coil over a very short period of time. When an aluminum tube, for example, is subjected to the field, it collapses inward with sufficient force to weld itself onto a stationary component, such as a steel or aluminum shaft. The solid-state weld process requires no heat, with the component orientation controlled by machine tooling. FAX (419) 866-2616.