The relationship between temperature, time of friction and thermal flux for high-speed rotational wood-dowel welding has been modelled through a heat-transfer model. It was shown that the interface temperature could be estimated as a function of the friction time by the general equation T-0 = T-i + 2 beta u tau root alpha/h root pi root t, where T-0-temperature at the welding interface, T-i- initial temperature of the wood, t - time, tau - the friction stress, u - the rate of rotation or vibration, beta - the fraction of mechanical energy convertible into thermal energy, and h and alpha are, respectively, the thermal conductivity and diffusivity of the wood. For both the rotation welding and linear welding systems, the value of beta is found to be 0.080 +/- 0.01. The results obtained for dowel rotation welding indicate that a temperature of 180 degrees C is optimal for rotational dowel welding. The model was validated from experimental data on rotational dowel welding for the portion of the curve in which temperature increased as a function of time. Furthermore, it was also validated from experimental data for linear vibration welding.