In-process quality control and high reliability of the weld are the major concerns in applying friction welding to the economical and qualified mass-production. Experimental examinations and quantitative analysis were performed for the optimiaztion of similar friction welding of hydraulic valve spool steels(SNCM220, SCM435, SACM645, SCM415, ${varphi}24). The quantitative correlations were found between the initial cumulative counts of acoustic emission(AE) occurring during plastic deformation periods of the welding and the fatigue life as well as weld strength and welding conditions. A real-time evaluation system was developed for the friction weld quality by AE.