Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian prediction of thermal and residual stress environments in dissimilar friction stir welding of aluminum alloys

Abstract

The evaluation of residual stresses (RS) induced by the friction stir welding (FSW) process is crucial in anticipating the performance of the welded structure. The existence of such residual stresses within a friction stir welded structure may lead to excessive distortion and weakness to afford the applied external loads. To assess quantitatively the effect of these residual stresses generated by FSW process, the current paper implements a Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) finite element simulation to analyze both thermal and subsequent resulted remaining stress environments in dissimilar friction stir welding of AA6061-T6 and AA2024-T3 alloys. The thermal analysis step was conducted first and followed by a mechanical analysis step in which the residual stresses distribution throughout the whole dissimilar FSWed alloys were captured. To validate the simulation results, K-type thermocouples, in addition to A-type rosette strain gauges, were planted to measure both temperature history and residual stress field generated as a consequence of the thermal environment. The effect of changing FSW working variables like rotation and traverse speeds on both the thermal and residual stress environments was investigated. The obtained results demonstrated that the temperature, as well as the residual stress, was higher in the sample retreating side rather than the proposed advancing side, and a fair correlation between the experimental and simulation results was attained. Quantitatively, the longitudinal residual stress was higher in contrast to the transverse value, and it varied from being tensile in the zone beneath the tool shoulder to compressive away from the welding tool. Furthermore, the plastic strain produced owing to the surface contact between the welding tool and the dissimilar aluminum sample was higher on the retreating side.