Effects of Boundary Conditions and Operating Parameters on Temperature Distribution during the Friction Stir Welding Process

Abstract

This work deals with a numerical simulation of the friction stir welding FSW process of alloy material AA2195-T8. A 3D transient thermal model for simulating the heat transfer phenomena in the welding phase is applied. In this model, the FSW tool is considered as a circular heat source moving in a rectangular plate having a cooling surface and subjected to non-uniform and non-homogeneous boundary conditions. The thermal problem is solved using the finite element method as part of a Lagrangian formulation. The obtained results allow us to determine the maximum value of the temperature in the Nugget zone of the welded joint. During this process, the thermal cycle and the temperature distribution were determined for different values of the welding process parameters. The obtained numerical results are in good agreement with the one available in the literature.