Study of Influence of Tool Geometry on Material Flow Pattern in Friction Stir Welding Process Using Finite Element Simulation

Material flow pattern studies are conducted during the friction stir welding process, to evaluate the influence of tool geometry on the flow characteristics. This is done considering the material movement in the case of friction stir welding is happening by material flow around the rotating tool and is considered as a viscous flow exhibiting laminar flow characteristics exhibiting non-Newtonian properties. Velocity field and the viscosity fields are considered as the criteria to differentiate the various weld zone viz. Weld nugget zone, HAZ & TMAZ. To compare the influence of tool geometry on the material flow behavior various tool pin profiles are considered and the resulting velocity distributions are compared. the results obtained revealed the tool pin geometry has a considerable effect on the weld nugget zone