Analytical Modeling & Simulation of Friction Stir Welding Process

ANALYTICAL MODELING AND SIMULATION OF FRICTION STIR WELDING PROCESS Friction stir welding works in the solid state of metals and basic goal of the process is to generate thermal energy by friction between tool and work pieces, which will soften weld pieces and stir it to form the weld. Up to today many people concentrated on different process parameters but they are not concentrated on the initial work which is required to melt the metal to form weld. A plane strain, axisymmetric analyses is used to study the thermo-mechanical instability leading to stirring action for a tool pin rotating at a given RPM. More specifically, the effect of initial work material temperature, tool speed, and tool geometry on size of stir zone and time taken for causing yielding from thermo-mechanical instability is studied. A three-dimensional, finite element material flow and heat transfer model, in a moving co-ordinate system, is developed for analyzing friction stir welding (FSW). Heat input from the tool shoulder and the tool pin are considered here. For validation purpose a bench mark problem is solved using fluent.