Experimentally validated thermo-mechanically coupled FE simulations of Al/Mg friction stir welded joints

Abstract

Numerical simulations of the friction stir welding of dissimilar metal joints is a daunting task given the complex issues involved such as the flow mixing action and the phase transformations. In this work, a 3D thermo-mechanical FE model is developed to simulate the dissimilar friction stir welding (DFSW) of aluminum-magnesium bi-metallic joints. The model is built using a manufacturing-processing-specific FEM software package (DEFORM 3D). Suitable constitutive laws are implemented to describe flow stress for both welded constituents: Al and Mg. The flow patterns of the stirring action from the simulations were verified against flow patterns of steel shots reported from experiments published in the literature. Also, the simulated interface patterns were found to be in agreement with microscopic images of welded sections taken from reported experiments. Furthermore, simulated temperature profiles favorably compare with temperature measurements previously published in the literature. The numerical model output includes relevant results such as material flow and volume fractions throughout the joint but most importantly in the recrystallized stir zone.