Correlating process parameters to thrust forces and torque in the friction stir processing of AZ31B

Abstract

Introduced in this work are correlations that capture the behavior of thrust force and torque vs. input process parameters in friction stir processing (FSP) of twin-roll cast (TRC) AZ3 IB. The correlations are based on the findings of an experimentally validated robust 3D FE model that was used to simulate the FSP process at different values of tool rotational and traverse speeds. The findings are fitted into simple power equations relating thrust force and torque to input parameters of spindle speed and feed. An experimental test matrix was used to validate the proposed correlations. The correlation equations were found to be able to predict the experimentally measured forces during friction stir processing with good statistical significance with average estimate errors of 6.2% and 5.4% for the thrust force and torque, respectively. The thrust force and torque exhibited opposite trends with increasing tool rotational speed. The thrust force increased while the torque decreased as the tool rotational speed increased. Copyright © (2014) by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers All rights reserved.