Analytical Modeling of the Friction Stir Welding Process Using Different Pin Profiles

Abstract

Friction stir welding (FSW) is considered a combination of extrusion, forging, and stirring of the material where a high strain rate and temperature are generated. Due to the complex nature of heat generation in FSW, the analytical model defines variables and parameters that dominantly affect heat generation, and many of them cannot be fully mathematically explained. This paper proposes an analytical model for heat generation for FSW using different pin profiles such as triangular, square, pentagon, and hexagon. From the obtained results, it is observed that the lowest temperature is generated during welding using the hexagonal pin profile, while the square pin profile has the highest temperature among all pin profiles under the given set of working conditions. Furthermore, the results obtained from numerical modeling show that increasing the tool rotational speed at constant weld speed increases the heat input, whereas the heat input decreases with an increase in the weld speed at constant tool rotational speed. In addition, the paper describes the application of Comsol to thermal modeling in FSW. Different tool pin profiles used for the analysis for heat generation and temperature distribution are also included.