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Heat transfer in aluminum-steel joint and weld tool during the friction stir welding: Simulation and experimental validation

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Abstract

In this work, dissimilar butt joints of 6061 aluminum and 304 stainless steel were prepared by friction stir welding (FSW), and the FSW process is monitored by the infrared (IR) thermography. Considering the different material properties between aluminum and steel, a novel CFD model with weld tool is developed and tested to investigate the effects of weld tool on the aluminum-steel joint under different traverse speeds. The calculated temperature and thermal cycles for various traverse speed agreed well with the corresponding IR thermography experimental results. It is found that the calculated peak temperature is about 10 K lower than measured peak temperature and the relative error is 2.3%, while it is 11.4% for the model without weld tool. The model with weld tool can decrease the temperature gradient and inhomogeneity of temperature field for aluminum-steel joint. SEM analysis of the interface between aluminum and steel showed that the thickness of IMCs may decrease with traverse speed. The model with weld tool can provide calculated viscosity based on the validated temperature field to analyze the insufficient stirring defect of aluminum-steel joint.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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The codes used to reproduce this work cannot be shared at this time as they are part of an ongoing study.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Fund for Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province (20KJB460013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Automotive Engineering, Changshu Institute of Technology, Changshu, 215500, China

    Wenmin Ou, Guolin Guo, Chenshuo Cui & Yaocheng Zhang

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Changshu Institute of Technology, Changshu, 215500, China

    Longgen Qian

Authors
  1. Wenmin Ou
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  2. Guolin Guo
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  3. Chenshuo Cui
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  4. Yaocheng Zhang
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  5. Longgen Qian
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Contributions

Wenmin Ou and Guolin Guo conceived and designed the study. Chenshuo Cui and Yaocheng Zhang performed the experiments. Longgen Qian and Wenin Ou established the model. Wenmin Ou and Guolin Guo reviewed and edited the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wenmin Ou.

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Ou, W., Guo, G., Cui, C. et al. Heat transfer in aluminum-steel joint and weld tool during the friction stir welding: Simulation and experimental validation. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 125, 2211–2224 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-023-10889-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-023-10889-1

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