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Numerical simulation and experimental verification of temperature field in induction welding process of CFRTP L-shaped stringer and skin based on magneto-thermal coupling

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Abstract

Induction welding is a suitable and promising technique for assembling thermoplastic composite structural components. In this work, a magneto-thermal coupling model has been developed to simulate the induction welding process of carbon fiber–reinforced thermoplastic composite L-shaped stringers. To verify the accuracy and applicability of this model, a series of experiments were conducted, and an infrared thermometer was utilized to calibrate the simulation temperature field. The accuracy and applicability of the model for the induction welding process were validated by comparing the experimental results with the simulated results. Specifically, the induced current density and the magnetic field distribution during induction heating were examined, and the temperature distribution of the carbon fiber–reinforced thermoplastic composite L-shaped stringers during heating was analyzed. It was found that the temperature field on the induction element was distributed in a semi-elliptical shape, extending from the boundary to the middle and intersecting in a butterfly shape at the center. Furthermore, the evolution of the temperature field under different process parameters was investigated, focusing on the influence of coil current and heating time. Based on the simulation results, the optimum process parameters were the coil current of 4 A and the heating time of 40 s.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China

    Xiaodong Li, Hengchang Bu, Feiyun Wang, Binbin Li & Xiaohong Zhan

  2. Center for Advanced Low-dimension Materials, State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai, China

    Jianan Yao

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  1. Xiaodong Li
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Contributions

The materials preparation was conducted by Xiaodong Li. The welding experiment was conducted by Feiyun Wang. Data processing and manuscript preparation were led by Xiaodong Li with contributions from all authors.

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Correspondence to Xiaohong Zhan.

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Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Mesh Convergence Study

A grid convergence study was conducted using different grid sizes in COMSOL. Five grid types were selected, namely Coarser, Coarsening, Regular, Refinement, Finer, and Superfine, as shown in Table 4. The convergence graph for these grid types is presented in Fig. 17.

Table 4 Grid size and its convergence
Full size table
Fig. 17
figure 17

Convergence graphs with different grid types: a coarser; b coarsening; c regular; d refinement; e finer

Full size image

Based on the data, we can observe the following:

The “Coarser” and “Coarsening” grids have fewer iterations and shorter computation times compared to other grid types, indicating faster convergence. However, their average cell quality is slightly lower. The “Regular” grid shows a good balance between average cell quality, iterations, and computation time. The “Refinement”, “Finer”, and “Superfine” grids have better average cell quality, but they require significantly more iterations and computation time. Additionally, the “Superfine” grid did not converge within the specified number of iterations.

In conclusion, for this specific study, the “Regular” grid appears to be a good compromise between computational efficiency and accuracy, as it achieved a reasonable average cell quality and convergence with a moderate number of iterations and computation time. The finer grids (refinement, finer, and superfine) improve cell quality but come at the cost of increased computational resources and convergence challenges, especially the “Superfine” grid, which did not converge within the predefined iterations. The choice of the most appropriate grid type would depend on the specific requirements of the simulation, considering the trade-off between accuracy and computational cost.

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Li, X., Bu, H., Wang, F. et al. Numerical simulation and experimental verification of temperature field in induction welding process of CFRTP L-shaped stringer and skin based on magneto-thermal coupling. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 130, 4341–4357 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-024-12946-9

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