Numerical simulation of friction stir welding

Abstract

Friction stir welding is a solid-state welding technique that utilizes thermo-mechanical influence of the rotating welding tool on parent material resulting with monolith joint-weld. On the contact of welding tool and parent material, significant stirring and deformation of parent material appears, and during this process mechanical energy is partially transformed into heat. The paper describes the software for the numerical simulation of friction stir welding developed at Mechanical Engineering Faculty, University of Nis. Numerical solution for estimation of welding plates temperature is estimated using finite difference method-explicit scheme with adaptive grid, considering influence of temperature on material's conductivity, contact conditions between welding tool and parent material, material flow around welding tool etc. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental results.