Study on the effect of tool profiles on temperature distribution and material flow characteristics in friction stir welding

The present investigation describes a computational fluid dynamics approach to study the effects of friction stir welding tool profiles on the thermal conditions and material flow in welds. The aim is to observe the temperatures of the weld and material flow with respect to different probe profiles. For the modeling purpose, temperature dependent material properties and stick-slip conditions between the tool and work material were incorporated. The results from the model exhibited most of the process characteristics of friction stir welding, such as the difference in temperatures of advancing and retreating sides of the weld, temperature contours ahead and behind the tools along the weld, and flow fields. The thermal condition exhibited temperatures that were close to experimental values and below the melting point of the aluminum alloy.