Experimental studies on friction stir welding of aluminium alloy 5083 and prediction of temperature distribution using arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian-based finite element method
R. Pramod, Vikram Jain, S. Mohan Kumar, B. Girinath, A. Rajesh Kannan, N. Siva Shanmugam
Abstract
The present work focused on welding aluminium alloy 5083 using the friction stir welding process. Suitable welding process parameters were identified to fabricate a defect-free butt joint with a tool rotational speed of 1600 rpm, traverse speed of 20 mm/min and tilt angle of 3°. The microstructure at the nugget zone, thermo mechanically affected zone, heat-affected zone and base metal zone are examined. Mechanical properties of the weldment exhibited promising results with an average joint efficiency and hardness of 75.70% and 94.0 ± 5.0 vickers hardness, respectively. Fractography revealed ductile mode of failure in base and weld metal tensile samples. Furthermore, a 3D thermomechanical finite element model was utilized to simulate the friction stir welding process using the selected process parameters. Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian-based model aided in predicting residual stress distributions and thermal history during the friction stir welding process.