A fully coupled thermomechanical 3D model for all phases of friction stir welding

Although friction stir welding (FSW) has made its way to industrial application particularly in the last years, the FSW process, its influences and their strong interactions among themselves are still not thoroughly understood. The lack of understanding mainly arises from the adverse observability of the actual process with phenomena like material flow and deposition, large material deformations plus their complex thermo-mechanical interactions determining the weld formation and its mechanical properties. A validated numerical process model may be helpful for closing this gap as well as for an isolated assessment of individual influences and phenomena. Hereby such a model will be a valuable assistance for process and especially tool development. In this study a Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) approach with Abaqus V6.14 is used for modeling the whole FSW process within one continuous model. The resolution reached allows not only simulating the joining of two sheets into one and real tooling geometries but also burr and internal void formation. Results for temperature fields, surface and weld formation as well as process forces are shown and validated.