Generated forces and heat during the critical stages of friction stir welding and processing

The solid-state behavior of friction stir welding process results in violent mechanical forces that should be mitigated, if not eliminated. Plunging and dwell time are the two critical stages of this welding process in terms of the generated forces and the related heat. In this study, several combinations of pre-decided penetration speeds, rotational speeds, tool designs, and dwell time periods were used to investigate these two critical stages. Moreover, a coupled-field thermal-structural finite element model was developed to validate the experimental results and the induced stresses. The experimental results revealed the relatively large changes in force and temperature during the first two stages compared with those during the translational tool movement stage. An important procedure to mitigate the undesired forces was then suggested. The model prediction of temperature values and their distribution were in good agreement with the experimental prediction. Therefore, the thermal history of this non-uniform heat distribution was used to estimate the induced thermal stresses. Despite the 37% increase in these stresses when 40 s dwell time was used instead of 5 s, these stresses showed no effect on the axial force values because of the soft material incidence and stir effects.