A phenomenologically based material flow model for friction stir welding

This paper presents a methodology for the construction of a phenomenological based semiphysical model (PBSM) applied to the soundness evaluation of friction stir welding (FSW) of aluminum alloy welded joints. The mentioned approach produces an interpretable and mathematically simple model but with enough prediction power. Different to other approaches, the obtained PBSM can be simulated in real time because of its low computational burden (<8 ms per run with Core 2 INTEL (R) processor). Using AA2024-T3 aluminum for experimental validation and model simulation, the obtained model allows the evaluation of basic weld soundness with low computational cost and simple indicators that can be used by non-specialized users in process modeling. The achieved results show good agreement with the experimental data and indicate a clear upper boundary for the travel speed variable, from which it is possible to set a window of operation for the FSW process in the evaluated conditions for aluminum alloy AA2024-T3. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.