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Thermal Modeling of Friction Stir Welding

Page history last edited by Stanley.Howard@sdsmt.edu 8 years, 2 months ago


Thermal Modeling of Friction Stir Welding

 

Background

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid state joining process that relies on forging together two work pieces by simultaneously heated by a rotating pin tool and compressing the heated material by a shoulder on the pin tool.  The process has gained wide acceptance in aluminum alloys and is rapidly expanding into higher temperature metals such as iron-based alloys and titanium.  The process offers welds with properties superior to the parent material without the attending shrinkage problems of conventional fusion welding.  Additionally, alloys not weldable by fusion metals may successfully be joined by FSW.  Even dissimilar metals have been joined.  The thermal history of the FSW material is a great interest because it affects the heat affected zone (HAZ) near the weld.  Also, thermal history and temperature measurement remains a possible means of determining an optimal FSW processing parameter window.  This project continues work initiated as part of a PhD thesis and is a well developed project with well defined goals.

 

Project Details

The student will learn how to write code for COMSOL software that is used to model the thermal profiles in FSW.  The student will make adjustments to the code that incorporates selected theories proposed by FSW researchers as described in the literature to determine if those theories can adequately describe experimentally-obtained FSW results by SDSM&T researchers.   Indeed, the REU student will have a close working relationship with the code author and the project advisor Dr. Howard.  Most of the incorporations into the existing model will involve algebraic-based concepts well within the capability of the REU student.  The REU student will have wide latitude to try their ideas since there is no limitation on available computer time.

 

Skills Development

  • Energy balances 
  • Heat transfer
  • Friction stir welding concepts and processing 
  • FEM modeling: COMSOL  

 

Research Duties

Students will spend enough time in the FSW Laboratory to learn the details of the physical process being modeled.  The student will then learn the rudiments of heat transfer and frictional heating followed by learning the method of creating a COMSOL model of the system. The majority of the student's time will be actually running models that incorporate select features and comparing the results with previously-obtained FSW results such for the thermal history of FSW of Pb, Sn, Zn, and Al.

 

Impact of Research

The team the student will work with has developed unique and very precise ways to measure temperatures during the FSW process.  The student will have an opportunity to help define improved thermal models useful for controlling the FSW process.  The project advisor and associates have published extensively in the field.

 

Research Team

You will be working with both Dr.  Stanley Howard, Dr. Lily Ma, and Dr. Bharat Jasthi.

 

 

Dr. Howard has expertise in modeling thermal systems and in Friction Stir Welding and will serve as the lead on the project.

 

 

 

Dr. Ma is the author of the COMSOL code in use and is an experienced materials engineer who has extensive experience in Friction Stir Welding.

 

Dr. Jasthi is an experienced materials engineer who has worked in Friction Stir Welding for a decade.

 

 

For more details on this project, contact the lead investigator, Dr. Stanley M. Howard.

contact info. stanley.howard@sdsmt.edu,  ph. (605) 394-1282

 

 

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