Temperature and Stress Evaluation during Friction Stir Welding of Inconel 718 Alloy Using Finite Element Numerical Simulation

The current work aims to carry out a dynamic explicit nonlinear finite element simulation to analyze the temperature and residual stress distribution during friction stir welding process of Inconel 718 alloy. The computational modeling has been done in the ABAQUS^® explicit software. Features such as arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation, adaptive meshing, mesh sensitivity analysis and mass scaling have been incorporated in order to develop a reliable and computationally efficient FE model. A finite sliding property was used to define the interaction between tool bottom surface and plate upper surface. The tool-workpiece contact was defined with coulomb friction model with temperature-dependent friction coefficient value. Furthermore, a small experimental work was carried out in order to validate the numerically obtained thermal profiles. Results showed that similar temperature profiles were generated across the workpiece. However, temperatures in advancing side were slightly on a higher side. Mechanical response of the Inconel plates was also studied.