Effects of different friction stir welding processes on residual stress and deformation of Ti62A alloy joints

Residual stress induced by welding easily causes deformation and even fracture failure in welded structures. In this paper, a three-dimensional thermal-mechanical coupling finite element model of friction stir welding (FSW) was developed. The effects of different welding processes, namely conventional friction stir welding (C-FSW), stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SS-FSW), and bobbin tool friction stir welding (BT-FSW), on the temperature, residual stress, and deformation of welded joints were investigated by employing a heat source model and a force model to the welding analysis. The results reveal that a discernible disparity in temperature gradient is observed in the region ahead of the tool and behind it among various welding processes. The peak values of longitudinal residual stress along the surface and bottom paths of SS-FSW are reduced by 35.7% and 34.1%, respectively. In addition, the deformation at the initial end of the weld is slightly larger than that at the final end along the welding direction in three welding processes. Compared with other FSW processes, SS-FSW exhibits the smallest deformation, which is advantageous for improving assembly accuracy and enhancing the load-bearing capacity of weldments. The above results provide an important theoretical reference for the FSW process optimization of Ti62A alloy.(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).