Defect formation and material flow in Friction Stir Welding

This work addresses the issue of the simulation and prediction of defect formation through the analysis of the material mixing during Friction Stir Welding (FSW). A coupled thermomechanical model is used for the FSW simulation. To follow the flow of the material, a tracing technique of the material particles is incorporated in the numerical model. A fast and accurate two-stage numerical strategy is adopted to analyse the FSW process. The speed-up stage intends to reach the steady state quickly. The material tracing is performed in the periodic stage where the rotation of the tool is modelled. The effect of the process parameters and the pin features on the defect formation is studied. The model is capable of predicting defects such as void, wormhole, flash and joint line remnant, as well as the formation of “onion rings” in a single simulation. The results show that the proposed model has significant capability to explain and predict the post-FSW defects. •Numerical model for prediction of defect formation in Friction Stir Welding.•Study of process parameters and pin features effects on the defect formation.•Capable of detecting void, wormhole, flash and joint line remnant defects.•Prediction of the “onion rings” pattern for the first time.