Numerical Simulation of Temperature Distribution and Material Flow During Friction Stir Welding of Dissimilar Aluminum and Copper Alloys
By Evgenii Rylkov (Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University), Anton Naumov (Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University), Fedor Isopov (Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University), Oleg Panchenko (Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University)

Aluminum and copper alloys are widely used in different fields of industrial applications but the joining of them by means of fusion welding techniques is of great difficulty according to the brittle intermetallic compound formation. The solid state joining techniques such as friction stir welding (FSW) could be used to join dissimilar materials in order to receive the improved properties of the weld compare to the fusion welding techniques.
In the present research the CFD modeling was used to describe the temperature field and material flow during FSW of AA1050 and copper of technical purity (CTP). A 3D viscoplastic model with the approach of Volume of Fluid (VOF) was developed. Developed model was realized in ANSYS™ software to determine the temperature field and material flow around the tool. The simulation results showed a good prediction of the morphology of the joins such as thermomechanical affected zone (TMAZ) size and materials position after welding. Also the numerical model was used to optimize the axial force parameter of FSW process in order to receive the defect free FSWed joints. The results of temperature measurements during FSW and macrostructure of the welds are presented and compared with the results of CFD modeling.