Experimental Investigation on Thermal Properties of Al2024 Alloy by Friction Stir Welding

Friction stir welding (FSW) connects the parts without melting the metal and produces a plasticized zone of metal. The main objective of this paper is to examine the temperature distribution that results from friction stir-lap welding of Al2024 alloy at varying rotating speeds and feed rates. Temperature distribution, heat flow, directional heat flux, thermal stresses, and strain energy are analyzed at different speeds of 700, 1000rpm, and at feed rate of 20 mm/min and 40 mm/min. Comparing the experimental temperatures with the simulated temperatures an error of 0.6% has been observed which is negligible. By comparing the numerical values of heat flux to the simulated values, the maximum error found to be 5.8% for the similar lap Al 2024-T3 joint. Temperature and heat flux values are gradually decreased from nugget zone to thermo-mechanical zone. But when compared to the nugget zone with the thermo-mechanical zone, the values of thermal stress and strain energy were abnormally altered.