Modeling the Material Flow and Heat Transfer in Reverse Dual-Rotation Friction Stir Welding

Reverse dual-rotation friction stir welding (RDR-FSW) is a novel modification of conventional friction stir welding (FSW) process. During the RDR-FSW process, the tool pin and the assisted shoulder are separated and rotate with opposite direction independently, so that there are two material flows with reverse direction. The material flow and heat transfer in RDR-FSW have significant effects on the microstructure and properties of the weld joint. A 3D model is developed to quantitatively analyze the effects of the separated tool pin and the assisted shoulder which rotate in reverse direction on the material flow and heat transfer during RDR-FSW process. Numerical simulation is conducted to predict the temperature profile, material flow field, streamlines, strain rate, and viscosity distributions near the tool. The calculated results show that as the rotation speed of the tool pin increases, the temperature near the tool gets higher, the zone with higher temperature expands, and approximately symmetric temperature distribution is obtained near the tool. Along the workpiece thickness direction, the calculated material flow velocity and its layer thickness near the tool get lowered because the effect of the shoulder is weakened as the distance away from the top surface increases. The model is validated by comparing the predicted values of peak temperature at some typical locations with the experimentally measured ones.