Numerical modeling and validation of Aluminium Friction Stir Welding (FSW) process during railcar manufacturing

Abstract Innovative joint design and optimization of the welding procedure for Friction Stir Welding (FWS) during railcar manufacturing will improve the overall cost effectiveness and crashworthiness of the assembled parts. In this work, the combination the Taguchi method and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) approaches were employed for the optimization of the Friction Stir Welding (FWS) of aluminum alloy during railcar manufacturing. The FEA approach was used to investigate the thermo-mechanical behavior of the material during the welding operation while the experiment designed with the use of the Taguchi methodology was used as a guide to perform the physical welding operations in the following range: welding speed (8–20 mm/s); rotational speed (400–700 rpm); frictional pressure (20–40 MPa); and friction time (4–10 s) The statistical analysis of the results obtained was used to obtain a mathematical model which correlates distortion as a function of the independent process parameters. The results obtained indicate that the development of a welded joint with high structural integrity that will meet the service requirements. The results also show that the magnitude of the distortions determined from the computer aided modeling and simulation were lesser than the ones obtained from the physical experiments. However, the values of distortion obtained from the predicted model was were found to be in good agreement with the physical experimental values. The combination of these techniques will assist manufacturers as a decision making tool in their quest for the development of welded structures of high integrity.

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