MMMS

Multidiscipline Modeling in Mat. and Str.4(2008)1-14 www.brill.nl/mmms

TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION MODELING OF

FRICTION STIR SPOT WELDING OF AA 6061-T6 USING
FINITE ELEMENT TECHNIQUE

P. Sathiya1, N. Siva Shanmugam2, T. Ramesh2 and R. Murugavel3

1
Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli – 620015.
Tamil Nadu, India.
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli – 620015.
Tamil Nadu, India.
3
Principal, Pavai Engineering College, Namakkal, Tamilnadu, India
tramesh@nitt.edu

Received 1 September 2006; accepted 15 November 2006

Abstract

Friction stir welding (FSW), a process that involves joining of metals without fusion of filler materials.
It is used already in routine, as well as critical application for the joining of structural components
made of Aluminum and its alloys. Indeed it has been convincingly demonstrated that the process
results in strong and ductile joints, some times in systems, which have proved difficult using
conventional welding techniques. The process is most suitable for components that are flat & long
(plates & sheets) but it can be adapted for pipes, hollow sections and positional welding. The welds are
created by the combined action of frictional heating and mechanical deformation, due to a rotating tool.
Recently, a new technology called friction stir spot welding (FSSW) has been developed that has a
several advantages over the electric resistance welding process widely used in automotive industry in
terms of weld quality and process efficiency. This welding technology involves a process similar to
FSW, except that, instead of moving the tool along the weld seam, the tool only indents the parts,
which are placed on top of each other.
The conditions under which the deposition process in FSSW is successful are not fully understood.
However, it is known that only under specific thermo-mechanical conditions does a weld formation
occur. The objective of the present work is to analyze the primary conditions under which the cavity
behind the tool is filled. For this, a fully coupled thermo-mechanical three-dimensional FE model has
been developed in ABAQUS/Explicit using the adaptive meshing scheme and the Johnson-Cook
material law. The contact forces are modeled by Coulomb’s law of friction, making the contact
condition highly solution dependent. Temperature graph in the radial direction as well as stress, strain
plots are presented.

Keywords
Friction Stir Spot Welding, Aluminium Alloy, Finite Element Analysis, Adaptive meshing,
Temperature distribution.
ʌ
C Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2007
2 P. Sathiya et al

1. Introduction

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a new joining method derived from conventional friction
welding which enables the advantages of solid-state welding. This joining technique has
been shown to be viable for joining aluminum alloys, copper, magnesium and other low-
melting point metallic materials. Research and development are progressing to explore
the potential in applying the technique to harder materials such as steel and titanium.
Since FSW is essentially solid-state, i.e., without melting, high quality weld can
generally be fabricated with absence of solidification cracking, porosity, oxidation, and
other defects typical to traditional fusion welding. The process consists of a spinning
cylindrical pin with a stepped shoulder, which is pressed against the seam line of the two
parts to be welded. As the pin rotates, it penetrates the plates inducing a plastic
deformation and then translates along the weld line. The friction between the tool and
the parts produces material stirring motion that results in the weld. Friction stir spot
welding (FSSW) is a new process that recently has received considerable attention from
the automotive and other industries. A novel variant of the “linear” friction stir welding
(FSW) process, FSSW creates a spot, lap-weld without bulk melting. This welding
technology involves a process similar to FSW, except that, instead of moving the tool
along the weld seam, the tool only indents the parts, which are placed on top of each
other. The FSSW process consists of three phases; plunging, stirring, and drawing out
as shown in Fig.1. The process starts with spinning the tool and slowly plunging it into a
weld spot until the shoulder contacts the top surface of work piece. Then, the stirring
phase enable the materials of two work pieces mix together. Lastly, once a
predetermined penetration is reached, the process stops and the tool retract from the
work piece.

1. Tool 2. Pin 3. Shoulder 4. Anvil

Fig.1 Principles of FSSW with fixed pin [1]

 TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION MODELING OF FRICTION… 3

The appearance of the resulting weld resembles that of a resistance spot weld
commonly used for auto-body assembly. The solid-state bonding and other features of
the process make it inherently attractive for body assembly and other similar
applications. Today’s primary welding process for auto body structure assembly – the
electric resistance spot welding (RSW) process – can be problematic for many new
high-performances light weight structural materials such as Al alloys and advanced
high-strength steels (AHSS). So far, the majority of the research and development
efforts on FSSW have been on aluminum alloys. Because Al alloys are easy to deform
at relatively low temperatures (below about 550°C) they are relatively easy to friction
stir weld. Indeed, the development of FSSW for Al alloys has been quite successful.

2. Mathematical Model of FSSW

The FSSW process involves coupled thermo-elasto plastic response of the tool-work
piece system, in which the constitutive model of the material and the non-linear
temperature dependent transient heat transfer response produce both plastic
deformations and a temperature distribution as the material flows and stirs forming the
weld [1].
The governing equation describing heat transfer process during FSSW can be written
as:
∂T ∂ ª ∂T º ∂ ª ∂T º ∂ ª ∂T º
ȡc = kx + ky + kz +G (2.1)
∂t ∂x «¬ ∂x »¼ ∂y «¬ ∂y »¼ ∂z «¬ ∂z »¼
where, ȡ is the material density, c is the material specific heat, k is heat conductivity, T
is the temperature, t is the time and G is the heat generation. Generally, the main heat
generation source in FSSW is considered to be the friction between the rotating tool and
the work piece and the plastic straining in vicinity of the tool.
According to the assumption of Coulomb’s friction law, the local friction force, Ff can
be calculated as
Ff = μFn (2.2)
where, μ is the friction coefficient between the tool shoulder surface and the work piece,
and Fn is the normal force applied to the work piece. Frictional heat then can be
formulated as
q f = F fV (2.3)
where, qf is the frictional heat, and V is the rotational velocity of the pin.
The rotational velocity of the pin, V can be computed from
V = 2ʌRN (2.4)
where, R is the distance of the calculated point from the tool axis and N is the rotational
speed of the tool. Thus, the frictional heat qf can be written as
qf = 2 ʌμRNFn (2.5)

3. Finite Element Model of Friction Stir Spot Welding

The investigation of the heat generation and contact conditions demands a numerical
formulation to solve the mutual action between the contact condition and the internal
4 P. Sathiya et al

reaction stresses. For this purpose the ABAQUS/Explicit software is chosen to solve the
problem. ABAQUS enables an explicit solution of the dynamic, coupled thermo
mechanical analysis. The contact algorithm in the explicit formulation is less
computationally expensive as compared to solving an equivalent implicit problem.
Additionally, the use of Adaptive meshing and advection schemes [1], which makes it
possible to maintain mesh quality under large deformations, is utilized to simulate the
material flow and temperature distribution in FSSW process.

3.1 Surface types

ABAQUS works with three different surface types, i.e. Lagrange, Eulerian and sliding
[19]. At a Lagrange surface both the displacement in the tangential direction and the
normal direction of the surface will follow the material. This type is not suitable for
modeling the material flow in FSSW, which includes large deformation and contact
modeling. At Eulerian surface the position of the mesh is constrained in each direction
and most importantly material is allowed to flow through the mesh. This type of surface
is, in the present models, used at the in flow and out flow regions at the circumference of
the disc shaped work piece. A sliding surface has a Lagrange type of behaviour for
displacement in the normal direction to the surface, such that the mesh will follow the
material movement (in the normal direction, only). Furthermore, the sliding surface
allows material movement in the tangential direction even though the tangential (in
plane) position of the mesh is close to stationary due to the re-meshing. This surface
type is excellent for modeling contact surfaces with tangential motion, such as those
present in FSSW. Therefore, sliding surfaces are used in the present models at the
tool/matrix and matrix/backing plate interfaces.

3.2 Contact model

The contact forces in the normal direction of the surfaces are found by using the penalty
contact formulation or the kinematics contact algorithm. The tangential motion is part of
the solution for the contact condition at the interface, which in the present case is
modeled by Coulomb’s Law of friction with a friction coefficient equal to 0.610. This
involves equilibrium between the tangential contact forces (related to the normal forces
by the friction coefficient) and the shear stress of the underlying matrix. Furthermore,
the contact algorithm used in the present work only calculates contact forces if there is a
‘positive’ contact and predicts a cavity if a ‘negative’ contact or no contact is present.
By positive contact is meant that the matrix (the slave) surface aligns or penetrates the
tool (the master) surface. However, the presence of positive contact is one of the main
parameters that govern the deposition process in FSW and it is used in the present work
to evaluate the efficiency of the simulated weld [7].

3.3 Welding parameters introduced in the model

The weld set-up, such as workpiece properties, rotational, gives the welding parameters
and welding speed, tool geometry and set plunge depth. Additional process parameters
are the dwell period, plunge force, torque and heat generation. All these parameters
influence the thermo mechanical state in the matrix, e.g. stresses, strains, velocities and
temperatures, and the contact condition at the tool/matrix interface, e.g. sliding, sticking
 TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION MODELING OF FRICTION… 5

or partial sliding/sticking. The present model accounts for these parameters; however,
once the steady thermo mechanical state is established, the length of the plunge and
dwell periods does not directly affect the solution, anymore [7].

3.4 Workpiece
In this work, the two panels are modeled as one continuous workpiece; thus the joint-
line is not modeled in order to allow material transport from the advancing to the
retreating side. Only a limited part of the workpiece is included, which is a trade-off
between model accuracy and model size—in this case, optimizing the resolution close to
the tool and minimizing the computational expenses. The disc-shaped workpiece has a
diameter of 50mm and a thickness of 3 mm. They have been meshed using element type
C3D8RT, which has 8-node tri-linear displacement and temperature and reduced
integration with hourglass control. The work piece has 6880 elements and 7426 nodes.
Since the mesh is structured in the cylindrical coordinate system the element width in
the angular direction near the centre is smaller than at larger radii giving an
advantageous mesh density distribution. The element size is approximately 0.5mm in the
region surrounding the tool. The work piece has both thermal and displacement degrees
of freedom. The thermal expansion of the matrix is included in the model. For the
simulation purposes, two different plate sections are considered; such as cylindrical and
rectangular of dimension 50 X 50 X 6mm. A temperature and strain rate dependent
material law is implemented using the elastic–plastic Johnson–Cook material law [7],
which is given by
m

( [ ]) ·§¨ § T − Tref
§ İ pl · ·
ıy = A + B İ pl n
¨¨ 1 + Cln ¸¸ 1 − ¨ ¸ ¸ (3.1)
¨ ¨ ¸ ¸
© İ0 ¹© © Tmelt − Tref ¹ ¹
where ıy is the yield stress, ε the effective plastic strain, ε
pl pl
the effective plastic
strain rate, ε0 the normalizing strain rate (typically 1.0 s ), and A, B, C, n, Tmelt, Tref and
-1

m are material/test constants, given in Table 1, respectively. Additional thermo-

mechanical properties of AA6061-T6 used in the models are listed in the Table 2.
Temperature dependent friction coefficient between the aluminum workpiece and the
steel pin tool is listed in Table 3.

Table 1 Material constants for the Johnson–Cook strain rate dependent yield stress and
material data of AA6061-T6 [7]
A
B Tmelt Tref Density Specific heat
(MPa) n C m
(MPa) (°C) (°C) (kg m-3) (J kg-1 °C-1)

325 411 0.393 0.014 1.581 582 30 2700 963

Table 2 Temperature dependent material properties for AA 6061-T6 [1]

Temperature
D 37.8 93.3 148.9 204.4 260 315.6 371.1 426.7
( C)
Thermal Cond.
0.0162 0.0177 0.0184 0.0192 0.0201 0.0207 0.0217 0.0223
(W/m°C)
 6 P. Sathiya et al

Heat Capacity 1028 1052 1078 1104 1133

945 978 1004
(J/Kg°C)
Density 2657 2657 2630 2630 2602
2685 2685 2667
(Kg/m3)
Young’s 59.16 53.99 47.48 40.34
68.54 66.19 63.09 31.72
Modulus (GPa)
Yield Strength 218.6 159.7 66.2 34.5
274.4 264.6 248.2 17.9
(MPa)
Thermal Exp. 26.60 27.56 28.53 29.57
23.45 24.61 25.67 30.71
(μ/°C)

Table 3 Temperature dependent friction coefficient of aluminum and steel [1]

Temperature
22.0 34.7 93.3 147.5 210.6 260.0 315.6 371.1 426.7 582.0
(°C )

Friction
0.610 0.545 0.259 0.115 0.064 0.047 0.035 0.020 0.007 0
Coeff. μ

3.5 Tool
The tool is modeled as a rigid surface having no thermal degree of freedom. The main
tool geometry in the FE model is similar to the experimental tool [7]. The probe is
cylindrical since including the treads leads to excessive mesh distortions and program
determination. The nominal plunge depth of 4mm is applied during the various plunge
periods (4, 5, 6, 7 & 8secs.) and plunge force of 7KN is applied on the tool. The plunge
time is calculated based on the rotational speeds (800,700,600,500 & 400 rpm) of the
tool. The numerical set-up is shown in fig. 2.
Ø18 mm

Pin (dia. 6mm, height 4 mm)

Tool

Workpieces 3 mm
(2 pcs.)

Backing Anvil
Ø20 mm

Ø50 mm

(a) Circular workpiece

 TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION MODELING OF FRICTION… 7

6 mm

50 mm

(b) Rectangular workpiece

Fig. 2 Numerical setup of workpieces (a) Circular (b) Rectangular with a pin and an anvil

3.6 Boundary Conditions

Boundary conditions that were imposed on the FE model are described below [1].
• No heat transfer through the edge of the work pieces.
• Heat convection coefficients on the top and the bottom surfaces are assumed to
be 30 W/m2 °C, and the ambient temperature was 30°C.∗
• Initial temperatures for both work piece and pin are assumed at 30 °C.
• Bottom surface is fixed in all degree of freedom (DOF).

4. Results and discussions

As per the discussion made in the previous sections, that the continuous friction stir spot
welding would simulate the actual situation of friction stir welding, the discussion starts
with friction stir spot welding over here. For the simulation purposes, two different plate
sections are considered, such as cylindrical and rectangular. The basic parameters such
as temperature, stress and strain for various time steps are predicted and provided in the
form of contour plot. In order to understand the behaviour of material flow during
interaction, various tool speed conditions are assumed so that the tool would penetrate a
distance of 4 mm in to the work piece with various plunge timings like 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8
secs. This has been achieved by increasing the tool speeds.
Figs.3 (a) & (b) are drawn for the temperature contours of a cylindrical plate, for
various time steps. It has been observed that the distribution of temperature is uniform
throughout the section and maximum temperature is found at the location of the tool and
work piece interaction. From the observation it has been stated that the amount of
temperature increased in the work piece-tool interaction is very high for the time load
step of 8 sec. It is because of tool – work piece interaction for a long duration of time, a
high amount of heat is generated.

∗
The convection coefficient has been taken from the earlier work [1].
8 P. Sathiya et al

Figs. 4 (a) & (b) show the Von Mises stress distribution for various time step-loading
conditions. It is observed that the level of Von Mises stress developed in the circular
plate is quite different from the stress induced in the rectangular plate [Figs. 7(a) & (b)].
A very high stress value of 885 MPa was obtained for the time step of 6sec. The stress
value increases from a lower level, reaches the peak level and then decreases as the
plunge time increases.
The plastic stain distribution of a cylindrical plate developed during friction stir spot
welding is provided in the Figs.5 (a) & (b). It is observed from the above plots that the
behaviour of the distribution of strain is similar in nature as the stress distribution. The
plastic strain value also starts with lower value, peaks and decreases to lower level, as
the plunge time is increases. It would always be advisable that having a maximum
plastic strain for any component during plastic deformation.
In order to simulate the behaviour of friction stir welding of a rectangular plate,
friction stir spot welding is performed on a square plate of 50 × 50 mm size having 6mm
of thickness. The temperature distribution provided in the Figs.6 (a) & (b) demonstrates
that performing the friction stir welding on a rectangular plate always produce a feasible
joint. This is proved over here by the way of conducting numerical experiments on the
same size of plates. For the same loading conditions, the temperature distribution on a
rectangular plate (Shown in the Figs.6 (a) & (b)) is uniform and minimum as compared
with the cylindrical plate. Due to this the mechanical properties would not be disturbed
and changes uniformly. Where as, in the cylindrical plate, due to the uneven distribution
of the temperatures, the properties would be disturbed. Similarly the stress and strain
distributions (Fig.7 (a) & (b) and Figs. 8 (a) & (b)) are found to be uniform for all time
step loading conditions. It is suggested that the explicit FEM modeling approach used in
this study is capable of handling the extremely large deformation of the FSSW process.
The maximum temperature observed at the center of the tool is 414°C. Direct
measurement of the temperature of FSSW at the stir region is highly impossible; with
reference to many researchers it is in the range of 400 °C. Speed and the linear velocity
adopted for the plunge speed step of 6sec is highly recommended for obtaining an
effective weld joints using FSSW approach.
Figs. 9 (a) and (b) have been plotted between the temperature distribution and the
plunge depth for two different plate sections such as cylindrical and rectangular for
various time step conditions. It has been well observed that, as discussed above, the
temperature distribution is smooth and well for the rectangular plate and strictly follows
a third order polynomial curve. As the duration increases, the development of
temperature also increases.

(a)
 TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION MODELING OF FRICTION… 9

(b)

Fig.3 Temperature contour plot of a cylindrical plate for various plunge times
(a) 5 secs. (b) 6 secs.

(a)

(b)

Fig.4 Von Mises stress distribution plot of a cylindrical plate for various plunge times
(a) 5 secs. (b) 6 secs.
10 P. Sathiya et al

(a)

(b)

Fig. 5 Plastic stain distribution of a cylindrical plate for various plunge times
(a) 5 secs (b) 6 secs.

(a)
 TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION MODELING OF FRICTION… 11

(b)

Fig.6 Temperature contour plot of a rectangular plate for various plunge times
(a) 5 secs (b) 6 secs.

(a)

(b)

Fig. 7 Von Mises stress distribution plot of a rectangular plate for various plunge times
(a) 5 secs. (b) 6 secs.
12 P. Sathiya et al

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 8 Plastic stain distribution of a rectangular plate for various plunge times
(a) 5 secs. (b) 6 secs. (c) Sample friction stir spot weld [18].
 TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION MODELING OF FRICTION… 13

(a)

(b)
Fig. 9 Plot between the temperature distribution and the plunge depth for two different plate
sections such as (a) cylindrical (b) rectangular for various plunge periods
5. Conclusion

For determining the temperature at the interface of the tool shoulder and workpiece
during friction stir spot welding process, relay on results of thermal simulation. From the
Numerical results the following conclusions are drawn:
(a) Due to a long durational contact, the amount of heat generated is high and
simultaneously, the temperature developed in the tool, work-piece interact section
is high.
(b) Speed at which the tool is rotating is playing a major role in obtaining a good
quality weld beads.
(c) The parameters such as stress, Strain and Temperature distributions are very
smooth and uniform for the case of rectangular plate.
14 P. Sathiya et al

(d) The temperature distribution during Friction Stir Spot Welding follows a third
order polynomial with correlation coefficient of 1.

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