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Acta Metall Sin  2026, Vol. 62 Issue (1): 148-158    DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2025.00240
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Coupled Thermal-Mechanical-Fluid Simulation and Material Migration Trajectory Analysis for Friction Stir Welding of Aluminum Alloy
HAN Honghua, SHI Qingyu, YANG Chengle, KONG Deshuai, CHEN Gaoqiang()
State Key Laboratory of Clean and Efficient Turbomachinery Power Equipment, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Cite this article: 

HAN Honghua, SHI Qingyu, YANG Chengle, KONG Deshuai, CHEN Gaoqiang. Coupled Thermal-Mechanical-Fluid Simulation and Material Migration Trajectory Analysis for Friction Stir Welding of Aluminum Alloy. Acta Metall Sin, 2026, 62(1): 148-158.

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Abstract  

Although friction stir welding (FSW) is widely employed in aerospace and other engineering fields owing to its ability to produce high-quality joints and low residual stresses, the understanding of its physical mechanisms remains limited by the intense material flow during welding, which lags behind engineering practice. This gap motivates researchers to develop thermo-mechanical coupling models to elucidate the underlying physics, aiming to expand its application boundaries. During FSW, the material undergoes a highly rapid flow-deposition process that is completed within a few seconds. In this study, we present a fully coupled thermo-mechanical-fluid model for friction-stir-welded 2219-T87 aluminum alloy to demonstrate the complete material transport path in the vicinity of the tool. A particle-tracking algorithm was employed to quantitatively analyze the flow and subsequent refilling trajectory of the tracer material. The predicted temperature history and flow-zone geometry showed close agreement with experimental data. At the axis Z = 7 mm, the peak downward vertical velocity of the material reached 16.57 mm/s at the advancing side of the pin, whereas the peak upward vertical velocity reached 10.47 mm/s at the retreating side. The analysis revealed that the flow-deposition behavior of the material was highly position dependent. The material adjacent to the shoulder followed a multi-loop spiral trajectory around the tool, during which the loop radius gradually decreased and the material migrated markedly downward in the vicinity of the pin. Ultimately, all deposits accumulated on the advancing side. In contrast, the material far from the shoulder exhibited a through-flow pattern, depositing behind the pin without completing a full revolution. Post-weld deposits originating from the advancing side remained on the advancing side, whereas those from the retreating side settled on the retreating side.

Key words:  friction stir welding      aluminum alloy      material flow      numerical simulation     
Received:  20 August 2025     
ZTFLH:  TG456.9  
Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(52175334);State Key Laboratory of Clean and Efficient Turbomachinery Power Equipment Project(DEC8300CG202428557A-1228215)

URL: 

https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2025.00240     OR     https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2026/V62/I1/148

Fig.1  Schematic of the friction stir welding (FSW) experimental process
Fig.2  Geometric modeling and hexahedral meshing
Fig.3  Simulated temperature distributions of full workpiece surface (a) and X = 0 mm section (b), and simulated and measured temperatures of AS (c) and RS (d) during FSW (Tmax—maximum simulated temperature of the workpiece; TAS_max, TRS_max—maximum temperatures on the AS and RS of the X = 0 section, respectively; Tmax.Sim., Tmax.Exp.—maximum simulated and experimentally measured temperatures at the thermocouple location, respectively)
Fig.4  Velocity magnitude of material flow at the X = 0 mm section
Fig.5  Predicted strain rate at X = 0 mm section (a) and experimental macromorphology (b) of weld plastic deformation zone (TMZ—thermo-mechanical affected zone)
Fig.6  Velocity magnitudes at Z = 7 mm plane (a) and Z = 3 mm plane (b)
Fig.7  Z-direction velocity distributions at the Z = 7 mm plane (a) and Z = 3 mm plane (b)
Fig.8  Distributions of the material flow trajectory at Z = 7 mm plane (a-c) and Z = 3 mm plane (d-f)
(a, d) overall views (b, e) AS (c, f) RS
Fig.9  Multi-revolution flow paths initiated at Y = -2.5 mm, Z = 7 mm and its Z-direction velocity distribution (ΔYZ) denotes the offset in the Y(Z) direction between the material outflow and initial inflow positions, the same in Fig.10)
(a) 3D view (b) X-Y view (c) X-Z view
Fig.10  Multi-revolution flow paths initiated at Y = 2.5 mm, Z = 7 mm and its Z-direction velocity distribution
(a) 3D view (b) X-Y view (c) X-Z view
Fig.11  Straight-through flow paths initiated at Y = -1.2 mm, Z = 3 mm and its Z-direction velocity distribution
(a) 3D view (b) X-Y view (c) X-Z view
Fig.12  Straight-through flow paths initiated at Y = 1.2 mm, Z = 3 mm and its Z-direction velocity distribution
(a) 3D view (b) X-Y view (c) X-Z view
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