Thermo-mechanical coupling analysis of consumable-rod friction welding process

AA6061 aluminum alloy was taken as the test object, based on ABAQUS/Explicit, a three-dimensional fully thermo-mechanical coupling model for consumable-rod friction welding was established, and the temperature field, equivalent plastic deformation field, axial shortening and flash shape were analyzed. The results shown that the solid phase bonding was achieved because the welding temperature was lower than the melting point of the material, plastic metals were extruded in large quantities to form a mushroom head shape of flash with a temperature of about 480 °C during welding process. In the stable welding stage, the temperature of the advancing side was higher than that of the retreating side. In the direction perpendicular to the welding seam, the high temperature zone of the welding rod was larger than that of the welding plate, and the uneven temperature distribution made the bonding at the edge of the coating poor. The relation between axial shortening and time is nearly linear after the high temperature region tends to be stable, and the number of axial shortening was 7.5 mm at the end of welding. Both the high temperature zone and the plastic deformation zone were concentrated in the accumulation area near the friction interface.