Numerical Simulation of Friction Stir Welding of Dissimilar Al/Mg Alloys Using Coupled Level Set and Volume of Fluid Method

Abstract

The coupled level set and volume of fluid (CLSVOF) method is proposed to simulate the material distribution and physical properties during dissimilar aluminum/magnesium friction stir welding (FSW) process more accurately. Combined with a computational fluid dynamics model, the FSW process is numerically simulated and the heat transfer and material flow are analyzed. The results show that heat transfer and material flow have great influence on the Al/Mg bonding. In order to verify the accuracy of the model, the calculated results based on different methods are compared with the experimental results, and the Al/Mg interface simulated by the CLSVOF method is in better agreement with the experimental results. Finally, the material distribution and interface evolution near the tool at different times were studied based on the CLSVOF method.

Keywords

• friction stir welding
• dissimilar alloys
• material mixing
• level set
• volume of fluid
• numerical simulation