The Experimental and FEM Studies of Friction Welding Process of Tungsten Heavy Alloy with Aluminium Alloy

Experimental and finite element studies of the rotary friction welding (RFW) process of tungsten heavy alloy (THA) with aluminium alloy 5XXX series are presented. A 2.5D torsion simulation model including the circumferential effects was developed in this study. The temperature distributions, effective stress, flash dimensions and axial shortening were calculated on un-rotated friction welding aluminium parts. The peak temperatures were measured both in the axis and at the half-radius of the specimen. The maximum interface temperature of 581 °C for the friction weld was below the melting temperature of the aluminium alloy. The experimental and numerical results of the temperature and final weld geometries show good agreement between them. The results indicate very small deviations of 4.45%, 2.96%, and 2.34% on the flash width, flash height and axial shortening of friction welds.