Thermal evaluation of aluminum welding: a comparative study of friction stir welding (FSW), plasma-fsw, and tungsten inert gas (TIG)-FSW techniques

This research work presents the comparative analysis of heat input during aluminum welding focusing on FSW, Plasma-FSW, and TIG–FSW. This study aims to investigate their thermal behavior and temperature distributions during aluminum welding. With a specific emphasis on their thermal histories, peak temperatures, and simulated weld zones, the study elucidates the impact of auxiliary heat sources on heat input and material flow. A comparison of the heat input, heat dissipation, and heat output of these three welding techniques is necessary for analyzing their weld characteristics. In this research work, ABAQUS software was utilized to develop a computational model and numerical simulation for analyses the thermal aspect of each welding technique. Welding parameters such as heat generation by tool, preheating by auxiliary heat source (electric arc at 45 amp) and welding speed (63 mm/min) are considered to understand heat distribution within the weld zone are evaluated and compared to justify the improvement and development of FSW technique of discrete artefacts. The influence of auxiliary heat source by Plasma arc and TIG arc show improvement in thermal behavior of welding such as peak temperature achieved percentages between 50 and 55% of melting temperature of base metal as compare to FSW (44.4%), indicating enhanced plasticization due to the additional heat provided by preheating sources. However, plasma-FSW achieved higher peak temperature due to stable, higher arc efficiency and high-energy nature of plasma arc preheating which create improved preheating zone with higher temperature. Therefore, the auxiliary source preheating proved crucial for adjusting the characteristics of the plasticized material and regulating the heat input before the FSW process. These results open up new avenues for research in hybrid FSW and encourage efficiency and creativity in welding technology for a variety of industrial applications. They also offer insightful information on how variations in heat input impact thermal behaviour and weld characteristics.