Modelling of 7050 aluminium alloy friction stir welding

Abstract

A thermal model combined with a microstructural and yield strength model has been developed to give a prediction of precipitate evolution and strength in the as welded and post-weld heat treated condition for friction stir welding of 7xxx aerospace aluminium alloys. This fully coupled model is applied to an overaged high strength 7050 aluminium alloy friction stir welded using a range of welding rotation and translation speeds. The evolution of the microstructure has been predicted as a function of the process parameters. The resulting microstructural evolution is shown to be a complex function of both peak temperature observed during the weld cycle and heating/cooling rates. Yield strength has been calculated from the microstructural predictions and a comparison between predicted yield strength and measured hardness has been used to test the modelling approach. Reasonably good agreement between model and experiment is found over the wide range of process parameters investigated.