Currently friction stir welding tools are designed by trial and error. Here we propose and test a criterion for the design of a tool shoulder diameter based on the principle of maximum utilization of supplied torque for traction. The optimum tool shoulder diameter computed from this principle using a numerical heat transfer and material flow model resulted in best weld metal strength in independent tests and peak temperatures that are well within the commonly encountered range.
A. Arora, A. De and T. DebRoy, 2011. Toward Optimum Friction Stir Welding Tool shoulder diameter. Scripta Materialia. 64: 9-12.
Associate Professor of Materials Engineering
Amit Arora is Associate Professor of Materials Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar. He leads the Advanced Materials Processing Research Group at IIT Gandhinagar which works in the area of numerical modeling of welding and joining processes, additive manufacturing processes, and friction stir welding and processing including tool wear during FSW, numerical modeling of dissimilar FSW, and mechanical and electrochemical characterization of friction stir surface composites. Recent works have been published in journals such as Wear, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Heat and Mass Transfer.