Numerical and experimental investigation of defects formation during friction stir processing on AZ91

Abstract The heat generated during friction stir processing greatly affects defects formation in the processed zone of workpieces. In this paper, numerical modeling of this process is performed to determine the influence of tool rotational and traverse speeds and hence their ratio on the thermal distribution attained during the process. The aim is to produce defect-free processed samples by selecting adequate tool speeds. The mechanisms of defects formation depending on the peak temperature are also investigated. Experiments to verify the simulation results were conducted with the same process parameters. Several traverse speeds of 20, 40, 60, and 80 mm/min and rotational speeds of 700, 1000, 1200, and 2000 rpm were used during modeling and conducting the experiments. From the numerical and experimental results, it was found that; the high-speed processing conditions (low-generated heat) can produce defects such as tunnels and grooves, and the low-speed processing conditions (high-generated heat) can cause defects such as flashes. The experimental results show that during friction stir processing with the rotational speed of 1200 rpm and the traverse speed of 60 mm/min (speed ratio of 20), no macro defects in the processed zone were observed. According to the numerical results, the peak temperature during friction stir processing with these speeds was 475 °C. At this temperature, the material softened, the structure finely equiaxed and no large scale melting zone appeared in the processed zone. The developed model can be useful to investigate the occurrence of defects associated with different tool rotational and traverse speeds. Graphic abstract