Open Access
Subscription Access
Open Access
Subscription Access
Application of Infrared Thermography in Bobbin Friction Stir Welding–Exploring a New Dimension
Subscribe/Renew Journal
Friction stir welding (FSW) is a known process widely used for different metals, metal alloys and composites. The process is widely used in marine, automobile, railway and aerospace industries. The weld quality depends on tool design. Frictional heat is the main factor governing weld quality. Measurement of this developed heat or temperature during FSW is very difficult. Such measurements and thermal analysis of the weldments is very lean in literature. Researchers have used thermocouples for direct temperature measurement. Infrared (IR) thermography, a technique widely used for preventive maintenance in industries, will be an upcoming technology one can use fruitfully in metal joining. Quality of the weld joint is dependent on the generation of frictional heat during the welding. Measurement of the heat or temperature during welding is a big issue. Again the measurement of temperature of tool in running condition is another issue to be thought of. The present paper will be a flashlight in applying a new concept of IR Thermal imaging for testing and thermal analysis. The technique was adopted by the author to know its utility for FS Welding. The IR Thermography was carried out using IR imager. It was found to have a great potential in adapting the IR Thermography for friction stir welding experiments. The experiment was carried out using fixed gap bobbin tool for welding AA6082 T6 Al alloy in butt configuration. Characterization of the welded samples showed better results of the experiment with zero defect.
Keywords
- Thomas WM, Nicholas ED, Needham JC, Much MG, and Smith PT (1991); Friction stir butt welding, GB Patent No. 9125978.8, International Patent Application No. PCT/GB92/02203, no. 9125978.
- Meola C, Carlomagno GM, and Giorleo L (2004); The use of infrared thermography for nondestructive evaluation of joints, IPT 46(1), pp.93-99.
- Yi D, Onuma T, Mironov S, Sato YS, and Kokawa H (2017); Evaluation of heat input during friction stir welding of aluminium alloys, STWJ, 22(1), pp.41-46.
- Schmidt H, Hattel J, and Wert J (2004); An analytical model for the heat generation in friction stir welding, Modelling Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng., 12(1), pp. 143-157.
- Nandan R, Debroy T, and Bhadeshia H (2008); Recent advances in friction-stir welding - Process, weldment structure and properties, PMS, 53(6), pp.980-1023.
- Flir Systems (2011); Thermal Imaging Guidebook for Building and Renewable Energy Applications.
- Ibarra-castanedo C, Bendada A, and Maldague XPV (2011); Infrared vision applications for the nondestructive testing of materials, 5th Pan Am. Conf. for NDT, Cancun, Mexico.
- Akinlabi ET and Akinlabi SA (2013); Designs of temperature measuring device for a re-configured milling machine, IJMAIMME, 7(11), pp. 2211-2215.
- Rubtsov VE, Kolubaev EA, Tarasov SY, Vasilyev PA, and Bakshaev VA (2014); Thermography inspection of friction stir welding, AIP Conf Proc, 1623, pp.535-538.
- Kryukov I, Hartmann M, Böhm S, Mund M, Dilger K, and Fischer F (2014); Defect detection in friction stir welding by online infrared thermography, JWJ, 32(5), pp. 50-57 .
- Meola C, Carlomagno GM, Squillace A, and Giorleo G (2002); Non-destructive control of industrial materials by means of lock-in thermography, MST, 13(10), pp.1583-1590.
- Cobo A, Mirapiex J, Conde OM, Garcia -Allende PB, Madruga FJ and Lopez-Higuera JM (2007); Arc welding process control based on back face thermography: application to the manufacturing of nuclear steam generators, Proc. SPIE, 6541, pp. F1-F11.
- Golubev IA, Naumov AA, Chernikov EV, and Michailov V (2015); Research of temperature distribution during friction stir welding of 2 MM AW 6082 sheets, Proc 24th Int. Conf. Metall. Mater., Brno, Czech Republic, EU.
Abstract Views: 416
PDF Views: 5