Title: Measurement of force and torque in friction stir welding of low carbon steels

Authors: Pardeep Pankaj; Avinish Tiwari; Pankaj Biswas; A. Gourav Rao

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, 781039, Assam, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, 781039, Assam, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, 781039, Assam, India ' Naval Materials Research Laboratory, Ambernath, 421506, Maharashtra, India

Abstract: In the present work, a strain gauge based dynamometer was designed and developed for monitoring the vertical force, traverse force and torque during the friction stir welding (FSW) of low carbon steels. The finite element analysis was performed to detect the suitable positions for mounting the strain gauges on the octagonal ring members under real time loading conditions (i.e., vertical force, traverse force and torque). Analytical methods were used to estimate the mechanical responses, i.e., stress, strain, and vibration frequency of the octagonal ring members. The induced strain in the octagonal members was recorded by the data acquisition system, which was connected to the dynamometer with the essential software and hardware to record the strain data during the welding process. After completing the construction, the dynamometer was successfully tested by performing the FSW on DH36 shipbuilding steel and mild steel (UNS G10080 steel) plates in similar and dissimilar combinations.

Keywords: FSW; friction stir welding; dynamometer; traverse force; vertical force; torque; low carbon steels.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMS.2020.112346

International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems, 2020 Vol.13 No.4, pp.267 - 285

Received: 16 Nov 2019
Accepted: 24 Jul 2020
Published online: 12 Jan 2021 *

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