Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039

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Materials Science and Engineering A
j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er . com/ l ocat e/ msea
Experimental investigation and nite element simulation of laser beam welding
induced residual stresses and distortions in thin sheets of AA 6056-T4
Muhammad Zain-ul-abdein
a
, Daniel Nlias
a,
, Jean-Franc ois Jullien
a
, Dominique Deloison
b
a
Universite de Lyon, CNRS, INSA-Lyon, LaMCoS UMR5259, F69621, France
b
EADS, 12 Rue Pasteur, BP 76, 92152 Suresnes Cedex, France
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 25 May 2009
Received in revised form 17 January 2010
Accepted 18 January 2010
Keywords:
Laser beam welding
Finite element simulation
Residual stress
Distortion
a b s t r a c t
Laser beam welding has recently found its application in the fabrication of aircraft structures where
fuselage panels, made of thin sheets of AA 6056-T4 (an aluminium alloy), are welded with stiffeners of
the same material in a T-joint conguration. The present work simulates laser beam welding induced
residual stresses and distortions using industrially employed thermal and mechanical boundary con-
ditions. Various measurements performed on small-scale welded test specimens provide a database of
experimental results that serves as a benchmark for qualication of the simulation results. The welding
simulation is performed with the commercial nite element software Abaqus and a Fortran programme
encoding a conical heat source with Gaussian volumetric distribution of ux. A sequentially coupled
temperaturedisplacement analysis is undertaken to simulate the weld pool geometry, transient tem-
perature and displacement elds. The material is assumed to follow an elasto-plastic law with isotropic
hardening behaviour (von Mises plasticity model). A comparison between the experimental and simula-
tionresults shows a goodagreement. Finally, the residual stress andstrainstates ina T-joint are predicted.
2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Fabricating the fuselage panels of aircraft structures with the
laser beamwelding (LBW) technique has a twofold advantage over
conventional riveting, the rst being weight reduction, since mate-
rial to be added as rivets and overlap of metal sheets is no longer
required; the second being the high production rate, since LBW
is a very high speed process. The fuselage panels are large thin
structures of AA 6056-T4 with stiffeners welded upon them. The
total length of weld seam per panel reaches 50m or so. Industri-
ally, these fuselage panels are held in position with the help of
a suction table. LBW is employed in a keyhole regime from both
sides of the stiffener in a T-joint conguration. However, by the
very nature of the process, welding induces highly non-uniform
residual stresses and distortions in the structure. In recent years,
numerical simulationhas provenitself to be a useful tool inpredict-
ing these welding induced distortions and stresses. The knowledge
of residual stress distribution and distortions may then lead to
better control over undesirable aspects of the fabrication process,

Corresponding author at: LaMCoS, INSA-Lyon, Btiment J. Jacquard (302), 20

Avenue Albert Einstein, 69621 Villeurbanne Cedex, France. Tel.: +33 4 72 43 84 90;
fax: +33 4 72 43 89 13.
E-mail address: daniel.nelias@insa-lyon.fr (D. Nlias).
which include dimensional inaccuracies and distorted shapes due
to bending/buckling of the structure.
LBW involves several complex phenomena like the formation
of a keyhole, ionization and vaporization of material, circulation of
moltenmetal withinthe weldpool due to buoyancy andMarangoni
forces [13], solidication at the liquid-solid interface, etc. Various
simplications are, however, admissible in numerical simulation
of welding, with minimal loss in accuracy [4,5]. For instance, the
thermoelasto-plastic welding process can be uncoupled into a
thermal transient analysis and an elasto-plastic structural anal-
ysis. Some research [6,7] has been dedicated entirely to thermal
analysis and heat source modelling while other authors [8,9] have
focussed upon welding induced stresses. With special reference
to llet-welded stiffeners, Camilleri et al. [10,11] have suggested
that the out-of-plane displacements can be efciently predicted by
computational means. Other workers [12,13] have predicted the
residual stress state in friction stir welded panels and found that
the collapse behaviour is less sensitive to advanced process effects
than initial buckling of the panel. Spina et al. [14] and Darcourt et
al. [15] attempted to predict LBWinduced distortions in thin plates
and T-joints of aluminiumalloys and suggested that a correct ther-
mal analysis is mandatory to predict welding induced distortions
and residual stresses. Josserand et al. [16] concluded that the initial
surface proles of a test plate due to pre-processing actions such
as rolling, play an important role in dening the nal distortion
0921-5093/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.msea.2010.01.054
3026 M. Zain-ul-abdein et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039
Table 1
Chemical composition of AA 6056-T4 by wt%.
Al Mg Si Cu Mn Fe Zn
Balance 0.71 0.87 0.67 0.62 0.07 0.18
level after welding. Similarly, Zaeem et al. [17] have also tried to
predict welding buckling distortion in a thin walled aluminium T-
joint. Schenk et al. [18] studied the inuence of clamping devices
upon the welding distortions. Their ndings show that there is a
strong inuence of clamps on the distortion, and that the distor-
tion can be controlled to some extent by appropriate selection of
the clamping conditions.
Metallurgical aspects have alsobeenexamined. Gallais et al. [19]
studiedthe microstructural evolutioninAA6056alloy after friction
stir welding fromtwo initial conditions (T4 and T78) and suggested
aphysicallybasedmodel for precipitationandhardeningtoaccount
for the precipitation of a quaternary (Q) phase and the existence of
various nucleation sites. Olea et al. [20] performed sub-structural
analysis of friction stir welded joints in AA 6056 alloy for T4 and T6
temper states and compared the microstructure in the base metal
with that evolving in the weld zone. Cicala et al. [21] focussed upon
hot cracking in laser beam welded butt joints of AA 6056-T4 and
studied the effects of operating parameters.
The work presented here describes measurements and numeri-
cal simulations of laser beam welded test plates and T-joints made
from AA 6056-T4 (see Table 1 for the chemical composition by
percentage weight). The experimental observations are usedto val-
idate the simulationresults ina three-stepapproachwithtest cases
of increasing complexity:
(a) Fusion pass welding of test plate Case 01.
(b) Filler pass welding of test plate Case 02.
(c) T-joint welding of base plate and stiffener Case 03.
Results fromthe rst step(Case 01) have alreadybeenpresented
inZain-ul-abdeinet al. [22]. This paper focuses ondescribingexper-
imental work and numerical predictions for the next two steps
(Cases 02 and 03) and comparing results from the various cases.
2. Experimental work
Since thin sheets of thickness 2.5mm were used, single pass
welding was employed for all the cases. As the name suggests,
fusion pass welding (Case 01) and ller pass welding (Case 02)
were performed without and with the addition of ller wire mate-
rial, respectively. T-joint welding (Case 03) was performedwiththe
simultaneous addition of ller wire on both sides of the stiffener
using two welding heads. The ller wire material used was made
of an aluminium alloy 4047 (diameter: 1mm). Efforts were made
to integrate the industrially used thermal and mechanical bound-
ary conditions using small-scale specimens. The dimensions of the
specimens are as follows:
Case 01 Test plate: 300mm200mm2.5mm
Case 02 Test plate: 300mm200mm2.5mm
Case 03 Base plate: 300mm200mm2.5mm
Stiffener: 300mm100mm2.5mm
The laser used for this work was a continuous wave Nd:
YAG with a maximum beam power of 3.5kW. The assembly was
mountedona four-axis displacement machine withnumerical con-
trol. The beam was carried to the target surface through a 400m
diameter breoptic cable. The laser spot exhibiteda circular shape
with a near-uniformintensity prole deriving froma classical opti-
cal arrangement. A collimating lens of 200mm focal length was
used together with a focusing lens of 200mm focal length. Sev-
eral preliminary weld runs were carried out to adjust the welding
Table 2
Laser beam welding parameters.
Welding parameters Case 01 Case 02 Case 03
Laser
Type Nd: YAG Nd: YAG Nd: YAG
Power (W) 2300 3000 22500
Welding speed (m/min) 8 8 5
Focal length (mm) 200 200 150
Focal spot size (m) 400 400 450
Focal point position (m) 0 0 0
Rayleigh length (mm) 118.105 118.105 149.477
Filler wire
Type 4047 4047
Feed rate (m/min) 5 3
Diameter (mm) 1 1
Position Ahead Ahead
Angle 30

25

Distance from interaction point 1.5mm ahead 1.5mm ahead

Shielding gas
Nature Argon Argon Argon
Position Behind Behind Behind
Flow rate (l/min) 20 20 20
Angle 35

35

35

Distance from interaction point

(mm)
13 13 13
parameters (beam power, welding speed, focal spot, etc.) such
that complete penetration of the weld bead could be avoided. The
nalized welding parameters for different test cases are shown in
Table 2.
The welding operation was performed lengthwise in the middle
of the specimens, while maintaining the test plates/base plates in
positionwiththe helpof analuminiumsuctiontable (25mmthick).
The suction force was applied over the entire bottom surface of
the plates. A pressure of 1bar was maintained during welding and
cooling until the temperature of the specimens reached roomtem-
perature (20

C). The pressure was released at the end of cooling so

as to allow free deformation of the test specimens. In the case of
the T-joints, stiffeners were placed in position with an additional
clamping device. Two forces of 50N each were also applied verti-
cally on the stiffener through the clamping device, in order to avoid
its separation fromthe base plate during welding. The weld started
and nished at 5mmfromeach end of the plate giving a total weld
bead length of 290mm.
K-type thermocouples (TCs) were installed to record the tem-
peratures at specic positions near the fusion zone (FZ), while
linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) sensors were placed
to measure the in-plane displacements during welding. A speckle
pattern was created with white and black paints to quantify the
full eld out-of-plane and in-plane displacements using a digital
image correlation(DIC) technique. Aninfra-redcamera was usedto
observe the evolution of the weld pool surface temperature during
welding. Micrography of welded joints was performed to measure
the dimensions of the fusion zone (FZ). Welding at least 5 spec-
imens for each test case ensured reproducibility of experimental
results.
The geometry, layout plan of instrumentation and experimental
setup for the T-joint welding (Case 03) are shown in Fig. 1. Atotal of
eleven thermocouples (TC1TC11) were located on T-joint assem-
blies; while nine thermocouples (TC1TC9) were installed on the
test plates (Case 02). Table 3 presents the coordinate positions of
the thermocouples. Since the stiffeners were not included in Cases
01 and 02, the geometry and instrumentation of test plates (Cases
01 and 02) were identical to those of the base plates of T-joints
(Case 03). Pairs of LVDTs 1 and 2 and LVDTs 3 and 4, were placed
in line with each other perpendicular to the weld bead. For conve-
nience, the pair of LVDTs 1 and 2 will be called Set A and LVDTs 3
and 4 Set B. To perform image correlation, a speckle pattern was
M. Zain-ul-abdein et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039 3027
Fig. 1. Geometry, layout plan of instrumentation and experimental setup Case 03 (dimensions in mm; not drawn on scale).
created on the top surface of the plates over a width of 85mm on
each side of the weld joint.
Some qualitative observations with respect to the experi-
mental results are presented here. Quantitative comparisons of
measurements with numerical simulation results are discussed
later.
2.1. Microscopic observations
AA 6056 exhibits Guinier-Preston (GP) zones in the T4 state.
Dissolution of GP zones takes place with increase in temperature;
however, some new hardening precipitates like

,

, and Q
start appearingat certainhigher temperatures. Dependinguponthe
temperature attained, the following dissolution and precipitation
events are reported in the literature [19]:

GP zone dissolution around 30150

C;

precipitation around 240/250

C;

precipitation from 250 up to 320

C;

Q precipitation from 290 up to 350

C;

precipitation around 450

C;

Q dissolution in the 400500

C range;

dissolution around 550

C.
Optical microscopyof Case01(fusionwelding) revealedtwodis-
tinct zones, the fusion zone (FZ) and the heat-affected zone (HAZ).
In Fig. 2, the HAZ presents elongated grains of the base material
resulting from the rolling of sheets prior to welding. Owing to the
high temperature range (550150

C) in the HAZ, the relatively

coarse precipitates dispersed in the parent matrix are likely to be of
Q, and

types. The fusion zone, on the other hand, contains very

neprecipitates resultingfromrapidcoolingof themoltenpool due
to conductive heat loss in the surrounding base metal. Moreover,
the fusion zone contains hairline cracks resulting from hot crack-
ing; as no ller wire was provided in this case to compensate for
the solidication shrinkage of the molten metal. This observation
suggests that in order to obtain a quality weld on AA 6056 using
LBW, a ller wire must be supplied during welding.
Table 3
Coordinate positions of thermocouples (dimensions in mm).
Case TC1 TC2 TC3 TC4 TC5 TC6 TC7 TC8 TC9 TC10 TC11
02
x 75 75 75 225 225 75 75 93 94
y 3 6 9 3 6 0 6 0 3
z 0 0 0 0 0 2.2 2.5 2.5 2.5
03
x 75 75 75 225 225 75 93 93 75 75 225
y 3.5 7 10 4 7 0 0 4 1.25 1.25 1.25
z 0 0 0 0 0 2.0 2.5 2.5 4 7 4
3028 M. Zain-ul-abdein et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039
Fig. 2. Micrographs of FZ and HAZ Case 01.
2.2. Temperature measurements by thermocouples
In his work, Beck [23] suggests that K-type thermocouples
should be used for measuring temperatures up to 850

C. Addition-
ally, his ndings show that, due to reasons of increasing thermal
inertia with increasing wire diameter, TC wires with the smallest
possible diameter should be used. Furthermore, if a temperature
gradient does not exist upon the workpiece surface, the two wires
of the TC may be welded separately; which implies that for a
workpiece with signicant thermal gradient, TC wires should be
spot-welded at a single point.
Since the temperatures to be measured in the HAZ of laser
welded test plates/T-joints remain well below850

C, the test cases

presented in this work made use of K-type (ChromelAlumel)
thermocouples with wire diameters of 79m. The accuracy in
temperature measurement for these TCs is 1.1

C and the sensi-

tivity is 41V/

C. In order to avoid the effect of thermal gradient

involveddue to directional heating during welding, all the TCs were
spot-welded at a single point at specied locations (Table 3). The
spot-welded region and unsheathed wires were protected from
laser beam radiation by applying a drop of nail polish. During
welding, the solvent ethyl acetate containedinnail polishvaporises
at a temperature of 77.1

C, thereby leaving behind a thin exible

lm of plasticizers, which not only protects the TCs from radia-
tion but also serves as an adhesive agent. It was ensured that the
application and the later vaporisation of solvent did not affect the
temperature measured by the TCs by testing a separate specimen.
Temperature acquisition during welding was made using a
FRONTDAQ: FD20 acquisition system, which is capable of treating
20 differential inputs fromtwo to four wire sensors simultaneously
with an acquisition rate of 7680Hz. The temperature acquisition
during laser beam welding experiments was made at a frequency
of 200Hz. The system is capable of using two different ranges of
potential differences; range 1 (from 15mV to 1V) and range 2
(1Vto10V), withanachievableprecisionof 10Vto100V.
The accuracy of temperature measurements for K-type thermo-
couple (180

C to +1300

C) using the Frontdaq system is 1.2

C.
The results of TC measurements are presented for comparison with
numerical simulation results in Section 4.2.
2.3. Infra-red camera observations
The infra-red camera used was a FLIR ThermaCam S40 imag-
ing system, capable of storing images at a frequency of 60Hz and
measuring the temperatures up to 1700

C. It has a 240320pixels
focal-plane-array uncooledmicrobolometer detector, whichis sen-
sitive within a wavelength range of 812m and is characterized
by accuracy in temperature measurement of 2

C. Imaging and
storage was made at a frequency of 50Hz. An 80mm close-up
lens was used, which could allow a spatial resolution of 100m.
The camera was mounted along with the laser welding head
so that it could capture images of the FZ over the entire weld
length. In order to calibrate the camera for different emissivity
values of polished aluminium, oxidised aluminium and speckle
painted surfaces, one of the test plates was coated with a paint
of known emissivity. This test plate was then positioned on a heat-
ing table whose temperature was controlled and the camera was
used to measure the temperature of the painted surface. Calibra-
tion was made over a temperature range of 0500

C. The following
emissivity values were measured for various surfaces and were
employed for numerical simulation of heat transfer analysis, see
Section 4.1.

Polished aluminium surface, =0.08;

Oxidised aluminium surface, =0.22;

Speckle painted surface, =0.71.

The emissivity value of 0.090.01 for liquid aluminium is
reported in the literature [24,25] at 1277

C (1550K) and has been

used in this work for the weld pool surface temperature. Sarou-
Kanian et al. [24] reports that formation of liquid aluminiumoccurs
at 660

C (933K). During heating of an aluminium drop, alumina

is observed systematically on the surface of the liquid at tempera-
tures lower than 1327

C (1600K). When the temperature becomes

higher, evaporation of the drop becomes more important and liq-
uid alumina disappears from the Al surface because of chemical
reactions between Al and Al
2
O
3
to form Al
2
O
(gas)
which is taken
awaybybuoyancydrivengas ow(Ar +10%H
2
). Theseobservations
have also been reported by Krishnan and Nordine [25] at 1627

C
(1900K) in pure He and by Laurent et al. [26] at 727

C (1000K)
in vacuum. Since, in this work, 99.9% pure argon with a ow rate
of 20l/min was used for laser welding experiments; it is safe to
assume that Al
2
O
(gas)
escapes from the weld pool surface.
The evolution of weld pool surface temperature is presented in
Fig. 3 for Case 03 where maximum temperature, as observed from
thermographs, is shown as a function of time. Reproducibility of
these results was ensured by measuring several specimens; while
three of them, numbered T13, are shown. It is to be noted that for
all the specimens, temperature values followmore or less anidenti-
cal evolutionpattern. Four distinct temperature peaks are observed
in all the cases where the rst (a) and last (e) peaks show the
start and end of welding, respectively. The second (b) and third (d)
peaks are the ones noted in the immediate vicinity of TC1 (installed
3.5mmfromthe weldcentre line) andTC4(installed4mmfromthe
weld centre line), respectively. Fig. 3 also presents the contours of
temperature distribution in and near the FZ. The peaks observed in
the vicinity of TC1 and TC4 are due to the burning/vaporisation of
adhesive agent applied upon them. However, the ones observed at
the start and stop ends of welding are due to the formation and clo-
sure of the keyhole, respectively. Excluding the temperature peaks,
the remaining parts of the curves show uniform evolution of tem-
M. Zain-ul-abdein et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039 3029
Fig. 3. Evolution of weld pool surface temperature Case 03.
perature throughout the welding process; which, in turn, implies
that the weld pool dimensions remain almost constant at every
instant of time. Moreover, the specimens absorb a regular amount
of heat energy.
2.4. Displacement measurements from LVDT sensors
A total of 4 Solartron analogue spring type AX/1/S LVDTs pre-
wired to standard BICM in-line conditioning transducers for harsh
environments with an output signal of 10V were used for the
welding experiments. These LVDTs are capable of measuring dis-
placements up to 1mm with an accuracy of 0.5% and electrical
interface sensitivity of 200mV/V/mm. The pre- and post-travel of
LVDTs are 0.15mm and 0.35mm, respectively. The terms pre- and
post-travel refer to the mechanical movements from the fully out-
ward position to the start of the measurement range for the former
and from the end of the measurement range to the fully inward
positionfor the latter. The displacement acquisitionwas made with
the FRONTDAQ: FD20 system at a frequency of 200Hz. The LVDT
measurements are presented for comparison with numerical sim-
ulation results in Section 5.2.
2.5. Digital image correlation (DIC) technique
DIC offers contact-less and full eld measurement of three-
dimensional displacements of an object surface. The image
correlation technique requires digital images of a deformed object
(nal state) anda reference image of the object (initial state), which
are taken by means of two charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras.
Before carrying out image correlation of the object, calibration of
these cameras is necessary. The calibrationof cameras is performed
using 20 images of a translated and rotated planar dot pattern of
known spacing. The target used in this work contained 12 and 9
black dots equally spaced on a white background in the x- and y-
directions, respectively. The grid spacing between the dots was
18.02mm. The calibration of the stereo-system was performed
using commercial software Vic-3D2007. The calibration results are
dened in terms of following parameters:

Centre x and centre y: image plane centre in pixels for each cam-
era.

Focal length x and focal length y: focal length in pixels for each
camera.

Skew: deviationfromorthogonalitybetweenthe rowandcolumn

directions in the sensor plane.

Kappa 1: radial distortion coefcient.

Alpha, Beta and Gamma: relative orientation of camera 2 with

respect to camera 1 (

), where alpha is the relative tilt, beta is the

relative pan angle and gamma is the swing angle.

Tx, Ty, and Tz: position of pinhole in camera 2 relative to camera

1 in mm.
Having performed the calibration, Vic-3D 2007 yields standard
deviations of residuals for all views, which was found to be 0.0199
pixels for the cases under investigation. A higher value of calibra-
tion residuals leads to a higher value of error in the measure of
correlation accuracy for the image correlation of an object surface.
Table 4
Components and settings of image correlation technique.
Cameras 2 LIMESS 12 bit grey scale CCD 1.34 in.
Cameras resolution 20482048pixels
Lenses 2 Nikon Micro-NIKKOR (f =55mm,
1:2.8D)
Lighting 2 compact uorescent lamps, Osram
Delux EL 30W/840
Object AA 6056-T4 plates
Software Vic-3D 2007
Calibration target 129 black dots on white background;
spacing: 18.02mm
Standard deviation of residuals
for all views
0.0199133pixels
Subset size (pixels) 2121
Step size (pixels) 5
Interpolation function Quintic B-spline
Correlation criterion Zero-normalized sum of squared
differences
Points analysed Over 46,497
Pixel size 1pixel =0.16mm
Error 0.0116198pixel =1.859168m
3030 M. Zain-ul-abdein et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039
Table 5
Calibration results for DIC system.
Parameter Camera 1 Camera 2 Camera 12 transformation
Centre x (pixel) 984.65 1045.2 Alpha (

) 0.1683
Centre y (pixel) 1014.48 1002.33 Beta (

) 13.301
Focal length x (pixel) 7887.49 7868.11 Gamma (

) +0.00743732
Focal length y (pixel) 7888.03 7867.1 Tx (mm) +270.68
Skew 0.8123 0.1236 Ty (mm) 1.5706
Kappa 1 0.0276 0.0325 Tz (mm) +31.871
Baseline (mm) 272.55
The components and settings of the image correlation are shown
in Table 4. The calibration results of the DIC system are shown in
Table 5.
A random grey speckle pattern is generally required on the
object surface, which is created with the help of white and black
paints. A subset window (or correlation window) is subsequently
dened in the reference image as a neighbourhood of mm pixels
that forms a unique stamp of the centre point of this neigh-
bourhood. The speckle pattern of this neighbourhood should hold
enough contrast and directional information to track the local
deformation to the rst order of approximation (afne transfor-
mation) by using a cross-correlation algorithm. In the correlation
algorithm the centres of the neighbouring subset windows are
shifted by a step size of n pixels, where n must be smaller than
the subset size to enable overlapping of the subsets. Once these set-
tings are dened, the displacement eld is calculated as an updated
displacement for every subset centre.
For cases 02 and 03, over 46,497 points were analysed on a sur-
face area of 300mm170mm. The error for displacements was
found to be 0.0116pixels. For a pixel size of 0.16mm, this error
value accounts for 1.86m(<2m). Since the displacement values
of Cases 02 and 03 remain of the order of several hundred microns
(Section 5.2), an error of less than 2m is considered small.
3. Finite element simulation
A sequentially coupled thermo-mechanical analysis was per-
formed, where heat transfer analysis was followed by structural
analysis. The nodal temperature values calculated during thermal
Table 6
Mesh details.
Case Nodes Elements Smallest element dimensions
02 (test plate) 63,287 53,808 0.5mm0.31mm0.25mm
03 (T-joint) 76,788 63,600 0.5mm0.38mm0.24mm
analysis were used as a predened eld for mechanical analysis in
order to determine the distortions and residual stress state induced
by welding. It is safe to assume that the mechanical response of the
test specimens depends uponthe thermal loading; while there is no
inverse dependency. This is because the amount of heat generated
due to the mechanical dissipation is negligibly small as compared
to the heat energy supplied by the heat source.
Finite element (FE) simulation was performed using the com-
mercial code Abaqus

/Standard. Owing to the symmetry of the test

plates and T-joints along the weld centre line, symmetric models
were assumed; where the base plate, ller wire and stiffener (in
caseof T-joint) wereconsideredas asinglepart. Thechoiceof asym-
metric model helped to reduce the number of degrees of freedom
thereby decreasing the overall computation time. The FE model
employed continuum solid 3D linear elements. The test plate and
T-joint meshes used mostly 8-nodes brick elements (type: DC3D8,
C3D8R) completed by some 6-nodes prismelements (type: DC3D6,
C3D6); while the support mesh used 8-nodes brick elements only
witha relatively coarse meshsize. Avery ne meshsize was usedin
the FZ, which increased in size gradually outside the fusion bound-
ary. The mesh details are shown in Fig. 4. The highlighted elements
are representative of the ller metal wire. Table 6 presents further
mesh details.
Fig. 4. Mesh details Case 02 (left); Case 03 (right).
M. Zain-ul-abdein et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039 3031
Fig. 5. Schematic representation of heat source model (left); source implementation (right).
High temperature material properties were used for numerical
simulation, which were likely to capture the effect of precipitate
formation upon mechanical properties.
4. Heat transfer analysis
In order to compute the temperature histories, the heat trans-
fer analysis was performed using temperature dependent thermal
properties. The transient temperature eld (T) in time (t) and space
(x, y, z) was obtained by solving the following heat transfer equa-
tion:

k(1)
1
x

+

y

k(1)
1
y

+

z

k(1)
1
z

+ Q
v
= (1)C
p
(1)

1
t

(1)
Here, k(T) is the thermal conductivity as a function of temperature
in Wm
1
K
1
, (T) is the density as a function of temperature in
kgm
3
, C
p
(T) is the specic heat as a function of temperature in
J kg
1
K
1
and Q
v
is the volumetric heat ux in Wm
3
.
The complex nature of weld pool formation due to the keyhole
makes it extremely difcult to model each and every phenomenon
occurring withinthe weldpool. Some simplications are, therefore,
always required. The phenomena like formation of ions, circulation
of moltenmetal, and ejectionof material were ignored inthis work.
4.1. Heat source model and boundary conditions
The heat source model plays a vital role in achieving the pre-
cise application of the heat ux, which, in turn, helps to predict the
required weld pool dimensions and desired thermal histories. The
selection of an appropriate model is, therefore, a matter of great
concern and depends largely upon factors like weld pool dimen-
sions, geometry of the weld-joint, temperature elds in and near
the FZ, the welding process being simulated, etc. There exist various
models in the literature ranging from surface heat sources with a
Gaussian distribution to double-ellipsoidal volumetric heat source
in accordance with Goldak et al. [27]; while sometimes a heat
source composed of two different models is also used. For exam-
ple, Lundback and Runnemalm [28] used Goldaks double ellipsoid
with a double elliptic cone to simulate the electron beam welding
process with a keyhole. Ferro et al. [29] used a conical distribution
of heat ux with an upper and lower hollow sphere to describe
the keyhole phenomenon during electron beamwelding. Similarly,
Gilles et al. [30] used a prismatic surface heat source with linear
distribution to model the TIG welding process. The heat source
model used by Zain-ul-abdein et al. [22] was employed in this work
for Case 02; where a conical heat source with Gaussian distribu-
tion along with an upper hollow sphere with linear distribution is
dened.
Case 03, being different fromCase 02 with respect to the geom-
etry of the FZ, made use of a 3Dvolumetric conical heat source with
Gaussian distribution. The heat source model was programmed in
Fortran as a subroutine called DFLUX. The term volumetric implies
that the heat ux was distributed along the work-piece thickness.
Moreover, the volumetric heat ux assumed that the heat intensity
depositedregionwas amaximumat thetopsurfaceandaminimum
at the bottomsurface of the cone. Aschematic representationof the
heat source model and its implementation is shown in Fig. 5. At any
plane perpendicular to the z-axis, the heat ux distribution may be
written as:
Q
v
= Q
0
exp

3r
2
r
2
c

(2)
where, Q
v
is the total volumetric heat ux in Wm
3
, Q
0
is the maxi-
mumvalueof heat uxinWm
3
, r is thecurrent radius as afunction
of Cartesian coordinates x and y, r
c
is the ux distribution param-
eter for the cone as a function of depth (z). Q
0
is determined from
the thermal energy conservation rule.
qP =

zc
z
i

2
0

rc
0
Q
0
exp

3r
2
r
2
c

r dr d0 dh (3)
From where,
Q
v
=
9qP
(1 c
3
)
1
(z
c
z
i
)(r
2
c
+r
c
r
i
+r
2
i
)
exp

3r
2
r
2
c

(4)
with,
r
c
= r
i
+(r
c
r
i
)
z z
i
z
c
z
i
Here, P is the laser beampower inWandqis the efciency of the
process. The parameters r
e
and r
i
are the larger and smaller radii of
the cone respectively. Likewise, z
e
and z
i
are the upper and lower
z-coordinates of the cone respectively. These parameters are also
shown in Fig. 5. An efciency (q) of 80% was used for the thermal
analysis with a beampower (P) of 2500W. The remaining parame-
ters r
e
, r
i
, z
e
and z
i
were adjusted to obtain the required weld pool
geometry. A value of 410
5
J kg
1
was used as the latent heat of
fusionbetweenthe solidus andliquidus temperatures of 587

Cand
644

C, respectively.
Since welding was performed by placing the specimens on an
aluminium suction table, it is believed that a considerable amount
of heat energy was lost due to the thermal contact resistance at the
interface of the plate and support (q
cond
). The remaining surfaces
3032 M. Zain-ul-abdein et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039
Fig. 6. Calibration of convective heat transfer coefcient in air Case 01.
of the specimens, being exposed to the atmosphere, experienced
heat loss in air due to free convection and radiation (q
conv+rad
). The
heat loss through the plane of symmetry was assumed to be zero.
Eqs. (5) and(6) present the thermal boundary conditions integrated
during the simulation.
q
conv+rad
= h
conv
(1 1
0
) +o((1 1
abs
)
4
(1
0
1
abs
)
4
) (5)
q
cond
= h
cond
(1
s
1) (6)
Here, T, T
0
, T
abs
and T
s
are the temperature of the T-joint, ambi-
ent temperature, absolute zero and temperature of the support,
respectively. The values used for the heat transfer coefcients and
radiation constants are as follows:

Convective heat transfer coefcient of air, h

conv
=15WK
1
m
2
.

Emissivity of aluminium surface, =0.08.

Emissivity of speckle pattern, =0.71.

Stefan-Boltzmann constant, o =5.6810

8
J K
4
m
2
s
1
.

Heat transfer coefcient at the interface of the test plate and

support, h
cond
=284WK
1
m
2
.
The emissivity factors of the aluminium surface and speckle
pattern were measured with the infra-red camera (Section 2.3).
In order to compute the convective heat transfer coefcient of air
(h
conv
), fusion welding of test plate (Case 01) was rst performed
in air (i.e. without using aluminium support); where the test plate
was held in position from the edges with 25mm wide insulated
clamps. The calibration of h
conv
was then performed through a
separate simulation run, where experimental results at several TC
positions (TC1, TC3, TC4 and TC6) were compared with simulated
results (Fig. 6). It was found that a value of 15WK
1
m
2
yielded
temperature histories comparable to experimental results. Simi-
larly, the heat transfer coefcient at the interface of the test plate
and support was calibrated through the comparison of simulated
and experimental results at TCs (TC7TC9) of Case 02 (Fig. 8(b)).
4.2. Thermal simulation results
The results of thermal simulations are presented together with
experimental results. Fig. 7 compares the experimental and simu-
lated weld pool dimensions for Cases 02 and 03. Fig. 8 shows the
comparisonof timetemperaturecurves for Case02at various ther-
mocouple positions. Good agreement is found for the TCs at the
bottom surface of the specimen. However, at the top surface, sim-
ulation under-predicts cooling at TC1TC3, while it over-predicts
at TC4 and TC5. The probable reason for this difference is the use
of a constant heat transfer coefcient in air (h
conv
). A literature
survey [10,31,32] shows that the natural convective heat transfer
coefcient is a function of temperature in some cases. Improve-
ment in simulation results may, therefore, be expected by using a
temperature dependent heat transfer coefcient.
Fig. 9 presents a comparison of time-temperature curves for
Case 03. In this case, there exists a good agreement between the
experimental and simulation results at all the TCs. The simulated
weld pool dimensions verify the correct implementation of the
heat source model. The conformance of the heating rate and the
simulated peak temperatures with those of experimental ones
also establishes the precise distribution of volumetric heat ux.
Moreover, the cooling parts of the simulated curves indicate the
satisfactory description of thermal boundary conditions.
A few discrepancies, however, observed between simulation
and experimental results may be attributed to the simplications
assumed during simulation, imprecision in the heat ux distribu-
tionwithinthe FEmodel andminute inaccuracies inthe positioning
of thermocouples. Nevertheless, the overall simulated thermal
elds are goodenoughtoproceedfurther withmechanical analysis.
5. Mechanical analysis
A structural analysis was performed to calculate the distortion
and stress state induced during welding while taking care of indus-
trially employed mechanical loading and boundary conditions. The
nodal temperature values calculated during heat transfer analysis
Fig. 7. Comparison of weld pool dimensions: Case 02 (left); Case 03 (right).
M. Zain-ul-abdein et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039 3033
Fig. 8. Experimental vs simulated temperature histories Case 02.
were integrated as a predened eld. The material was assumed
to follow an elasto-plastic law with isotropic hardening behaviour
(von Mises plasticity model). The choice of isotropic behaviour was
based upon the hardening models used for FE simulation in the lit-
erature [12,15,16]. The strain tensor decomposition is presented in
Eq. (7).
=
c
+
p
+
th
(7)
where, is the total strain tensor,
e
is the elastic strain tensor,

th
is the thermal strain tensor and
p
is the plastic or inelastic
strain tensor. The elastic strain tensor (
e
) is related to the stress
tensor () with the help of compliance tensor, C
1
(T), which is the
inverse of the 4th order stiffness tensor, C(T), and is further dened
by the two elastic coefcients namely Youngs modulus, E(T), and
Poissons ratio, (T), for an isotropic material.

c
= C
1
(1) : o (8)
The thermal strain tensor (
th
) is dened in Eq. (9) in terms of the
thermal dilatation coefcient, (T), temperature (T) and reference
temperature (T
0
).

th
= (1)(1 1
0
)I (9)
The plasticity criterion species the 3D stress state with respect
to the start of plastic ow and determines, therefore, the elastic
domain (dened in space in terms of stress, temperature and hard-
Fig. 9. Experimental vs simulated temperature histories Case 03.
ening variables). The yieldfunction, f, denes the limit tothis elastic
domain and may be written as follows:
j (, 1, R) - 0 (10)
where , T and R represent the stress tensor, temperature and
isotropic hardening parameter respectively. The stress at the limit
of the elastic domain is dened as the yield strength, o
y
, such that
3034 M. Zain-ul-abdein et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039
Fig. 10. Experimental vs simulated in-plane displacements Cases 02 and 03.
o
y
=o
y
(
p
, T). When the material ows plastically, the plastic part
of the strain is dened by the ow rule:

p
=

z
dg
d
=

z
3
2
S
o
eff
where o
eff
=

3
2
S : S (11)
Here, g(, T, R) is the owpotential,

z is the plastic owrate whose
value is determined by the requirement to satisfy the consistency
condition f =0, o
eff
is the von Mises effective stress and S is the
deviatoric stress tensor.
Certain simplications were assumed for the mechanical simu-
lation. For example, during experimentation the stiffener was not
the part of base plate; however, base plate and stiffener were mod-
elled as a single part in the FE simulation. Similarly, the ller wire
material (4047) used during experimentation was different from
the material of the test specimens (6056-T4); yet for simulation
the former was assumed to be the same as the latter. The effect
of ller wire addition was accomplished by initially deactivating
some of the elements, which represent wire material, and then
by activating them during cooling. The activation and deactivation
of elements were achieved by incorporating a change in mate-
rial properties; where the thermo-mechanical material properties
were kept negligibly small during heating and switched to actual
material properties during cooling. From a practical point of view,
only when the ller wire becomes part of the solidifying weld bead
may it affect the distortion and stress level; this is why the ele-
ments representing wire material were activated during cooling
only when they contribute towards the nal residual stress state.
5.1. Loading and boundary conditions
The test plates were heldinpositiononanaluminiumtable with
the help of a suction force applied through the table on the bottom
surface of the plates. A pressure of 1bar was applied; however, due
to the presence of leakage, the actual pressure as measured at the
vacuum pump was found to be 0.8bar. It has been established by
Zain-ul-abdein et al. [22] that modelling a pressure value of 0.8bar,
whichtakes care of the leakage at the ne rubber joint betweentest
plates and support, yields numerical results in close approxima-
tion to the experimental ones. Although the pressure was applied
through the drilled holes and grooves in the table; its distribution
was assumed uniform over the entire bottom surface of the speci-
men. Since in-plane displacement and sliding due to expansion and
contraction of the test specimens were not restricted, the frictional
effects must also be taken into account. It has also been established
byZain-ul-abdeinet al. [22] that arepresentativefrictioncoefcient
value for the numerical model is =0.57, although the friction for-
mulationplays arather small roleinaffectingthedistortionpattern.
Case 03 made use of a stiffener placed upon the base plate with the
help of a clamping device and two concentrated forces of 50Neach
(Fig. 1).
5.2. Displacement results
The results of mechanical simulation are presented in this
sectionwiththe experimental ones. The residual in-plane displace-
ments for Cases 02 and 03 are shown in Fig. 10. The experimental
values were measured with the help of the DIC technique. As
welding is performed in the middle of the specimens (Fig. 1), the
expansionandcontractionphenomena are likely to induce uniform
distortions on both sides of the weld bead. Fig. 10 shows the dis-
placement values of 0.015mm and 0.06mm on each side of the
axis of symmetry for Cases 02 and 03, respectively. Here, the latter
is 4 times higher than the former. The higher displacement level
is, in fact, a direct outcome of the corresponding high heat input
(Table 2). The negative and positive sign conventions are used to
indicate the displacements in opposite directions. A good agree-
ment between experimental and simulated results is observed for
both the cases.
The experimental andsimulatedout-of-plane displacement val-
ues are shown in Fig. 11. Owing to the symmetry of the test
specimens, the displacement values of the right half of test plates
onlyarepresented. InadditiontoCase02, Fig. 11alsoshows theout-
of-plane displacement values of Case 01, takenfromZain-ul-abdein
et al. [22]. It is observedthat maximumdisplacement values appear
towards the centre of the test plates while minimumdisplacement
values lie at the far edges. The simulatedresults are inclose approx-
imationtotheexperimental values for boththetest cases. It is found
that Case 01(fusionwelding witha beampower of 2300W) has dis-
placement values higher than Case 02 (ller welding with a beam
power of 3000W). Here, the maximumout-of-plane displacements
reach just above 1mm for Case 01 and 0.8mm for Case 02. In spite
of using a higher beam power, Case 02 shows displacement 20%
lower than that of Case 01. This indicates that a substantially large
fraction of beam power is dissipated during melting of the ller
wire.
The experimental and simulated in-plane displacements at
LVDT positions are presented in Fig. 12 as a function of time for
Case 03. Since LVDTs 1 and 2 (Set A) are placed in line with
M. Zain-ul-abdein et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039 3035
Fig. 11. Experimental vs simulated out-of-plane displacements Cases 01 and 02.
each other perpendicular to the welding direction (Fig. 1); the dis-
placement values are averaged to minimize any source of error in
measurements due to the slippage of test specimens in the direc-
tion transverse to welding. LVDTs 3 and 4 (Set B) are treated the
same way. In addition, the averaged values are more appropriate
for comparison with simulated results from a symmetric model.
However, the slippage in the direction of welding caused difcul-
ties in locating the updated position of LVDTs. This is because the
LVDTs were xed on the support and when the test specimen slid
in the direction of welding, Set A tended to measure the displace-
ments close to the edge of the base plate while Set B recorded the
displacements more towards the middle of the plate. However, the
gradient of thein-planedisplacement duetoslipremainedapproxi-
mately2mmalongthelengthof specimen. This is oneof thereasons
for the differences between peak displacement values observed for
both the sets. Other probable reasons include in-plane rotational
and angular distortions of the test plates.
Analysing the displacement evolution, it is found that the
moment heat source is applied, the regionimmediatelyunderneath
it tends to expand in all directions. Since Set A is installed near the
weld start end, it responds immediately and the displacement val-
ues increase rapidly, while at the same time Set B is too far away
to record any displacement as no expansion has yet taken place
in the regions next to it. As the heat source advances, the slope of
the displacement curve of Set A decreases. This is because when
heat source moves away from weld start end; the heating rate in
that region has already started decreasing, although the tempera-
Fig. 12. Experimental vs simulated in-plane displacements at LVDT positions Case
03.
tures are still high enough to induce expansion. The phenomenon
continues and the slope of the curve reduces until the heat source
reaches the weld stop end.
An exact opposite pattern is observed for Set B. Since the heat
source is heading towards it, the slope of the displacement curve
increases gradually. Initially, its response is very slow; however,
it eventually increases rapidly as the heat source approaches the
weld stop end. Having reached the peak value, Set B experiences
an abrupt decrease in displacement values. This is because the
moment the heat source is removed, the regions next to Set B
immediately start to cool down and hence the displacement val-
ues, following the contraction due to cooling, start to decrease. No
such discontinuity is observed for Set A, as its neighbouring regions
have already cooled down to a considerable extent well before the
removal of heat source. This may be noticed fromFig. 12 where the
time instant at which the peak value of displacement is observed
for Set B, Set A is already showing decreasing displacements.
Fig. 13 shows the simulated out-of-plane displacement prole
for Case 03, with the deformation scale factor of 200 along the z-
axis. The bending distortion of the T-joint appears to be different
from that of the test plates (Fig. 11). Unlike the stiffener and base
plate assembly, the test plate is free to deform in the out-of-plane
directionand, hence, a rather regular distortionpatternis observed.
However, the stiffener part of the T-joint assembly restricts the
local out-of-plane displacements occurring due to expansion and
contractionof the FZ andHAZ. The combinedeffect of material soft-
ening in the FZ and stiffener positioning deforms the base plate
signicantly in the vicinity of the FZ; while the remaining parts of
the base plate (Case 03) deform less as compared to the test plate
(Case 02).
Fig. 13. Simulated out-of-plane displacements (units in m) Case 03.
3036 M. Zain-ul-abdein et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039
Fig. 14. Longitudinal stress (oxx) development Case 03.
5.3. Stress and strain states
As welding involves localised heating of the component, it
induces highly non-homogeneous stresses during its application.
Fig. 14 shows the evolution of longitudinal stress (o
xx
) and tem-
perature (T) as a function of time for three selected elements in
the fusion zone (FZ), heat-affected zone in tension (HAZT) and
heat-affected zone in compression (HAZC). At any instant of time
during welding, the regions surrounding the molten pool experi-
ence compression due to thermal expansion of the FZ. Therefore, as
the heat source approaches, all three elements pass into compres-
sion. The element in the HAZC, being farthest from the FZ, shows
very little compression; while the element inthe HAZT experiences
maximum compression until the one in the FZ releases its stresses
above the fusion temperature. Stress reversal takes place in the
HAZT and HAZC during the time interval when the element in the
FZ remains above the melting temperature. During solidication,
the FZ tends to contract; however, restrained by the adjacent solid
material, it experiences tension. Since the elements in the FZ and
the HAZT experience very high temperatures, upon cooling they
respond accordingly and hence develop signicant tensile stresses.
This, in turn, exerts compression upon the element in the HAZC.
For most of the weldlengththe residual stresses remainuniform
in the welding direction. It is only at the start and stop ends of the
welding where stresses gradually reduce to zero. The longitudinal
(o
xx
) andtransverse (o
yy
) stresses at the topsurface of the test plate
for Cases 01 and 02 are shown in Fig. 15. Although the widths of the
FZ and HAZ remain the same for both the cases; a relatively higher
level of stress in Case 02 replicates the effect of the increased laser
beam power.
The residual stress state of Case 03 is shown in Fig. 16. It may be
noticed that not only is the maximum stress level achieved higher
than for Cases 01 and 02, but also a comparatively wider HAZ is
present. This is because the magnitude of heat input for the T-joint
weld is higher than for test plate welds; the beam power of the
former is 2 times higher than the latter and the welding speed 1.6
times slower than the latter (Table 2).
It is found in all the cases that the longitudinal residual stresses
(o
xx
) have magnitudes approaching 250330MPa in the FZ and are
largely tensile in nature, while these stresses tend to be compres-
sive in the HAZ. The longitudinal compressive stresses for Cases
01 and 02 are extremely small, whereas for Case 03 they acquire a
rather signicant magnitude (35MPa) and persist over a signi-
cantlywider region. Onthe other hand, the transverse stresses (o
yy
)
are mainly compressive in the FZ and tend to be tensile in the HAZ.
All the remaining components (o
zz
, o
xy
, o
yz
and o
zx
) of the stress
tensor remainnegligiblysmall. As thelongitudinal stresses (o
xx
) are
almost 35 times higher than the transverse stresses (o
yy
) and are
Fig. 15. Longitudinal (oxx) and transverse (oyy) residual stresses Cases 01 and 02.
M. Zain-ul-abdein et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039 3037
Fig. 16. Longitudinal (oxx) and transverse (oyy) residual stresses Case 03.
Fig. 17. Plastic strains (
p
xx
,
p
yy
and
p
zz
) evolution in HAZ Case 03.
Fig. 18. Residual plastic strains (
p
xx
,
p
yy
and
p
zz
) Case 03.
3038 M. Zain-ul-abdein et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 30253039
very close to the yield stress of the material; it is believed that these
stresses will have the strongest inuence over the failure of the
material. Moreover, thecompressivenatureof longitudinal stresses
(o
xx
) in the HAZ is held responsible for the bending/buckling dis-
tortion of the test plates and T-joint.
Evolution of plastic strains (
p
xx
,
p
yy
and
p
zz
) is presented in
Fig. 17 for an element selected in the HAZ immediately next to
the FZ. As the temperature in the HAZ rises to very high values
without passing the fusion temperature, the plastic strains dom-
inate the elastic ones during heating and cooling stages. These
inelastic strains, however, start to appear only when a sufciently
high temperature is reached. Fig. 17 shows that the material plas-
tication takes place around 150

C, which further implies that

any level of strains induced before reaching this critical tem-
perature will essentially be reversible. With further increase in
temperature, the longitudinal (
p
xx
) and the transverse (
p
yy
) plas-
tic strains become increasingly negative. However, the through
thickness plastic strain (
p
zz
) becomes more positive during heat-
ing and increases considerably upon cooling. The longitudinal (
p
xx
)
and transverse (
p
yy
) strains increase negatively at the start of
cooling while the element is still at higher temperature. Upon fur-
ther cooling the former reduces and the latter increases to some
extent; yet they do not turn into positive strains, thereby indi-
cating the effect of compressive stresses. The through thickness
strain (
p
zz
), in-fact, maintains the condition of incompressibility
(
p
xx
+
p
yy
+
p
zz
= 0). Fig. 17 also presents the plastic strain summa-
tion result that remains zero throughout the heating and cooling
cycle. Furthermore, none of the plastic strain values return to zero
level, suggesting a signicant residual plastic strain level in the
component.
Fig. 18 presents the residual plastic strain state for Case 03. It is
foundthat all the plastic strains are accumulatedinthe centre of the
FZ, while they reduce to zero at a distance of 10mmon each side of
the weld centre line. This observation is completely in accordance
with the material plastication temperature of 150

C in Fig. 17,
because Fig. 9 indicates that the thermocouple TC2 (installed 7mm
from the weld centre line) surpasses the temperature of 150

C
where a very low level of plastic strain is observed; while TC3
(installed 10mm from the weld centre line) remains below 150

C
and hence no plastic strain occurs. The residual longitudinal plastic
strain (
p
xx
) remains close to zero throughout; the transverse (
p
yy
)
and through thickness (
p
zz
) strains, however, show considerably
higher values in and near the FZ.
6. Conclusions
An experimental investigation and FE simulation for the LBW
of AA 6056-T4 have been carried out. Experimental results of
sufcient accuracy have been obtained in order to develop an
experimentally validated FE model. Observations of microscopic
hardening precipitates in the HAZ suggest that high temperature
material properties should be used to take into account the effect
of precipitates on mechanical properties. Similarly, the presence of
hairline cracks indicates why addition of ller wire to the molten
pool is required. Observations using an infra-red camera have
shown that the amount of heat input in the test specimens remains
uniform during the welding except at the start and stop ends due
to keyhole formation and closure phenomena, respectively.
A comparative analysis of the experimental and simulation
results has shown good agreement for temperature and displace-
ment elds. Correspondence between observed fusion zones and
simulated weld pool geometries qualied the heat source model.
Close correlation between the measured and calculated thermal
histories ensured the accuracy of applied heat ux and thermal
boundary conditions. Similarly, a comparison of stereo image cor-
relation and mechanical simulation distortion results established
the robustness of the numerical model. Some discrepancies were
observed for the displacements measured from LVDT sensors,
which may be attributed to the simplications assumed during FE
simulation and due to the slippage of test specimens.
Withreference to the residual stresses, it was observed that lon-
gitudinal stresses, o
xx
, had values approaching the yield strength of
the material. These stresses dominated the transverse stresses, o
yy
,
over the entire length of the weld seam for all the test cases. Com-
pared to all other stress components, they will have the strongest
inuence over the distortion pattern and the failure of the mate-
rial. The effect of ller wire addition was such that it increased
the stress level to some extent; yet the out-of-plane displacements
were reduced. T-joint welding induced longitudinal stresses, o
xx
,
characterised by a relatively wider compression zone. Analysis of
plastic strains suggested that they accumulated in and near the
FZ. Moreover, they did not appear in the specimens unless a critical
temperature was reached, whichinthe case of AA6056-T4 welding
was found to be 150

C.
Since, 3Delements with linear interpolation between the nodes
were used for both the thermal and mechanical analyses, improve-
ment in results may be expected with quadratic interpolation
between the nodes in the mechanical analysis. Further improve-
ment in FE simulation results may be achieved by modelling the
slippage of test specimens in the direction of welding, considering
the initial gap between the stiffener and the base plate, using the
actual material properties for ller wire and taking account of the
geometric imperfections of the base plate and the stiffener prior to
welding.
Acknowledgements
This paper is written within the framework of the research pro-
gramme INZAT4, which is jointly sponsored by EADS, AREVA-NP,
EDF-SEPTEN, ESI Group and Rhne-Alpes Rgion. The Higher Edu-
cation Commission of Pakistan is acknowledged for funding the
research work through an overseas scholarship programme. The
authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. John Bouchard of The Open
University, UK for proofreading the paper.
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