Numerical and experimental fatigue life of single friction stir spot welded joints by volumetric approach

In this study, the fatigue life duration of single friction stir spot welded joints under tensile-shear cyclic loading is investigated by employing volumetric method. Experimental fatigue tests of friction stir spot welded specimens have been carried out using constant amplitude load control servo-hydraulic fatigue testing machine. A three dimensional finite element model of single joint has simulated in ANSYS software. Nonlinearmaterial properties and gap effects were considered to obtain the crucial parameters of volumetric approach, such as relative stress gradients,effective distances and notch strength reduction factors. Our experimental results display that volumetric approach has a good agreement with real fatigue lives of the specimens. So employing this method to predict the fatigue lives of a single friction stir spot welded joints is acceptable.

Keywords:

Friction stir spot weld (FSSW) , volumetric approach , Fatigue life , Finite element analysis