Numerical simulation and experimental validation of thermal evolutions and welding-induced distortion of EBW in a plate of Ti-6Al-4V

Electron Beam Welding (EBW) is a high-efficiency, high-precision welding method that its application is increasing rapidly in various industries, including car manufacturing, aviation and aerospace. The simulation of the electron beam welding process with the aim of predicting the residual stress in the work piece and analyzing the temperature and stress profiles during the welding process has always been of interest to the researchers for the purpose of welding engineering and prediction of optimal conditions. In this research, the Finite Element Method (FEM) model of electron beam welding was prepared in 3D and loaded on the Abaqus software. This model includes thermal and mechanical interaction, and metallurgical phenomena. The thermal analysis is unilaterally coupled with mechanical analysis. The heat source that is used is a combined heat source that is attached to Abaqus using the subroutine and the Fortran coding. Welding is in a vacuum environment and the thermal dissipation due to thermal conductivity and radiation is applied in different parts as boundary conditions on the model. The workpiece is made of Ti-6Al-4V alloy and has thermal and mechanical properties which are defined dependent on temperature. The temperature variations during welding and the residual stress of the base metal which is obtained from the numerical simulation are comparable to the results recorded in the practical studies and an acceptable adaptation was made that shows the accuracy of the combined heat source model used in this research for modeling of electron beam welding.