Finite Element Simulation of the Trailing Heat Sink's Effect on Welding-Induced Distortion of Al 3105

There are several ways to reduce the distortion caused by welding, one of which is to use a new method called a trailing heat sink. In this research, the effect of trailing heat sinks on the reduction of distortion caused by aluminum welding has been investigated. In this study, first, 2 mm thick wrought aluminum alloy 3105 was welded by tungsten-inert gas arc welding method without a trailing cooling source. In the next step, a cooling source of argon gas was installed and used to quickly cool the welding line. Then the heat transfer and thermal stresses caused by welding were simulated using the 3D finite element method with and without considering the effect of the applied cooling source. In the next step, the effects of the diameter and flow rate of cooling gas on temperature distribution and distortion caused by welding were analyzed. It was found that the use of a trailing cooling source creates tensile stresses, and tensile plastic strains and compensates for the compressive strains of the heated area. The trailing cooling source reduced the amount of distortion caused by welding by about 30% and increased the hardness in the heat-affected zone by 10%.