Simulation of Temperature Field of TIG Welding Using FDM

Welding is one of the most important material-joining processes widely used in industry. Low carbon steel and stainless steel with thin plates are widely used in the fabrication of pressure vessels and other components. Thin plates are joints together by the Tungsten inert gas welding (GTAW) methods. Temperature distribution that occurs during welding affects the microstructure, mechanical properties and the residual stresses that will be present in the welded material. This paper discusses the development of a model for the temperature distribution during butt welding at different heat inputs using Finite difference method (FDM). The model is created from first principles of heat transfer and utilizes contact conduction that is a function of temperature, Gaussian heat distribution, and many material properties that vary with temperature. The temperature distribution curves obtained with this model are presented. This transient temperature field has been validated with experimentation of measuring temperature during welding of butt welded of low carbon steel using GTAW process. Using this FDM code, the range of error between the model and experimental results is −11.21 to 2.63%, demonstrating the accuracy of the model.