Abstract: The inertia friction welding process of FGH96 alloy is investigated by conducting numerical simulation. The temperature, axial shortening, material flow and flash of weldment are obtained and the effects of welding process parameters on the material flow behavior are analyzed, such as initial rotational speed and axial pressure. The results show that the temperature and the flow velocity of material at friction surface are both low in the welding initial process and the flash doesn’t appear. With the increase of welding time, the temperature and the flow velocity of material increases and then decreases. When the welding process reaches the stable state, the material near the two edges of friction surface flows towards the outside of friction surface while the direction of material flow near the middle of friction surface is mainly the same as the rotational direction of weldment. Moreover, with the increase of distance away from the friction surface, the flow velocity of material gradually decreases while the component of velocity along the axial direction increases. From the viewpoint of increasing the material flow velocity, the increase of upset press is better than that of initial rotational speed, which can be explained by the axial shortening of weldment of FGH96 alloy in the inertia friction welding.

Key words: FGH96 alloy, Flow, Inertia friction welding, Welding process parameters