Steady-state friction stir welding of 2014 Al alloy has been modelled using an Eulerian formulation that considers coupled viscoplastic flow and heat transfer near the tool. The model equations are solved using the finite element method to determine the velocity field and temperature distribution. The grain size is related to the strain rate and temperature of the friction stir welding process in 2014 Al alloy, and the hardness is found to be essentially related to grain size through the Hall-Petch relationship in the stir zone. Using the simulation results of strain rate and temperature, the microhardness in friction stir processing of 2014 Al alloy was predicted. It was found that the microhardness prediction distribution along the friction stir zone agrees well with experimental results.
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