The softening of aluminum–lithium alloy welded joints generally leads to a reduction in mechanical properties. In this study, a piece of 2A97-T3 aluminum–lithium alloy with a thickness of 2.8 mm was selected as the test material, and the tool and process used for wire-filled stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SSFSW) were developed. By increasing the bearing area of the softening zone, an equal-strength T-joint was manufactured. Good weld formation was obtained when the rotation speed was set to 2000 rpm and the welding speed ranged from 100 to 120 mm/min. The thickness of the softening zone was controlled by adjusting the reserved gap between the shoulder and the workpiece. The softening mechanism of the weld joint was revealed. The softening was attributed to the coarsening of the main precipitated phases (T1 and θ′ phases) in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) and the dissolution of precipitated phases in the thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ). Grain refinement in the nugget zone (NZ) led to a certain fine-grained strengthening effect, although the precipitated phase was almost completely dissolved. Due to the thermal effect of second-pass welding, the hardness value of the NZ and HAZ in the center of the skin further decreased, and the minimum hardness was approximately 70% that of the base material. Tensile testing results indicated that the softening effect was largely offset by the increased bearing area of the softening zone, resulting in the successful welding of high-strength Al-Li alloy T-joints with equal strength. The strength coefficient was found to be 0.977.

In this paper, the high-temperature rheological behavior of 1420 aluminum–lithium alloy under experimental conditions (temperatures of 350–475 °C and strain rates of 0.01–10 s⁻¹) was systematically investigated using a Gleeble-3500 thermal simulation tester (temperature 350~475 °C, strain rate of 0.01~10 s⁻¹). Based on the flow stress curves of this alloy, four different types of high-temperature constitutive models of the alloy were constructed: the Arrhenius (AR) model, the Modified Johnson–Cook (MJC) model, the Modified Zerilli–Armstrong (MZA) model, and the VOCE model. The prediction accuracy of the four constitutive models was compared, and the response of the accuracy of the four constitutive models to the deformation parameters (temperature, deformation rate, and strain) was analyzed. The results showed that the VOCE, AR, and MZA models had high overall prediction accuracy with average absolute relative error (AARE) of 1.8933%, 3.9912%, and 7.8422%, respectively. The VOCE model could achieve the prediction of large strain deformation resistance under small strain with small batch experimental conditions for the corresponding conditions. The AR model had optimal prediction accuracy for the high-rate deformation process. The MJC model had the optimal prediction accuracy for the low-temperature low-rate deformation process. The MZA model had better prediction accuracy for the low-rate high-temperature deformation process. The 1420 aluminum–lithium alloy process parameters selection area constitutive model matching diagram was constructed.