Friction Stir Welding of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a novel solid-state welding process for joining metals and alloys. This process is based on inserting a rotating tool to the weld seam. The evolved frictional heat and heavy plastic strains on materials adjacent to the rotating tool as well as traversal tool movement result in joining. Apparently, fusion welding of magnesium alloys is accompanied with occurrence of defects such as gas porosities and oxide inclusions that are as a result of very reactive nature of magnesium in the liquid state. Defect-free joining of AZ31 magnesium alloy by means of FSW process was the object of the present work. According to the results, sound weldments for AZ31 can be resulted by choosing appropriate welding parameters. However, FSW of AZ31 leads to a decrease in the hardness of the stir zone and the transitional zone with respect to the base metal.

کلیدواژه ها:

Friction Stir Welding ، AZ31 Magnesium Alloy ، Welding Defects ، Hardness ، Microstructure