Journal of Manufacturing Processes 37 (2019) 159–167

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Journal of Manufacturing Processes

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Improving microstructural and tensile properties of AZ31B magnesium alloy T

joints by stationary shoulder friction stir welding
⁎ ⁎
Wenya Lia, , P.L Niua, S.R. Yana, Vivek Patela,b, , Q. Wena
a
State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Friction Welding Technologies, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, PR
China
b
Mechanical Engineering Department, School of Technology, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar 382007, Gujarat, India

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Sound AZ31B magnesium alloy welds with glossy surface appearance and little flash were achieved for the first
Stationary shoulder friction stir welding time by lower heat input stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SSFSW) at different rotational speeds
Magnesium alloy (700–1500 rpm) and a constant welding speed (50 mm/min). Results show that a bowl-shaped stir zone (SZ)
Mechanical properties with fine equiaxed grains is present, and its grain size increases as increasing the tool rotational speed. The
Microstructure
lowest Vickers hardness appears in the thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ) on the advancing side. As the
Strain hardening behavior
rotational speed increases, the ultimate tensile strength of joints also increases, while the yield stress and
elongation at fracture decrease. An exceptionally high joint efficiency of 97% has been achieved at the rotational
speed of 1500 rpm. In addition, the SSFSWed joints show higher strain hardening capacity due to dynamic
recrystallization in the SZs. The fracture locations of joints shift from TMAZ to SZ with the increase of rotational
speed. Fracture morphologies of the SSFSWed joints are characterized as the mixture of shear and ductile
fracture modes.

1. Introduction symmetry in microstructure are usually present in the conventional

Recently, lightweight structural design and manufacturing has at-
tracted more and more attentions especially in the aerospace applica-
tions. Among the lightweight structural materials, magnesium alloys
have gained more interests because of their high strength to weight
ratio, remarkable stiffness, seismic performance, and easy workability
as delineated by Motalleb-Nejad et al. [1]. Mishra and Ma [2] stated in
their review paper that a reliable joining process should be established
in order to widen the applications of magnesium alloys in lightweight
structures. However, conventional fusion welding of magnesium alloys
still faces many challenges such as porosity, hot crack, and loss of the
alloying elements, which restrict the applications of magnesium alloys’
welding structures.
Friction stir welding (FSW) is an innovative solid-state welding
process to eliminate the aforementioned defects of conventional fusion
welds in a substantial way [3]. FSW is mostly applied to aluminum and
magnesium alloys as stated by Mishra and Ma [2]. Commin et al. [4]
exhibited that a relatively wide range of welding parameters could be
used to weld the majority of magnesium alloys. On the other hand the
arc corrugation, larger shoulder affected zone, low consistency and
friction stir welded (FSWed) joints, which reduce the mechanical
properties of joints.
Stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SSFSW) was developed as
an excellent variant of FSW, which uses modified tooling system where
tool shoulder remains stationary to greatly lower the heat input. SSFSW
has been successfully used to join aluminum alloys and polymers [5,6].
Ahmed et al. [7] demonstrated the successful welding of AA6082 alu-
minum alloy by SSFSW and reported that the stir zone (SZ) was solely
dominated by probe throughout the thickness. Li et al. [8] investigated
the SSFSW of AA2219-T6 aluminum alloy and found the improved
asymmetry and inhomogeneity in the SZ due to stationary action of
shoulder. SSFSW was also successfully applied to join titanium alloys.
Jiang et al. [9] studied the microstructure and texture development in
the SSFSWed Ti6Al4V alloy joint and found the fine lamellar structure
in the SZ, coarsening lamellar structure in the thermo-mechanically
affected zone (TMAZ), bimodal structure in the heat affected zone
(HAZ), and equiaxed grain structure in the base metal (BM). Maltin
et al. [10] exhibited an abrupt changeover at the interface of the stirred
and unstirred materials in the SSFSWed steel alloy joint, which felici-
tates the cracking, so that SSFSW of steel was not recommended.

⁎
Corresponding authors at: State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Friction Welding Technologies, Northwestern
Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, PR China.
E-mail addresses: liwy@nwpu.edu.cn (W. Li), vivek.patel@nwpu.edu.cn (V. Patel).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2018.11.014
Received 17 April 2018; Received in revised form 11 October 2018; Accepted 16 November 2018
1526-6125/ © 2018 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
W. Li et al.
Compared to the conventional FSW, the tool of SSFSW contains a non-
rotating shoulder with a rotational probe that conducts the dominant
heat and severe plastic deformation on the weld zone [6,11]. During
SSFSW process, the SZ is developed by the probe-dominated frictional
and plastic deformation, not the shoulder since it remains stationary.
Thus, SSFSW generates more uniform temperature distribution
throughout the thickness of SZ, which could minimize the asymmetry in
microstructure and mechanical properties of the FSWed magnesium
alloys joints, as reported by Ahmed et al. [7]. Moreover, Ji et al. [12]
demonstrated that a SSFSWed joint had a smooth surface, reduced
flash, and elimination of arc corrugation.
It is convinced that SSFSW is good for the heat-sensitive materials,
i.e. magnesium alloy welds. However, to the authors’ best knowledge,
SSFSW is still not applied to weld magnesium alloys that are more
preferable to welding under low heat input compared with aluminum
alloys. Therefore, the novelty of this work is to study the SSFSW of
AZ31B magnesium alloy at different rotational speeds. The micro-
structural and mechanical behaviors of the welds were investigated,
and significantly high strength of joints was obtained. Furthermore,
strain hardening behavior of the SSFSWed AZ31B joints was analyzed
in detail.
2. Experimental procedures
A commercial hot-rolled AZ31B magnesium alloy plates with the
dimensions of 200 × 90 × 6.35 mm3 were SSFSWed. The chemical
composition of the AZ31B is given in Table 1. To remove the oxide layer
and other contaminants, the plates were totally ground and cleaned
with SiC abrasive papers and acetone in sequence. SSFSW was con-
ducted with the butt joint configuration along the rolling direction
(200 mm). The custom developed stationary shoulder package com-
prising a concave shoulder with a threaded tool probe and an external
stationary shoulder was used for welding, as presented in Figs. 1a and b.
During SSFSW, the welds were made at the rotational speeds of 700,
900, 1100, 1300 and 1500 rpm. The constant travelling speed of
50 mm/min and tool tilt of 2.5° were selected according to our pre-
liminary experiments.
After SSFSW, the specimens for microstructure observation were
machined vertically to the welding direction. The specimens were
subsequently ground and polished followed by etching with a mixture
of 4.2 g picric acid, 10 ml glacial acetic acid, 10 ml distilled water and
70 ml ethanol. The macro and microstructural characterizations were
conducted by an optical microscope (OM, OLYMPUS-GX71). Hardness
of different joints was measured along the mid-thickness of the joints
cross-section by applying a Vickers hardness tester (THV-1MD) under a
load of 200 g and dwell time of 10 s. Three tensile specimens were cut
in accordance with ASTM E8, following the room temperature tensile
testing at a constant cross-head speed of 1 mm/min on a tensile testing
machine (INSTRON-3382). Fracture locations were observed by OM
and the fractured surfaces were analyzed by using a scanning electron
microscope (SEM, ZEISS SUPPEA 5).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Macrostructure characterization
The surface appearance of the SSFSWed joints at different tool ro-
tational speeds with a constant welding speed is shown in Fig. 2. The
relatively smooth surface without any obvious surface defects can be
Table 1
The chemical composition of AZ31B alloy.
Element Al Zn Fe Mn Cu Si
Weight percentage (wt. %) 3.15 0.81 0.53 0.49 0.007 0.002
Journal of Manufacturing Processes 37 (2019) 159–167
observed for all the welds. Moreover, small flash and little arc corru-
gation are clearly visible on the weld surfaces produced at low rota-
tional speeds of 700 and 900 rpm. This could be attributed to the ro-
tational movement of the small concave shoulder, similar to the
conventional FSW tool. The arc corrugation on the weld surface is ef-
fectively eliminated under high rotational speeds of 1300 and 1500 rpm
as shown in Fig. 2d and e, respectively. During SSFSW, the stationary
shoulder merely slides over the plate surface without rotation, which
produces positive effect on forming a smoother surface. Additionally,
the stationary shoulder restricts the plasticized metal of the SZ, which
results in small flash [12]. It can also be noticed that the tool rotational
speed has little influence on the surface appearance of joints.
The cross-sectional macrographs of the SSFSWed joints produced at
various rotational speeds are shown in Fig. 3. They show sound and
relatively symmetric joints throughout the thickness at all rotational
speeds. Like conventional FSW, the SSFSWed AZ31B magnesium alloy
joints are also consisted of the SZ, TMAZ, HAZ and BM, as re-
presentatively marked in Fig. 3a. During SSFSW process, the weld
formation and microstructure evolution are prominently dependent on
the geometry of the small concave shoulder and probe, since they
govern the heat input and material flow [13]. Typically bowl-shaped
SZs with various geometries are identified in all joints due to the ta-
pered profile of probe. Moreover, the width of SZ is found to increase
with the increase of rotational speed (as shown in Fig. 3). This could be
related to the higher heat input and more severe plastic strain induced
at high rotational speeds. In addition, a more obvious interface can be
observed at between the SZ and TMAZ on the advancing side (AS),
rather than that on the retreating side (RS), Fig. 3. Similar results have
been demonstrated in the FSWed AZ31 magnesium alloy [14] and
aluminum alloys [15,16].
3.2. Microstructure evolution
Representatively, the microstructures within various zones of the
joint produced at the rotational speed of 1500 rpm are shown in Fig. 4.
The microstructure of BM is characterized by equiaxed grains with the
average grain size of 25.2 ± 2.2 μm (Fig. 4b). While the average grain
size of HAZ is 21.3 ± 2.1 μm, similar to that of BM as displayed in
Fig. 4c. This may be attributed to the occurrence of incomplete re-
crystallization in HAZ before welding. The recrystallization tempera-
ture of magnesium alloy is about 205 °C, and the temperature in HAZ at
1500 rpm could be higher than the recrystallization temperature, as
confirmed by Cao et al. [17]. Fig. 4d shows the TMAZ microstructure
with refined and deformed grains due to the combined heating and
stirring effects during SSFSW, resulting in the dynamic recrystallization
and deformation of original grains. The SZ exhibits fully continuously
dynamic recrystallized (CDRX) grains and obvious grain growth with
the average grain size of 18.1 ± 2.4 μm. This should be accredited to
the recrystallization occurred by the large heat input [4] and the most
severe plastic deformation [18].
Fig. 5 shows the effect of rotational speed on the average grain size
of the SZ within different joints. The average grain size increases from
6.4 to 18.1 μm, corresponding to the rotational speeds from 700 to
1500 rpm, respectively. These results ratify that rapid grain growth at
higher rotational speeds. The higher rotational speed at a constant
welding speed corresponds to higher heat input [19], and thus obvious
grain growth.
3.3. Mechanical properties
3.3.1. Microhardness measurement
Vickers hardness was measured along the mid-thickness of weld
cross-section at various rotational speeds. All joints have shown typical
Mg
W-shaped hardness profiles as presented in Fig. 6. The hardness of BM
Bal. is within 52∼56 Hv and relatively higher hardness valueis observed in
the center of SZ. And the minimum hardness value of 43∼45 Hv appear
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Fig. 1. (a) SSFSW experimental apparatus; (b) geometry of stationary shoulder and tool probe.

at the interface of TMAZ/SZ or TMAZ/HAZ on AS. The width between to the lower residual stress level by adopting the stationary shoulder
the lowest hardness in the AS and RS increases as tool rotational speed tool instead of the conventional FSW tool.
increases because of higher heat input at higher rotational speed. These
results are in good accordance with bobbin tool FSWed AZ31 [19] and
3.3.2. Tensile behavior
AZ91D [20].
The tensile behavior of the SSFSWed joints is summarized in Fig. 7.
The variations of hardness distributions across the joints are in-
It is observed that the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and yield stress
duced by the grain structure, dislocation density or texture evolution in
(YS) of all the joints are lower than those of the BM, which is in good
the non-precipitation strengthening magnesium alloys, as explicated by
accordance to the previous study [24]. There are several explanations
Commin et al. [4]. The heterogeneous grain structures in different
for the strength degradation of joints. Firstly, low hardness regions exist
zones are resulted from their different thermo-mechanical coupling
in the TMAZ of these joints, since tenslie/yield strength are arbitrarily
behaviors, as shown in Fig. 4. The SZ exhibits homogeneous fine
correlated to the hardness value in magnesium alloys [25]. Secondly,
equiaxed grains, ascribed to completely CDRX. Since smaller grain size
residual stresses and dislocations density in the TMAZ or SZ could also
acquired by a lower heat input welding condition at 700 rpm, hardness
influence the mechanical properties of the joints. Thirdly, non-uniform
in the SZ slightly increases, according to the Hall-Petch relationship [4].
dispersal of texture in different zones of the joints may have significant
Similarly, the hardness reduction in the HAZ and TMAZ would be due
influence on the joint strength [26] [27]. UTS increases as tool rota-
to their grain growth during welding. For the SSFSWed magnesium
tional speed increase, achieving a maximum strength of 228 MPa,
alloys, the basal slip hinders at uneven grain boundaries, which also
which is 96.6% of the BM. Thus, the SSFSWed joints have obtained an
inhibits the dislocation movement. In addition, the finer grains would
exceptional high strength value, when compared with the corre-
inhibit local plastic deformation because of the formation of plenty of
sponding FSWed AZ31 alloy joints. The summary of the joint efficiency
grain boundaries and consequently result in the hardness increase [21].
and elongation at fracture obtained for the FSWed AZ31 alloy
Yet another interesting phenomenon is that the hardness distribution in
[21,28–34] so far is shown in Fig. 8.
SZ of the joint at 1500 rpm disobeys the Hall-Petch relationship, com-
Moreover, YS increases from 76 to 100 MPa as tool rotational speed
paring to the other joints. The hardness increases at higher rotational
increases from 700 to 1300 rpm, then decreases at 1500 rpm. While the
speed of 1500 rpm, despite the maximum grain size obtained in the SZ.
maximum of 100 MPa is almost the same to the YS of the BM
Esparza et al. [22] showed that the hardness enhancement at higher
(104 MPa). This result is probably because of the factors of heat gen-
rotational speed could probably be associated with dislocations density
eration and plastic deformation occurred during SSFSW. Chowdhury
and residual stresses variations. Commin et al. [4] demonstrated that
et al. [14] and Hamilton et al. [35] exhibited total energy unit length of
the residual stress level could be 46% of that of the BM for the FSWed
the weld and it could be formulated as Eq. (1).
AZ31 alloy. Sun et al. [23] reported that the residual stress level in the
SSFSWed aluminum alloy joint was slightly lower than that of the Et = Ef + Ep (1)
FSWed joint. Hence, the variation of hardness in SZ of 1500 rpm joint is
not as significant as reported by Commin et al. [4]. This could attribute Where Et is the total energy, Ef is the energy from the friction between
tool and BM, Ep is the energy from the plastic deformation of BM.

Fig. 2. Appearance of top surfaces of the SSFSWed joints at various tool rotational speeds: (a) 700 rpm, (b) 900 rpm, (c) 1100 rpm, (d) 1300 rpm and (e) 1500 rpm.

161
W. Li et al. Journal of Manufacturing Processes 37 (2019) 159–167

Fig. 3. Macrostructure of the SSFSWed joints at various rotational speeds: (a) 700 rpm, (b) 900 rpm, (c) 1100 rpm, (d) 1300 rpm and (e) 1500 rpm.

Additionally, Eq. (1) can also be expressed as defined by Hamilton et al.
[35] and Khandkar et al. [36]:
2μFZ (r02 + 3ri2 h) ω
Et = ⋅ + 2mσe εe ri h
3r0 v (2)
where μ is the coefficient of friction, Fz is the z-axial downward force, r0
and ri are the radiuses of shoulder and probe, respectively, h is the
probe length, υ is the travel speed, ω is the tool rotation speed, m is the
proportionality factor, σe and εe are the effective stress and strain, re-
spectively. According to Eq. (2), Et has an intimate relationship be-
tween the welding parameters and tool geometry. Moreover, the heat
input mainly governs by the tool rotation speed and welding speed
keeping the other parameters constant. Therefore, the lower heat input
is induced at the low rotational speed (i.e. 700 rpm) during SSFSW,
which results in inadequate plasticized material flow in the SZ and
consequently a dramatic reduction in the mechanical properties.
Nonetheless, the YS has a negative correlation with the temperature, as
reported by Hamilton et al. [35]. The heat input increases as tool ro-
tational speed elevates from 1300 to 1500 rpm, and the temperature in
SZ also increases, which leads to the decrease of YS. The elongations at
fracture of all the joints are found relatively low in comparison to that
of BM. It is also observed that the elongations at fracture of the joints

Fig. 4. Macro and microstructure of the SSFSWed joint at 1500 rpm: (a) macrostructure of the cross-section, (b) BM, (c) HAZ, (d) TMAZ on AS and (e) SZ.

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Fig. 5. Grain structures of the SZ at various tool rotation speeds: (a) 700 rpm, (b) 900 rpm, (c) 1100 rpm, (d) 1300 rpm and (e) 1500 rpm.

increase as the tool rotational speed increases. Finally, it infers that
higher rotational speed plays a positive role in strength and elongation
at fracture of the SSFSWed AZ31B joints.
3.3.3. Strain hardening behavior
Strain hardening, related to welding conditions, is one of the key
factors to understand the plastic deformation of joints. Therefore, strain
hardening behavior of joints as true stress-strain curves and strain
hardening rate are shown in Fig. 9a and b, respectively. Fig. 9a shows
that both the stress and elongation at fracture of the joints reduce
considerably compared to those of BM. However, the strain hardening
of the SSFSWed joints is found to be greater in comparison to BM as
shown in Fig. 9b, which also confirms the previous investigation [37].
This greater strain hardening attributes to the recrystallized fine grain
microstructure in the SZ. The highest strain hardening is found at the
higher rotational speed (i.e. 1500 rpm), which is believed due to the

Fig. 6. Vickers hardness distributions alongside the mid-thickness of the SSFSWed joints.

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W. Li et al.
Fig. 7. Tensile properties of the BM and weld produced at various tool rotation
speeds.
highest hardness in SZ. Moreover, the higher tool rotational speed in-
creases the severity of plastic deformation, and the use of stationary
shoulder minimize the residual stress and dislocation densities during
the welding. Therefore, the highest UTS among the SSFSWed joints is
achieved at higher rotational speed (i.e. 1500 rpm).
Strain hardening behavior determines the instability of the local
resistance to plastic deformation and maintains a relatively uniform
plastic strain to some extent during the tensile testS [38]. Therefore, the
true stress-true strain curves are transformed to the strain hardening
rate θ (θ =∂σ/∂ε) vs. the true plastic strain to understand the strain
hardening behavior in the SSFSWed joints as shown in Fig. 9b. It can be
found that all curves display a rapid decline, exhibiting the stage III
hardening behavior, as explained by Kocks et al. [39]. When the true
plastic strain exceeds 2%, strain hardening rate reaches steady hard-
ening stage, i.e. stage IV. Similar to the strain hardening, the SSFSWed
joints show a relatively higher strain hardening rate than that of BM.
Moreover, the joint at rotational speed of 1500 rpm exhibits the highest
strain hardening rate and stage IV hardening behavior, which resulted
in the highest tensile strength. Overall, the strain hardening rate de-
creases as the grain size in SZ decreases, which agrees with other work
[40].
To give a further quantitative analysis of strain hardening behavior,
Chen et al. [38] fitted the true stress vs. true strain curves of joints in
Fig. 8. Comparative analysis of the joint strength and elongation in FSWed AZ31 alloys.
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 37 (2019) 159–167
uniform plastic deformation stage by the Hollomon relationship as
follows:
σ = σy + Kε n (3)
where σ is the true stress, σy is yield stress, K is strength factor, re-
presenting strength increment resulted from strain hardening at ε = 1,
as Mishra and Ma [2] defined, ε is the true strain and n is the strain
hardening exponent. However, Eq. (3) cannot accurately describe the
true stess-true strain curve due to the strain of elastic stage. Therefore,
Eq. (3) can be modified as:
σ = σy + K1 (ε − εy )n1 (4)
where σ , σy , ε , εy and n1 are the true stress, yield stress, true strain, yield
strain and strain hardening exponent, respectively. K1 is the strength
factor which means strength increment because of the strain hardening
with ε − εy = 1. Eq. (4) excludes σy and εy , which only present the
uniform plastic deformation before necking.
The strain hardening exponents of the joints and BM are calculated
by Eq. (4) and summarized in Fig. 10. It is found that the n1 -values of
the joints are much higher than that of the BM. While this n1 -value
increases slightly as the rotational speed increases. The reason for this
may be the strengthening effect that attributes to the grain strength-
ening and dislocation density. The strain hardening behavior of mate-
rials after yield is mainly related to the dislocation strain field inter-
actions [41]. It is well known that the DRX and grain growth occur in
SZ and TMAZ during FSW, which reduces the dislocation density in a
FSWed joint. However, larger grain size in the joint produced at
1500 rpm would offer much more space for accumulation of disloca-
tions during the plastic deformation and a higher strain hardening ex-
ponent could be obtained. Another characterization of hardening be-
havior is hardening capacity (Hc ). Afrin et al. [41] defined Hc as
follows:
σu
Hc = −1
σy (5)
where σu and σy are the UTS and YS of the joints, respectively. Fig. 10
also shows the hardening capacities of the joints at various tool rota-
tional speeds and BM. The hardening capacities of the joints and the BM
show the similar trend as strain hardening exponent.
3.3.4. Fracture behavior
To investigate the fracture mechanism of the joints during tensile
W. Li et al.
Fig. 9. Tensile test data of SSFSWed joints and BM: (a) true stress- strain curves, (b) strain hardening rate vs. true plastic strain curves.
Fig. 10. Strain hardening exponent n1-value and hardening capacity Hc.
tests, the fracture location and surface appearance of the specimens
after tensile tests are characterized. Fig. 11 presents fracture locations
of the joints produced at various rotational speeds. Two types of frac-
ture modes have been identified. In the first mode, the failure occurs
nearly at the TMAZ on AS, as shown in Fig. 11a and c. This failure mode
is accountable to the lower strength, which is corresponding to the
lowest hardness value in the TMAZ (see Fig. 6), as reported in the
previous study [34]. However, Afrin et al. [21] demonstrated that the
presence of oxide inclusions in the TMAZ or the SZ during the FSW
should be responsible for the failure of the FSWed AZ31B joints. The
crack initiates from the bottom of the joint, as marked by the dotted
Fig. 11. Locations of the fractured tensile specimens at various tool rotations: (a) 700 rpm; (b) 900 rpm; (c) 1100 rpm; (d) 1300 rpm and (e) 1500 rpm.
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 37 (2019) 159–167
lines in Fig. 11a and b. Once the crack achieves a critical length, the
crack with upward or downward growth begins across the thickness. In
the second mode of fracture, the failure occurs in the SZ itself. As the
tool rotational speed increases to 1300 and 1500 rpm, the fracture lo-
cation shifts from the TMAZ to SZ, as shown in Fig. 11d and e. This
mode of failure demonstrates that the weakest zone is the SZ for the
joints produced at higher rotational speeds. Nevertheless, this is over-
ruled by the lowest microhardness value in TMAZ compared to SZ
(Fig. 6). This advocates that hardness should not be the unique factor to
determine the strength of the FSWed magnesium alloys joints. In ad-
dition, an obvious necking can be observed in the case of second failure
mode (1500 rpm joint), which means that larger plastic strain occurs in
the SZ produced at the higher rotational speed.
Fig. 12 displays the SEM images of the fractured surfaces. The
fractured surfaces exhibit layered fracture morphology, which is con-
sisted of three different zones showing brittle, ductile and shear fracture
features. The brittle fracture occurs in the upper surface of the joint,
while the center-fractured surface reveals the ductile feature with nu-
merous dimples and tear ridges. Moreover, the tear ridges exhibit some
orientations along with a certain direction. For the first failure mode
(fracture location in TMAZ), the tear ridges show the orientation with
∼45° to the normal direction (ND) as shown in Fig. 12b. For the second
failure mode (fracture location in SZ), the orientation of the tear ridges
shifts to be almost aligned to ND, as shown in Fig. 12d. These obtained
results confirm that the change in orientation of tear ridges could be
related to the fracture locations. Yang et al. [34] also demonstrated the
change in orientation of tear ridges due to the difference in texture
evolution between the TMAZ and SZ. Park et al. [20] reported that the
W. Li et al.
Fig. 12. Fractography of the fractured surfaces after tensile tests: (a) 900 rpm, (b) high magnification of rectangular area in (a), (c) 1500 rpm and (d) enlarged
rectangular area in (c).
(0001) basal plane tilted ∼45° from the ND in the fracture region,
which was located at the TMAZ of the FSWed AZ61 joints due to shear
texture formation. Hence, it probably results in favored plastic strain in
the fracture region during deformation. Whereas in the SZ the (0002)
plane is roughly aligned with the probe surface due to material flow
around the probe during welding. Therefore, this could result in tear
ridges to align with the ND after tensile tests.
4. Conclusions
The SSFSWed AZ31B magnesium alloy joints are successfully
achieved at different rotational speeds. Influence of tool rotational
speed on the joints formation, microstructure evolution and mechanical
properties could be concluded as follows:
(1) SSFSW is an effective approach to produce sound AZ31B magne-
sium alloy joints with smooth surface and little flash at a wide range
of rotational speeds (700–1500 rpm).
(2) Larger size of the SZ is obtained and its width further increases by
increasing the tool rotational speed. Microstructure in the SZ
mainly consists of fine recrystallized equiaxed grains and the
average grain size increases with the increase of rotational speed.
(3) The Vickers hardness in SZ slightly decreases and the lowest
hardness is found at the interface of TMAZ/SZ or TMAZ/HAZ on the
AS. The width between the softened regions in both AS and RS
increases as the tool rotational speed increases.
(4) UTS of the joints increases as the rotational speed increases, with
the exceptional joint efficiency of 97%. However, YS and elongation
at fracture of the joints present a trend of increasing followed by
decreasing as increasing the tool rotational speed. The maximum YS
of joints is very close to that of the BM, but the elongation at
fracture of the joints are relatively lower.
(5) The SSFSWed joints show a higher strain hardening rate than that
of BM. Both strain hardening exponent and hardening capacity of
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 37 (2019) 159–167
the joints are increased as the tool rotational speed increases.
(6) Two fracture locations, i.e. failure at the TMAZ and SZ for low and
high rotational speeds have identified, respectively. In addition, the
orientation of tear ridges changes from the TD to ND as the rota-
tional speed increases.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial supports from the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (51574196), the
Research Fund of the State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing
(122-QZ-2015) and the 111 Project (B08040).
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