Friction stir processing of Mg

• Main Author: Ang, Wee Keong
• Other Authors: Zhou Wei
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/70873
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Friction stir processing (FSP) is low in production cost and required a lesser time in production. In addition, simple and cheap tool is being utilized in the friction stir process. With all the features mentioned above it has make the technique to become an up and coming promising thermomechanical processing techniques. The technique changes the microstructural and mechanical properties of the material in single pass to achieve the optimal performance. Primary studies of FSP has been report that fine grained, homogenous and equiaxed microstructure are found in the processed region, in different friction stirred processing alloys. Optimization of the process has been studied by researching in relating the changes in the properties of various alloys such as the microstructure with the different process parameters such as tool rotational rate and traverse speeds. But there is lack of data reported on AZ31B magnesium alloy on the resulting microstructure with process parameters where the traverse speed is kept constant with various rotational speed during the process. In the presented work, magnesium alloys were friction stir processed under various rotational speeds with traverse speed kept at constant. The result of the microstructure was analyzed using optical microscope. The outcomes from the experiment indicate that the changes in the microstructure during FSP respond to slight changes in the rotational speeds as the grain size was increase linearly with the rotational speed. Hence, the control and optimization of the process has significant effect from the selection of process parameters especially the rotational speed.