Microstructure Refinement and Augmenting Mechanical Properties of Mg Alloy Using Friction Stir Processing

Friction stir processing (FSP) is a promising technique to attain significant grain refinement to improve the mechanical characteristics of magnesium (Mg) alloys. In the present study, FSP has been performed on pristine Mg-2Zn Mg alloy for microstructural refinement and using Taguchi’s design of experiment approach influence of four FSP parameters, namely tool pin profile (PP), tool rotational speed (TRS), tool traverse speed (TTS), and tool tilt angle (TA), which has been investigated on grain size (GS) and stir zone area (SZA). Using single-pass FSP, significant grain refinement has been achieved for pristine Mg alloy with grain size reduction from 63.86 to 15.48 μm (75.76