The Effect of Rapid Deformation Process to Improve Creep and Tensile Resistance of AZ91 Magnesium Alloy Plates

Abstract

Demand for increasing strength to weight ratio, elimination of electromagnetic waves, and vibration damping has led to the wide application of magnesium-base alloys such as AZ91 in various industries like aerospace, military, vehicle, and shipbuilding. However, because of the unstable secondary particles and casting defects located on the rough grain boundaries and in the dendritic regions, due to sliding of the grain boundary, the creep resistance and tensile strength of Mg alloys at high temperatures reduce. To improve the high-temperature properties, rapid deformation processes such as friction stir processing can be employed. In this study, the influence of multi-pass friction stir processing on microhardness, tensile, and creep behavior of AZ91 at several temperatures from 25 to 210 °C has been studied. Optical microscopy and scanning electron micrograph were used to study the microstructure of the cast and processed samples and Clemex commercial software was used for grain size measurement. The experimental results indicated that at room temperature, the microhardness, tensile, and creep strength of the processed samples as compared to the unprocessed ones increased by 23, 29 and 38%, respectively. In addition, after multi-pass friction stir processing, the tensile and creep strength of the samples at 210 °C increased by 31 and 47%, respectively. Also, the average grain size of the multi-passed friction stir processed AZ91 alloy decreased by 88%. The maximum ultimate tensile strength of 276 MPa was obtained at the tool rotational speed of 1200 r/min, the traverse speed of 60 mm/min, and the tool tilt angle of 3°. The empirical results indicated that this rapid deformation process can be useful in enhancing the mechanical properties of AZ91 alloy at high temperatures.