Friction-Stir Welding of Work-Hardened Al-Mg Alloy with Nanoscale Particles

In this work, feasibility of friction-stir welding (FSW) for joining of heavily deformed 5083 aluminum alloy was studied. To produce work hardening condition, the commercially available material was homogenized to precipitate strengthening particles and then subjected to equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) at 300 °C to a true strain of ~12 via BC route and successive rolling at the same temperature to 80 pct. of thickness reduction. Despite the subsequent FSW resulted in significant microstructural changes in stir zone, joint efficiency was found to be 98 pct.