Mechanical Properties, Microstructure and Crystallographic Texture of Magnesium AZ91-D Alloy Welded by Friction Stir Welding (FSW)

The objective of the study was to characterize the properties of a magnesium alloy welded by friction stir welding. The results led to a better understanding of the relationship between this process and the microstructure and anisotropic properties of alloy materials. Welding principally leads to a large reduction in grain size in welded zones due to the phenomenon of dynamic recrystallization. The most remarkable observation was that crystallographic textures appeared from a base metal without texture in two zones: the thermo-mechanically affected and stir-welded zones. The latter zone has the peculiarity of possessing a marked texture with two components on the basal plane and the pyramidal plane. These characteristics disappeared in the thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ), which had only one component following the basal plane. These modifications have been explained by the nature of the plastic deformation in these zones, which occurs at a moderate temperature in the TMAZ and high temperature in the SWZ.