Experimental investigation of novel powder bed friction stir process for AZ31B Mg alloy

Abstract

The current work focused on the process response and mechanical properties variation of the AZ31B powder deposit made by an in-house developed process at a laboratory scale named Powder Bed Friction Stir (PBFS). The PBFS process employs friction stirring as a heating source instead of a laser or electron beam, as in powder bed fusion. Despite the tremendous effectiveness of Mg alloys for structural applications, a suitable route is still being searched for. The motivation of the current work is to explore the potential of the newly developed PBFS process for AZ31B Mg alloy deposition. With 1200rpm and 360 mm/min, the experimentation was carried out using the CPF tool to make a 7mm thick deposit on the AZ31B Mg plate. The process response and mechanical properties were studied to compare the result with wrought Mg alloy.