Suppressing anisotropy in additive manufacturing by shear crystallographic texture development during multi-layer friction stir deposition

Abstract

The solid-state additive manufacturing (AM) approach based on a strategy of sheet lamination (SL) using friction stir deposition/friction surfacing, and was investigated for multi-layer metal deposition in the present study. This resulted in synthesis of fully dense parts with a homogeneous and thermally stable fine-grain microstructure with isotropic properties by avoiding solidification-related defects and exploiting dynamic recrystallized shear crystallographic texture component. A non-heat-treatable AA5083 aluminum-magnesium alloy exhibiting serration yielding behavior was used for friction stir additive manufacturing (FSAM) solid-state deposition using a rotational speed of 1000 rpm with two working windows for the consumable rod feed rate in the range of 35–45 mm/min and a traverse speed in the field of 300–400 mm/min. The microstructural features and mechanical properties were assessed across different sections of the solid-state deposited AA5083 alloy structure to verify a pore-free structure with homogeneous and isotropic behavior. Metallography revealed the formation of uniform and refined equiaxed grains derived from continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) with an average size of ∼4 μm over the entire region of the deposited wall through outstanding layers diffused adhesion. Mechanical testing of the multi-layer structure indicates isotropic tensile properties along the building direction (BD) and transverse direction, due to the shear crystallographic texture formed by thermo-mechanical processing during additive deposition process. An excellent combination of ultimate tensile strength (of 370 MPa) and elongation to fracture at ∼33 % was achieved enhanced by serration yielding tensile flow behavior due to solute element/dislocation interactions during plastic straining.