The Influence of the Mechanism of Double-Sided FSW on Microstructure and Mechanical Performance of AZ31 Alloy

In the friction stir welding (FSW) process, the final performance of weld joints is determined by microstructures influenced mainly by the heat input and mechanical deformation. In this research, the effects of FSW parameters, rotation speeds, and welding passes, on microstructure and mechanical properties of AZ31 alloy were systematically and comparatively studied. It was found that the microstructure at the joint center with multi-pass FSW could obtain a smaller average grain size compared with the single pass. The differences of the grain size were reduced significantly when the samples experienced the double-side FSW process. The mechanical performance results showed that the optimum strength (315 MPa) was achieved through the double-side FSW process with a rotation speed of 500 r/min and welding speed of 60 mm/min. The mechanism of the parameters and double-sided process on mechanical properties of the joint samples was elaborated.