Effect of overlapping ratio on mechanical properties and formability of friction stir processed Mg AZ31B alloy

Friction stir processing (FSP) is one of the important severe plastic deformation techniques developed for enhancing mechanical properties of metal sheets, such as the tensile strength and the elongation. Recently, magnesium alloy AZ31 is widely used in automobile industries due to its light-weight material property. In this investigation, the effect of overlapping ratio (OR) with different shoulder diameters (SDs) on the mechanical properties and formability of the friction stir processed (FSP) Mg AZ31B alloy have been studied. The experiments were carried out with overlapping ratios of 0, 0.5 and 1. The results revealed that the OR with 1 showed better mechanical properties and formability than others. Also the tool with 18 mm shoulder diameter produced superior properties than other shoulders.