Investigation of Microstructure and Hardness of Mg/TiC Surface Composite Fabricated by Friction Stir Processing (FSP)

In this experiment, Mg-base composites reinforced with 5 μm TiC particles are fabricated on the surface of a AZ31 Magnesium alloy sheet via friction stir processing (FSP). Microstructure and hardness property of friction stir processed (FSPed) materials are investigated and compared to the samples without TiC. Results show that, after processing, the average grain size of the produced Mg/TiC surface composites has been reduced from 40 micron to 12 micron. The average hardness of the stirred zone was also raised from 50 Vickers to 79 Vickers after the process. In addition, it is shown that adding TiC particles and applying Friction Stir Processing have led to produce equiaxed and homogenized grains in structure.