Corrosion fatigue behavior of friction stir processed interstitial free steel

In this study, interstitial free (IF) steel plates were subjected to double-sided friction stir processing (FSP). The fine-grained structure with an average grain size of about 12 μm was obtained in the processed zone (PZ) with a thickness of about 2.5 mm. The yield strength (325 MPa) and ultimate tensile strength (451 MPa) of FSP IF steel were significantly higher than those of base material (BM) (192 and 314 MPa), while the elongation (67.5%) almost remained unchanged compared with the BM (66.2%). The average microhardness value of the PZ was about 130 HV, 1.3 times higher than that of the BM. In addition, the FSP IF steel showed a more positive corrosion potential and lower corrosion current density than the BM, exhibiting lower corrosion tendency and corrosion rates in a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. Furthermore, FSP IF steel exhibited higher fatigue life than the BM both in air and NaCl solution. Corrosion fatigue fracture surfaces of FSP IF steel mainly exhibited a typical transgranular fracture with fatigue striations, while the BM predominantly presented an intergranular fracture. Enhanced corrosion fatigue performance was mainly attributed to the increased resistance of nucleation and growth of fatigue cracks. The corrosion fatigue mechanism was primarily controlled by anodic dissolution under the combined effect of cyclic stress and corrosive solution.