Microstructure and mechanical properties of spot friction stir welded ultrafine grained 1050 Al and conventional grained 6061-T6 Al alloys

The ultrafine grained (UFGed) 1050 Al plates with a thickness of 2 mm, which were produced by the accumulative roll bonding technique after 5 cycles, were spot friction stir welded to 2 mm thick 6061-T6 Al alloy plates at different rotation speeds. Although the UFGed 1050 Al plates were used as the lower plates in order to reduce the heat generation therein during the welding process, the initial nano-sized lamellar structure still transformed into an equiaxial grain structure with a grain size of about 5.9 µm in the stir zone of the joints. Simultaneously, coarsening of the precipitates and formation of large quantities of nano-sized subgrains were found in the stir zone of the 6061 Al alloy plates. Microstructural observation by high resolution transmission electron microscope showed that the two plates were bonded through a transitional layer with a thickness of about 15 nm, within which a lot of screw dislocations formed due to the frictional force between the two plates. A mechanical properties evaluation revealed that the maximum shear tensile load can reach about 4127 N and the joints fractured just outside the hook region in the lower 1050 Al plate.