In the present research, a composite with a magnesium alloy (WE43) as the matrix and Akermanite as the bioactive and reinforcing agent was fabricated by friction stir processing (FSP), resulting in a microstructure with uniformly distributed fine grains, second-phase particles and micro-sized Akermanite particles. The effect of an addition of Akermanite to the alloy on the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of the resulting composite was investigated. The compressive strength and ductility of the composite were found to be significantly higher than those of the monolithic WE43 alloy. The value of yield strength of the WE43 sample increased from 75 MPa up to 119 and 225 MPa for WE43-6P and WE43-A-6P samples, respectively. Also, the value of the ultimate compressive strength of the WE43 sample increased from 210 MPa up to 240 and 362 MPa for WE43-6P and WE43-A-6P samples, respectively. The value of elongation for WE43, WE43-6P, and WE43-A-6P samples were 4.5%, 16%, and 22%, respectively. The EIS test showed that the corrosion mechanism of WE43 sample is a combination of localized pitting and uniform corrosion, which shifted towards more uniform corrosion with higher corrosion resistance by applying FSP and adding Akermanite powder. The potentiodynamic polarization and in vitro immersion tests confirmed this finding, as evidenced by the increase in polarization resistance from 0.192 for the monolithic WE43 alloy up to 0.339 and 0.609 kΩ/cm² for WE43-6P and WE43-A-6P samples, respectively. The mass loss rate of the WE43 sample decreased from 20.82 to 10.13 mm per year for the WE43-A-6P sample after 312 h immersion in SBF solution. All tests approved that by applying FSP and adding Akermanite to WE43, the corrosion resistance in the SBF solution could be significantly enhanced.

A composite material based on the WE43 magnesium alloy and containing nano-sized hardystonite ceramic particles was processed by means of friction stir processing (FSP). Compressive strength and strain-at-failure of the WE43 alloy increased as a combined result of FSP and nanoparticle reinforcement. The results of potentiondynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests indicated that the corrosion mechanism of the nanocomposite is combination of uniform corrosion and localized pitting corrosion which is not different from the base metal. However, the corrosion rate is significantly decreased as a result of reduced localized corrosion of the base metal after FSP and the effect of hardystonite to reduce pitting corrosion. The polarization resistance is increased from 192.48 to 339.61 and 1318.12 Ω/cm² by applying FSP on WE43 and addition of nano-sized hardystonite particles, respectively. Indeed, the fabricated nanocomposite shows significantly increased corrosion resistance. Enhanced strength, ductility and corrosion resistance were attributed to grain refinement in addition to the fragmentation and redistribution of second-phase particles in the magnesium matrix, occurring during FSP.

The faults in welding design and process every so often yield defective parts during friction stir welding (FSW). The development of numerical approaches including the finite element method (FEM) provides a way to draw a process paradigm before any physical implementation. It is not practical to simulate all possible designs to identify the optimal FSW practice due to the inefficiency associated with concurrent modeling of material flow and heat dissipation throughout the FSW. This study intends to develop a computational workflow based on the mesh-free FEM framework named smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) which was integrated with adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) to evaluate the residual stress in the FSW process. An integrated SPH and ANFIS methodology was established and the well-trained ANIS was then used to predict how the FSW process depends on its parameters. To verify the SPH calculation, an itemized FSW case was performed on AZ91 Mg alloy and the induced residual stress was measured by ultrasonic testing. The suggested methodology can efficiently predict the residual stress distribution throughout friction stir welding of AZ91 alloy.

The mechanical properties of a magnesium alloy strongly depend on its grain structure. It is desirable to minimize grain growth during the post-forming annealing treatment, thereby minimizing the loss in strength while regaining ductility. In the present research, the annealing of the hot-rolled AZ61 Mg alloy at different temperatures for different times was performed to reveal the kinetics of grain growth, as affected by the precipitation or dissolution of second-phase particles. Three approaches, i.e., experimental, analytical modeling and atomistic simulation were taken and the results were compared. The predictions made from the analytical model and Monte Carlo simulation were both in acceptable agreement with experimental results in terms of the resultant grain sizes. However, the Monte Carlo simulation showed advantages over the analytical model. It was found that with increasing annealing temperature and holding time, the fraction of second-phase particles reduced, which strongly affected the kinetics of grain growth, limiting grain size and grain size homogeneity. The average grain sizes and the largest grain sizes were both taken as the characteristic parameters of the as-annealed microstructure. The results pointed out the importance of choosing an appropriate combination of annealing temperature and time in order to retain second-phase particles during annealing not only for preventing unrestricted grain growth but also for avoiding grain size inhomogeneity.

The present research was aimed at lowering the deformation temperature by applying cover tube casing (CTC) to AZ31 magnesium alloy samples subjected to equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) without triggering surface defects and/or fracture. The Cockcroft-Latham (C & L) fracture model was incorporated into finite element simulation and the critical values for a fracture to occur were determined. The fracture was predicted for the samples deformed at 150, 175, and 200 °C without CTC and with CTC having thicknesses of 1 and 4 mm. The predictions of the model were verified with experimental data. It was found that the workability of AZ31 increased with increasing CTC thickness, as a result of a reduction in the maximum principal stress at the top surface, a uniform distribution of strains, and an increase in the critical damage. In practice, the use of CTC led to the possibility of a reduction in deformation temperature by 25 °C. A sound product with a homogeneous grain structure and a mean grain size of 11 μm was achieved at 175 °C. Thus, the ECAP working window for the alloy was enlarged with accompanying benefits in energy consumption, tooling life, and manufacturing costs.

In this investigation, microstructural evolution during hot extrusion of AA7020 aluminum alloy has been simulated using multiscale physical models, finite element and Monte Carlo simulation. In addition to predicting the evolution of grain structure in different regions during and after hot extrusion, the framework was capable of indicating the origin of the nucleation of recrystallized grains, which is of fundamental importance for the understanding of the effects of various types of dynamic and static recrystallization events on the resultant microstructure after hot extrusion. To validate the framework, model predictions for peripheral coarse grain (PCG) structure was compared with experimental results. It was found that the operating mechanism of PCG formation depends mainly on the local deformation history. As a result of moderate deformation, the PCG structure was mostly composed of grains nucleated in the static mode after the extrudate left the die orifice and only a few grains in the PCG structure originated from dynamic recrystallization. Local large deformation could, however lead to a fully dynamically recrystallized grain structure and the PCG structure resulted from normal grain growth of dynamically recrystallized grains.

The effect of equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of AA6063 aluminum alloy was investigated. For this purpose, samples of AA6063 aluminum alloy were deformed up to 10 passes using ECAP and the evolution of microstructure, texture and dislocation density was investigated. It was found that the dislocation density increased and cells mostly surrounded by low angle boundaries (LABs) formed after 2 passes ECAP. Increasing the dislocation density continued with further processing and reached a maximum at the 4th ECAP pass. With further deformation to 6 passes, the dislocation density reduced, the fraction of high angle boundaries (HABs) increased and the averages of cell size and grain size reduced, significantly, which indicated the occurrence of grain refinement. However, a slight increase in dislocation density, average cell size (ACS) and average grain size (AGS), indicating coarsening, occurred when 10 passes of ECAP are imposed. Hardness, yield (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) increased continuously although the most significant enhancement occurred after 2 passes of ECAP. Investigating the correlation between the microstructure and mechanical properties indicated that Hall-Petch relationship was valid for ultrafine grained AA6063 before the coarsening started provided that the property of interest was correlated to average cell size but not the average grain size.

In this research, grain refinement through severe plastic deformation (SPD) in combination with a thermal treatment to create a fine initial grain structure with a high degree of supersaturation was taken as a viable approach to achieving simultaneous increases in the hardness, strength and ductility of the aluminum alloy AA6063 during further SPD. A recrystallized structure with grain sizes around 20 µm was obtained after two passes of equal channel angular pressing (ECAP), followed by a thermal treatment at 500 °C for 10 s and water quenching. The alloy with the supersaturated α-Al matrix was subjected to further ECAP processing up to six passes to create a cellular structure on a nano scale. Hardness and tensile tests revealed the changes of hardness, strength and ductility along with increasing number of ECAP passes. It was found that after two ECAP passes, the ductility of the alloy decreased from the value after the prior two-pass ECAP and thermal treatment. However, by further ECAP processing up to six passes, the ductility increased along with the increases in hardness and strength. The remarkable improvement in ductility was attributed to a nanosized cellular structure with a large area of high-angle grain boundaries developed from the fine initial grain structure formed during the two-pass ECAP and thermal treatment applied earlier.