Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Refill Friction Stir Spot Welding of AM50 Cast Magnesium Alloy

Magnesium (Mg) alloys have been considered as an important material in aerospace, sport, electrical, railway systems and, most importantly, in automotive industry, which comprises 80% of Mg usage. In order to enlarge its usage, appropriate welding methods should be investigated. Refill friction stir spot welding (refill FSSW) is a novel solid-state welding technology. Due to the significant merits of keyhole-free weld, improved mechanical properties, etc., it has been successfully used for the welding of Al-based similar and dissimilar combinations. However, studies concerned with Mg alloys are limited. The feasibility of refill FSSW of casting Mg alloy AM50 was investigated firstly. Defect-free welds with flat surface and high performance were obtained successfully. Moreover, a modified method, differential rotation refill FSSW (DR-refill FSSW), was developed. DR-refill FSSW provides a new and effective strategy for improving the performance of spot welds based on microstructural engineering.