Influence of Fiber Distribution and Grain Size on the Mechanical Behavior of Friction Stir Processed Mg-C Composites

Short C fibers-Mg matrix composites have been produced by friction stir processing sandwiches made of a layer of C fabric stacked between two sheets of either the ductile Mg alloy AZ31B, or of the less ductile alloy AZ91D, that is capable of age hardening. It has been shown that the choice of the optimal experimental parameters for the production of sound composites was strongly dependent on the nature of the matrix. 3D X-ray tomography reveals that the fibers orient along the onion rings and that they are more or less fragmented depending on the local shear stress during the process. The fiber volume fraction is increased when the nugget volume decreases in particular for the AZ91D base material and for a high advancing speed for the AZ31B base material. The fiber volume fraction influences directly the grain size, the hardness and the tensile properties of the composites.