Dynamic Testing of Friction Stir Processed Aluminum-5052

The solid-state process of friction stirring is increasingly applied to weld or process Aluminum alloy 5052, which is essential to various applications, such as marine, aerospace, and automotive. Friction stirring typically induces microstructural changes and grain refinement, affecting the processed material's constitutive response. Applications involving friction-stir processed aluminum alloy 5052 might be subjected to impact and high-strain-rate loadings. Accordingly, this work investigates the effect of friction stir processing on the high-strain-rate behavior of aluminum alloy 5052. A Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) system is used to experimentally measure the high-strain-rate compressive response of friction-stir processed aluminum alloy 5052 at strain rates ranging between 2700 s -1 to 5000 s -1 . A high-speed imaging system and the digital image correlation technique were used to measure full-field strain fields. Results showed that friction stir processed samples exhibit lower yield strength (less by 20.8% at strain rate 5000/s) than their unprocessed counterparts at the same strain rate. However, friction stir processed samples exhibited a higher hardening rate.