Corrosion behaviour of friction stir welded Mg alloy joints for automotive applications

As a light-weight structural material for use in automotive industry, magnesium (Mg) alloys offer significant weight reduction and environmental benefits. However, due to a high chemical and electrochemical activity, Mg has poor corrosion resistance in chloride-containing aqueous environments. The multi-national Mg front end research and development (MFERD) project has been established to identify and overcome many of the technical problems associated with the increased use of Mg [1]. One of the many aspects being addressed is the ability to join Mg alloys in various forms. Friction-stir welding (FSW) is one of the candidate joining technology being evaluated. Thus, the corrosion behaviour of friction stir welded joints used to fabricate the Mg alloy-intensive front end sub-assembly demo is of interest, and was investigated in this study. Copyright © 2013 MS&T'13®.