New insight into the phenomenon of the abnormal grain growth in friction-stir welded aluminum

In this work, the annealing behavior of friction-stir welded aluminum alloy 6061 was studied. Due to essential grain refinement and dissolution of secondary particles, this material usually exhibits relatively low stability against abnormal grain growth during post-weld solutionizing treatment. In the present study, it was found that the abnormal microstructural coarsening actually develops during the heating stage of the tempering process,...