Investigation of an early stage of the abnormal grain growth in the friction-stir welded 6061-T6 aluminum alloy

Abstract

In this work, quasi in-situ electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was applied to study an early stage of the abnormal grain growth occurring in the friction-stir welded 6061 aluminium alloy during post-weld solution heat treatment. It was found that the catastrophic grain growth completed during the heating stage of the annealing treatment, and further static storage at the solutionsizing temperature provided almost no microstructural changes.