Grain Growth Behavior and Mechanical Properties of the Friction Stir Welded Zone of 7055 Al Alloy Followed by Post Weld Heat Treatment

The grain growth behavior and mechanical properties in the friction stir weld zone after post weld heat treatment (PWHT) have been investigated. As PWHT temperature increased, a normal grain growth of as-welded equaxied grains ceased and abnormally grown grains with elongated shape coarsened. Huge elongated grains changed into smaller equaxied grains at 500℃. In case of lower heat input condition, abnormal grain growth initiated faster due to smaller initial grain size. The weld zone with bigger initial grains had advantages to maintain the thermal stability at high temperature. The hardness near the weld zone was almost recovered to the 95% of the unaffected base metal at 500 ℃ and the weld zone under lower heat input condition resulted in the homogeneous recovery through the whole weld zone.