Friction stir processing (FSP) has been considered as a novel technique to refine the grain size and homogenize the microstructure of metallic materials. In this study, two-pass FSP was conducted under water to enhance the cooling rate during processing, and an AZ61 magnesium alloy with fine-grained and homogeneous microstructure was prepared through this method. Compared to the as-cast material, one-pass FSP resulted in grain refinement and the β-Mg17Al12 phase was broken into small particles. Using a smaller stirring tool and an overlapping ratio of 100%, a finer and more uniform microstructure with an average grain size of 4.6 μm was obtained through two-pass FSP. The two-pass FSP resulted in a significant improvement in elongation of 37.2% ± 4.3%, but a slight decrease in strength compared with one-pass FSP alloy. Besides the microstructure refinement, the texture evolution in the stir zone is also considered responsible for the ductility improvement.

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Corrosion behavior of friction stir processing (FSP) WE43 alloy in a simulated body fluid (SBF) was investigated. Micro-galvanic corrosion was the dominated corrosion behavior, and the corrosion resistance of FSP WE43 alloy was improved compared to the cast counterpart. Furthermore, due to the fine-grained and homogeneous microstructure, uniform corrosion morphology was observed on FSP WE43 alloy. According to the tensile properties of specimens with different immersion time intervals, FSP WE43 alloy shows better performance to maintain the mechanical integrity in SBF as compared to the as-cast alloy.