Superplastic behavior of friction-stir welded Al–Mg–Sc–Zr alloy in ultrafine-grained condition

The present work was undertaken to improve superplastic ductility of friction-stir welded joints of ultrafine-grained (UFG) Al-Mg-Sc-Zr alloy. In order to suppress the undesirable abnormal grain growth, which typically occurs in the heavily deformed base material, the UFG material was produced at elevated temperature. It was suggested that the new processing route could reduce dislocation density in the UFG structure and thus enhance its thermal stability