Influence of laser surface melting on the properties of MB26 and AZ80 magnesium alloys

Abstract

In the present investigation, laser surface melting (LSM) was performed on MB26 and AZ80 magnesium alloys and their surface properties were evaluated. The finite element method (FEM) was used to calculate the resulting temperature during the laser surface melting process. The melted layer average thickness values were about 296 and 190 μm for MB26 and AZ80 alloys, respectively and the variation in the thickness is mainly attributed to the absorption in laser energy. The average grain size of the LSMed MB26 alloy was decreased about 14.5 times and AZ80 had very finer grains than the MB26 along with the fine distribution of second phases. Further, the X-ray diffraction results revealed that the second phase intensities were decreased in both the alloys due to their dispersion. The laser absorption efficiency of MB26 was higher due to the higher plasma attachment during LSM process, thereby has higher melt layer thickness compared to AZ80. The refined microstructure of the melted layer resulted in an increase of micro-hardness up to 110 Hv. Potentiodynamic polarization test results revealed that the corrosion current density (icorr) values of the LSMed MB26 and AZ80 alloys were decreased about 1.8 and 2.5 times, respectively compared to the as-received alloys. A variation in solidification rates of the melt pool due to the alloying elements were attributed to an improvement in the surface and electrochemical properties.