Recycling magnesium alloy AZ31B chips via friction stir consolidation: A sustainable approach

Recycling magnesium alloy AZ31B chips via friction stir consolidation: A sustainable approach

Muhammad Adnan, Simone Amantia, Riccardo Puleo, Giuseppe Ingarao, Livan Fratini

Abstract. The growing demand for lightweight alloys has resulted in significant environmental challenges due to the exponential growth of machining waste, such as magnesium alloy chips. Conventional recycling techniques for these chips are often associated with oxidation losses, energy inefficiencies, and elevated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Friction Stir Consolidation (FSC) emerges as a sustainable and solid-state recycling technique that mitigates these drawbacks by consolidating magnesium alloy chips directly into solid billets. This study investigates the FSC process applied to AZ31B magnesium chips, focusing on the influence of processing time on the quality of the consolidated billets. An experimental campaign was conducted with four distinct consolidation times, evaluating the mechanical properties and energy consumption of the process. Additionally, numerical simulation was performed to analyze the process mechanics. The results revealed that FSC successfully produced consolidated billets, with the highest consolidation level achieved at a process time of 60 seconds. Hardness analysis revealed a decreasing trend from the top to the bottom of the billet, with maximum values below those of the base material.

Keywords
FSC, Magnesium, Recycling, Environmental Impact, Solid State Technique

Published online 5/7/2025, 10 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA

Citation: Muhammad Adnan, Simone Amantia, Riccardo Puleo, Giuseppe Ingarao, Livan Fratini, Recycling magnesium alloy AZ31B chips via friction stir consolidation: A sustainable approach, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 54, pp 2546-2555, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903599-275

The article was published as article 275 of the book Material Forming

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

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