Effect of Post Heat Treatment on the Microstructure and Microhardness of Friction Stir Processed NiAl Bronze (NAB) Alloy

NiAl bronze (NAB) alloy is prepared by using friction stir processing (FSP) technique at a tool rotation rate of 1200 rpm and a traverse speed of 150 mm/min. A post heat treatment is performed at the temperature of 675 °C. The effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and microhardness is studied. The results show that the microstructure of the FSP NAB alloy consists of high density dislocations, retained β phase (β′ phase) and recrystallized grains. When annealed at 675 °C, discontinuous static recrystallization (DSRX) takes place. The content of β′ phase gradually decreases and fine κ phase is precipitated. After annealing for 2 h, both the microhardness of the FSP sample in the stir zone (SZ) and the difference in hardness between the SZ and base metal decrease due to the reduction of the dislocation density and β′ phase, accompanying recrystallized grain coarsening. With further increasing of the annealing time to 4 h, the aforementioned difference in hardness nearly disappears.