In this study, the effects of friction stir processing (FSP) parameters on the microstructure and hardness of cast Al-Si-Fe-Mg alloy were investigated. Orthogonal arrays were applied in the design of the experiments. The selected parameters for the experiments included rotation speed, transverse speed, penetration depth, and tilt angle. The microstructure and hardness of the FSPed Al-Si-Fe-Mg were studied using optical and scanning electron microscopy, and microhardness testing, respectively. The quadratic model was proposed to fit the experimental data of hardness. Signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) analysis showed the maximum hardness achieved when rotation speed, transverse speed, penetration depth, and tilt angle were chosen as 1600 rpm, 400 mm/min, 0.1 mm, and 1.5°, respectively. Taguchi’s analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significant FSP parameters on hardness, which revealed that rotation speed was the most dominant processing parameter, followed by transverse speed, tilt angle, and penetration depth. Moreover, a quadratic polynomial model was developed to predict and optimize the combination of the parameters, enabling superior mechanical properties. Subsequently, the verification of the microstructure was conducted, demonstrating good agreement between the experimental observation of the microstructure and estimated outcomes.

This article describes a methodology to characterize the failure limits by necking and fracture, and to determine the critical value of ductile damage in tube forming. The methodology makes use of digital image correlation, thickness measurements and force–displacement evolutions to obtain the strain loading paths and the strain values at the onsets of failure by necking and fracture. The onset of failure by necking is determined by a new technique that combines the strain and force–displacement evolutions whereas the fracture strains at the cracked regions of the tubes are obtained by a similar technique utilized by the authors in sheet metal forming. Transformation of the strain loading paths from principal strain space into the space of effective strain versus stress-triaxiality allows determining the critical experimental value of ductile damage at the onset of failure by necking. The methodology is applied to tube expansion with circular, elliptical and square cross-section punches and results confirm its importance and helpfulness for researchers and engineers involved in the development and optimization of industrial tube forming processes.