Fatigue crack growth behaviour of pulsed current gas tungsten arc, friction stir and laser beam welded AZ31B magnesium alloy joints

The laser beam welded joints offered better resistance against the growing fatigue cracks compared to friction stir welded and pulsed current gas tungsten arc welded AZ31B magnesium alloy joints. The formation of very fine grains in weld region, higher fusion zone hardness, uniformly distributed fine precipitates and favourable residual stress field of the weld region are the main reasons for superior fatigue performance of laser beam welded joints of AZ31B magnesium alloy.