Effect of friction stir processing tool probe on fabrication of SiC particle reinforced composite on aluminium surface

Abstract

An investigation has been carried out of the effects of tool probe shape and size on the formation of surface composite by uniformly distributing SiC particles into a surface layer of an A1050-H24 aluminium plate through friction stir processing (FSP). Tool probes of three different diameters (3, 5 and 7 mm) and four different shapes (circular with threads, circular without threads, square and triangular) have been used to fabricate the surface layers at rotation speeds of 1500-2250 rev min 21 and a travelling speed of 1?66 mm s 21 . The SiC particles were packed into a groove of 3 mm width and 1?5 mm depth cut on the aluminium plate and covered by an aluminium sheet of 2 mm thickness. A rotating tool was plunged into the plate through the cover sheet so that the tip of the probe reached beyond the bottom of the groove. As a result, it was found that the square probe dispersed the SiC particles homogeneously in the nugget zone compared with other probe shapes regardless of the rotation speeds. Furthermore, the distributed particles and also the aluminium matrix grain size became finer by the use of square probe than those of the other shapes. On the other hand, the wear rates of the square and triangular probes were higher than that of circular shape. The worn iron debris from the tool reacted with aluminium matrix and form fine iron aluminides compound dispersed in the nugget zone. The probe size had limited effects on the homogeneity of the SiC particles distribution in the nugget zone; the distribution of SiC particles obtained by triple FSP passes was less homogeneous when the probe size was smaller. Microhardness of the nugget zone was homogeneously increased to a level as high as 60 HV with tool of square probe shape after three passes to be compared with 23 HV of the aluminium matrix beside the nugget zone.

Fabrication of Surface-Hybrid-MMCs Layer on Aluminum Plate by Friction Stir Processing and Its Wear Characteristics

“…These conditions produced the best results in terms of homogeneity of the particles inside the nugget zone for producing the SMMCs of the pure Al reinforced with SiC particles. 39,40) Double and triple passes were applied in order to improve the homogeneity of the reinforcement particle distribution. In the second pass, the tool was travelled along the same line as the first and third ones but in the opposite direction.…”

“…This is due to that all the samples were fabricated at the same rotation speed of 1500 rpm and with a tool of the same design, which were the main parameters that control the material flow inside the nugget zone as mentioned Fabrication of Surface-Hybrid-MMCs Layer on Aluminum Plate by Friction Stir Processing and Its Wear Characteristicsin our previous works. 39,40) The reinforcement particles were distributed in a banded structure towards the top of the advancing side, leaving the retreating side and the central top portions with low density of reinforcement particles. The banded structure was clearer when the reinforcement was SiC particles as shown in Fig.…”

“…29,32,33) It is considered that SMMCs are one of the latest applications of FSP. [34][35][36][37][38][39][40] The stirring action and frictional heat generated by the FSP tool can be used to distribute ceramic particles as reinforcement on the surface of light metals like aluminum and magnesium. [34][35][36][37][38][39][40] The present authors 39,40) succeeded in uniformly distributing SiC particles of 1.25 mm size in a surface layer of a few mm thickness on Al 1050-H24 plates to form surface composites by FSP.…”

Process Parameters Optimization for Producing AA6061/TiB2 Composites by Friction Stir Processing

“…Many researchers like Mahmoud.E.R. I [36] and Wang W et al [37] were carried out using square and threaded pin profiles with speed range of 800 rpm to 1600 rpm and M .Salehi et al [38] and M.Barmaouz et al [39] were selected the feeds in the range of 40 m/min to 160 m/min and other parameters load and percentage reinforcement were also selected . The Taguchi method is limited for optimization of single response problems.…”

Friction-stir processing of a composite aluminium alloy (AA 1050) reinforced with titanium carbide powder

“…From their results, the wear rates of the samples produced with the flat surface tools were higher than that of the samples produced with the round-shaped tools and the samples produced with the square profile pin yielded a finer distribution of the SiC particles. 21 R. Bauri et al 22 used FSP effectively to homogenise the particle distribution in Al-based in-situ composites. The process was employed on the as-cast composite to uniformly distribute the TiC particles in the Al matrix.…”