Evaluating the Mechanical Integrity of Multi-Pass Friction Stir Processed Aluminium Alloy Impregnated with Titanium Particles

Abstract

This paper aimed to evaluate the mechanical integrity of 1100 Aluminium alloy reinforced with Ti-62222 Titanium particles fabricated via multi-pass friction stir processing. The newly fabricated alloy was examined via Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to ensure even dispersion of the impregnated particles. The wear rate and hardness properties of the alloy were compared with the unreinforced Aluminium alloy. The results indicate that the multi-pass Friction Stir Processing (FSP) method affects the particle distribution within the 1100 Aluminum alloy, which in turn influences the wear resistance and the hardness of the material. After three cumulative passes, the hardness property of the newly formed 1100Al/Ti-62222 Alloy increased from 26.52HV to 41.8HV, and the wear resistance of the unreinforced Alloy has a mean value for the coefficient of friction of 0.72 while the three-pass composites have 0.34. Furthermore, no agglomeration of particles nor any microstructural defects were observed after three FSP passes. This shows that for typical surface engineering applications, the set of parameters and the process used in this study can be considered.