Wear behavior of SiC-reinforced surface composite A17075-T651 aluminum alloy produced using friction stir processing

Abstract

<span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">The surface of aluminum alloy A17075-T651 is modified with SiC ceramic particles using the friction stir processing (FSP). The process is carried out at a constant tool rotation speed of 710 rpm and tool feed rates of 20, 40 and 56 mm/min. The wear properties of the modified surfaces are determined using the ball-on-disk configuration at a linear speed of 2.5 cm/s and at normal loads of 2, 4 and 5 N. The microstructural properties of the worn surfaces are determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and optical microscopy. Although an improvement is observed in the grain structure and wear properties of the FSP-modified surface specimens, the average hardness decreased despite the SiC particle reinforcement. The wear tests show that the samples reinforced with SiC particles exhibit better wear properties under a 2 N normal load compared with the untreated specimens.

</span>