Effect of Friction Stir Processing on Some Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Cast (Al-Zn-/mg-Cu) Alloy

Abstract

Friction stir processing (FSP) is an emerging surface engineering technology that can eliminate casting defects locally by refining microstructures, thereby improving the mechanical properties of material. This paper presents the effects of FSP on microstructure and mechanical properties of cast aluminum alloy grade at three different transverse speeds viz. (116, 189 and 303) mm/min under two different rotational speeds 450 and 710 rpm. On processing, the work material was observed to have increased tensile, yield, impact strengths, ductility properties and hardness. The observations have been elaborated in detail along with the microstructures of parent and processed samples. Different heat treatment methods like annealing, normalizing and quenching have been applied to the samples of tensile test to evaluation mechanical properties like ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and percentage of elongation. Also results showed that when rotational speed increase and transverse speed decrease, the temperature was measured increase too.