Production and wear characterization of AA6082-TiC surface composites by friction stir processing

Friction stir processing (FSP) has originated to be an innovative solid state technique to fabricate aluminium matrix surface composites (AMCs). FSP technique was used to produce AA6082/TiC surface AMCs and analyze the effect of TiC particles on microstructure and dry sliding wear behaviour. Surface AMCs containing five different various volume fractions (0, 6%, 12%, 18% and 24%) were fabricated. FSP was carried out using a tool rotational speed of 1200 rpm, travel speed of 60 mm/min and an axial force of 10 kN to produce surface composite. The microstructure of the AA6082/TiC AMCs was studied using optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The sliding wear behaviour was evaluated using a pin-on-disk apparatus. The results revealed that the TiC particles significantly influenced the distribution of TiC particles, and sliding wear behaviour of the AA6082/TiC AMCs. The effect of TiC particles on worn surface is also reported in this paper.