Effect of friction stir processing with different pass numbers on the mechanical, tribological and corrosion properties of Al6061

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Materials Engineering, Hamedan University of Technology, Hamedan, Iran

3 bDepartment of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Hamedan University of Technology, Hamedan, Iran

4 Bu-Ali Sina university

5 Department of Material Engineering, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

Abstract

In this study, the mechanical, tribological and corrosion properties of Al6061 after different pass number of FSP were investigated. To study the microstructure of samples, optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used. Optical microscopy images showed that the average grain size of samples significantly decreased after FSP. Furthermore, results showed that using of FSP generally leads to the reduction of microhardness values, compared to the base metal. It can be deuced that there are various strengthening and weakening mechanisms governing on the mechanical properties of FSPed aluminum. In consistent with microhardness findings, corrosion results showed that FSP has negative effects on the corrosion resistance of Al6061. In other words, the polarization plots of FSPed samples shifted to the more negative potentials and higher current densities. Wear results are in good agreement with what was mentioned. In this regard, wear weight loss of two pass FSPed aluminum was about 3.5 times higher than that for base metal.

Keywords