The friction stir process (FSP) is becoming a highly utilized method to manufacture composites since it refines the microstructure and improves the physical characteristics like hardness, strength, and wear resistance of their surfaces. In this study, the hardness and wear behaviours of Al6061-based surface composites prepared by the FSP were investigated and compared for the influences of various parameters—FSP tool geometry, reinforcement composition, number of FSP passes, pin load, etc. The Taguchi design with an L27 orthogonal array was developed to analyze the influence of five input parameters on the output parameter, i.e., wear rate during wear tests. The hardness of the composite samples for different reinforcement compositions was investigated, and the results were statistically compared with the obtained wear rates. It was concluded from the results that various parameters influenced the surface wear and hardness of the composites. Tool geometries cylindrical pin and square pin had the maximum and minimum wear rates, respectively. Additionally, the optimal composition of the reinforcements copper and graphene as 1:3 possessed the maximum wear rate and minimum hardness. However, the reinforcement composition 3:3 (Cu:Gr) by weight had the minimum wear rate and maximum hardness. The higher the FSP pass numbers, the lesser the wear rate and the higher the hardness, and vice-versa. This work helps identify the influence of numerous factors on the wear and hardness aspects of surface composites prepared by the FSP. In the future, this study can be modified by combining it with thermal analysis, sensor data analysis of the composites, and optimization of the parameters for desirable microstructure and physical properties.

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Tribological and Hardness Analyses of Friction-Stir-Processed Composites Using the Taguchi Approach

Aluminium alloys and its composites are the most important engineering materials, which have been broadly utilized in Automobile and Aviation industries due to its properties like low density and good structural rigidity. Graphene is having the allotropes of carbon which are used as filler and perfect reinforcement for traditional materials used for structural applications.. This research is carried out to analyse the Al 6061 matrix micro composites with different reinforcement content of Graphene (0.25, 0.50, 0.80 weight %). The Ball M illing process is carried out to achieve uniform dispersion of the graphene and the mixtures were prepared by powder metallurgy (PM ). The prepared compacts are sintered by using the box furnace and microwave sintering. Hardness and green density are investigated for different types of sintering and Graphene weight fraction. Experimental results will give the dimension for the preparation of Al – Graphene composites considering the hardness and green density.

S. Goutham

Papers

Characteristics study on aluminium graphene composite for different sintering approaches