Development of Novel

MaterialsSTIR
usingPROCESSING
FRICTION
Guide : Dr. Koteswararao V.
Rajulapati
Ummen Sabu
13ETMMO8
M.Tech Materials
Engineering

School of Engineering Sciences and

Technology

UNIVERSITY OF HYDERABAD

CONTENTS

Introduction
Origin of FSP
Friction stir processing
Mechanism of FSP
Development of Novel materials using FSP
Processing parameters
Conclusions
Modern FSP centres
References

INTRODUCTION

Local

Thermo-mechanical

improvement and

process

for

material

property

development of new materials.

Materials engineering technique for the production of surface

layers with the required functional properties.
i.e., a novel surface modifying technique
Technology that allows one to manipulate and refine the
structure of cast components

ORIGIN OF FSP
Adapted from the principle of friction stir welding.
But FSP is used to modify the local microstructure
Requirement of materials with functional properties and same time
reduction of the weight
Composites developed suffer from a great loss in ductility and
toughness due to incorporation of non-deformable reinforcements.
This persuade researchers to conduct
investigations in modication of the microstructure of near surface
layers.

FRICTION STIR PROCESSING

Non- consumable cylindrical tool is

rotated

It is plunged into the selected area

Tool has a small diameter pin with a

concentric larger diameter shoulder

friction produced between tool pin

and metal surface heats and softens
a small column of metal

FRICTION STIR PROCESSING

The shoulder additionally provides a forging force

FRICTION STIR PROCESSING

During the process the work piece

and tool are moved relative to each
other
The tool mechanically stirs the
material under pressure
The tool is traversed along the
length of workpiece
A change occurs from a solid state
into a plastic state due to local
heating
( For Al -350-450 is required )

FRICTION STIR PROCESSING

FRICTION STIR PROCESSING

Mostly the surface is modified with several passes

(TMAZ)
(HAZ)

TOOL USED
FSP tools must be made out of material that is significantly harder
and stronger than the material to be processed.
High speed steel ,Tungsten
alloys,PCBN

Ds

H
Dp

shoulder
prob
e

MECHANISM OF FRICTION STIR PROCESSING

During FSP, the material in the processed zone undergoes intense

plastic deformation, mixing, and thermal exposure.
This results in the significant microstructural changes.
In general, the processed zone is characterized by recrystallized
fine grained structure.
The characteristics of FSP have led to several applications of
microstructural modification in metallic materials

Development of Novel Materials

Using friction stir processing technique

DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL MATERIALS

Can locally eliminate casting defects and refine microstructures

Thereby improving strength and ductility,
Can Increase hardness and wear resistance.
FSP can impart super plasticity.
They can be employed for fabricating surface composites

1.MWCNTs/AZ31 surface composites

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes magnesium alloy (AZ31)

MWCNTs/AZ31 surface composites

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have been tested for

reinforcing various matrices - they have many unique mechanical and
physical properties
Such reinforcements can improve the strength of matrices due to the
extremely high tensile strength of the MWCNTs.
Uniform dispersion of MWCNTs in metal is exceedingly difficult.
MWCNTs easily react with the molten metal during the usual
fabrication process, such as the vortex method.
These shortcomings limit the applications of the MWCNTs.
The MWCNTs/AZ31 surface composites were produced by FSP
The MWCNTs dispersed in a magnesium alloy (AZ31) which is one of
the best structural materials to decrease the weight of various vehicles.

MWCNTs/AZ31 surface composites

Commercially available MWCNTs synthesized from hydrocarbons and
an AZ31 rolled plate were used.
The strong aggregation makes a uniform dispersion of MWCNTs in the
matrix difficult.

The MWCNTs were filled into a groove (1 mm 2 mm) on the AZ31

plate before the FSP was used.
The probe was inserted into the groove filled with the MWCNTs.
A constant tool rotating rate of 1500 rpm was adopted and the travel
speed was varied from 25 to 100 mm/min

MWCNTs/AZ31 surface composites

The grain size of the AZ31 matrix was obviously refined by the FSP as
shown in Fig
The grain refinement was caused due to recrystallization during the
FSP.
The grain refinement and the extremely high strength of the MWCNTs
resulted in a significant increase in the microhardness.

2.Sic/Al surface composite

Silicon carbide-Aluminium alloy composite

Sic/Al surface composite

The presence of the ceramic particles in the metallic matrix makes

the matrix brittle even though other properties are improved.
composites suffer from a great loss in ductility and toughness due to
non-deformable ceramic reinforcements
Hence, instead of bulk reinforcement, ceramic particles added to the
surface while the bulk of components retain the original composition
and structure with higher toughness
Dispersion of ceramic particles on

metallic substrate surface and

the control of its distribution are difficult to achieve by conventional

surface treatments

Sic/Al surface composite

Friction Stir Processing (FSP) can incorporate ceramic particles into

surface layer of aluminum alloy to form surface composite.
Commercial available SiC powder and Al alloy rolled plate were
used
The surface of alloy plates was cleaned before processing.
SiC powder was applied to surface of the plates to form a thin SiC
particle layer.
The aluminum plates with preplaced SiC particle layer were
subjected to FSP after drying in air.

FRICTION STIR PROCESSING

When the plunging depth is too large, the shoulder of tool

pushed away all the preplaced SiC particles and basically no
surface composite formed.
Too small plunging depth was also ineffective to mix SiC
particles into aluminum alloy.
An optimum plunging depth resulted in incorporation of SiC
particles into aluminum matrix
Bonding of surface composite layer and substrate plate was
influenced by the traverse speed.
At higher traverse speed the surface composite layer was
usually separated from the aluminum alloy substrate and the
bonding was poor.

3.Microstructural renement of Cast alloys

Mainly for Aluminium and Magnesium cast alloys

MICROSTRUCTURAL REFINEMENT OF ALUMINIUM CAST

ALLOYS
Metal Casting is one of the most important manufacturing technology
used widely for industrial applications
Because of its unique ability to produce complex shaped parts at low
cost.
Al and Mg alloys are widely used to cast high-strength components in
the aerospace and automobile industries
However its performance is limited by cast defects such as shrinkage
porosity, coarse dendrites, secondary phases ,particulate oxides and
inclusions.
Various modification and heat-treatment techniques have been
developed to refine the microstructure, FSP has more advantages over

MICROSTRUCTURAL REFINEMENT OF ALUMINIUM CAST

ALLOYS
The as-cast microstructure e.g. A356 is usually characterized by a
coarse dendritic structure, non-uniformly distributed Si particles,
and porosity
Break-up
the coarse Si particles and disperse them into the matrix
Friction
stir processing
Break-up the coarse aluminum dendrites and refine the grain structure
Break-up the coarse precipitates and dissolve part or most of them
into the matrix
Eliminate the casting porosity

MATERIAL
A356

CONDITIO
N

YS MPa

UTS MPa

E %

As-Cast

132

169

As-FSP

140

238

38

MICROSTRUCTURAL REFINEMENT OF ALUMINIUM CAST

ALLOYS

Dendritic
structure
In as cast
product

Fine
microstructure
Region after FSP

OTHER MATERIALS DEVELOPED USING FSP

Nano sized Al2O3 /AA6082 aluminum alloy surface

composite
AA6063 Aluminium alloy and B4C particle reinforced
composite
Super Plasticity enhanced aluminium alloys
Nanoscale SiO2 Magnesium alloy
Recently Friction stir processing of polymer composites was
performed successfully.
(Nylon-Polystyrene composite laminate)

PROCESSING PARAMETERS

The main process parameters of the FSP modification method are :

Rotational speed of the tool, n (rpm),
Tool travel speed, v (mm/min),
Angle of tool inclination relative to the material,
Depth of tool penetration into the material, h (mm)
Tool dimensions:
Shape and diameter of the probe, d
Probe length/height, h
Diameter of the tool shoulder, D

APPLICATIONS

To process vanadium alloys and nanoparticle reinforced

copper composite materials for fusion reactor applications
To process aluminium alloys used for aerospace and
automotive applications

MAIN ADVANTAGES

Simple process that process a wide range of materials.

Fast process and do not require skilled operators
Environmentally clean process

LIMITATIONS OF FSP

Rigid clamping of the work piece is difficult

Keyholes remains at the end of each
process
Cannot process very thin materials
Initial cost of the FSP processing centre is
very high

CONCLUSIONS

A new surface modification technique

Friction stir processing (FSP) is done at temperatures lower than
the melting temperature
The process is well applicable for the fabrication of a wide variety
of novel materials
The new materials developed using FSP has very good
properties compared to the parent material
This technology has found applications in modifying the
microstructure of reinforced metal matrix composites, polymeric
composite materials, cast products
FSP has a wide range of applications

MODERN FRICTION STIR PROCESSING CENTRES

FSP Processing
Centres

REFERENCES

[1].Zhang D L and Zheng L, Metall.Mater.Trans 27A (996) 3983.

[2]. Din T and Campbell J, Mater Sci Technol 12 (1996) 644.
[3]. R. Mishra, M. Mahoney, S. McFadden, N. Mara, and A.
Mukheerjee, Scripta Mater. 42 (2000) 163-168.
[4]. Enhancement of cast A356 aluminium alloy using friction stir
processing
G. Madhusudhan Reddy1 and K. Srinivasa Rao 2
Transactions of The Indian Institute of Metals Vol. 63, Issue 5,
October 2010, pp. 793 - 798