Advanced materials characterization of an FSPed aluminum metal matrix: Insight in materials modelling and computational method

The engineering of a new class of material known as metal-matrix composites involves the reinforcement of aluminum and its alloys with various reinforcing powders. The addition of ceramic particles is expected to increase the mechanical property-to-weight ratio of pure aluminum and its alloys, as well as their wear resistance and high specific hardness. However, due to an inadequate production technique and process conditions, the insertion of non-deformable ceramic reinforcements results in a considerable loss of ductility and toughness. Friction stir processing technique is the name of the fabrication method employed in this study. A solid state processing technique called FSP has been used to change microstructures. Using SEM, the microstructures of the composites were examined, and Otsu Image Thresholding Technique was used to forecast the grain sizes inside the microstructure. The segmented image's mean particle size for one-pass FSP was 2.69x10³μm at an X155 magnification. The flow mechanism in the friction stir process is illustrated by the observation that 2.69x10³μm particle size for two passes showed less spherical structures and more irregular structures. The three-pass sample yielded a mean particle size of 1.36x10³μm, which indicates a more uniform distribution within the matrix and a considerable size reduction in comparison to those obtained from one pass and two passes. A finite element analysis tool called ABAQUS was utilized to predict how this heat would affect the quality of the composites. With less than 15°C separating the processing temperatures between the experimental and simulated data, the peak temperature increased as the tool rotated in accordance with the projected temperature history of FSP for the composites at various tool rotating speeds.