Session: 03-05-01: Materials Processing and Characterization

Paper Number: 68010

Start Time: Wednesday, 10:25 AM

68010 - Multi Response Optimization of Friction Stir Process Parameters for AA2024 / SiC Composite Fabricated Using Friction Stir Processing 

Friction Stir Processing is a surface modification technique in which the material in the processed zone undergoes intense plastic deformation, mixing, and thermal exposure resulting in significant micro structural changes. The processed zone is characterized by recrystallized fine grained structure and uniformly distributed reinforcement particles. It was developed on the basic concept of Friction stir welding which is used to permanently join metals by means of using friction. It is proven to be effective for selective surface modification and also retaining the base material's bulk properties. Aluminium Alloy 2024 which possess high strength to weight ratio is used as matrix material, but has poor corrosion resistance and the softness of the material leads to high wear rate. Silicon Carbide (SiC), which has high hardness, high corrosion resistance and withstands high temperature is used as the reinforcement material. The present work aims to study and enhance the mechanical properties by refining the grain structure, and improve the corrosion behavior of AA2024 through surface composite (AA2024/SiC) fabricated using Friction Stir Processing. The Aluminium Metal Matrix Composite is fabricated using Friction Stir Processing by varying the volume fraction of Silicon Carbide, rotational speed and traverse speed. By optimizing the tool design and FSP parameters, the microstructure and mechanical properties of the processed zone can be controlled. The process parameters used in this experiment are rotational speed of 1200 rpm, 1500 rpm and 1800 rpm, traverse speed of 44 mm/min, 60 mm/min and 72 mm/min and volume fractions 8%, 16% and 24% of SiC. The experiment is designed using Taguchi's L9 Orthogonal array considering three factors at three different levels. A square pin of H13 tool steel with hardness of 60 HRC is designed and fabricated to provide better material flow of the reinforcement particles. The Silicon Carbide (SiC) particulate reinforced Aluminium Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) has been successfully fabricated through single pass FSP. The tensile tests were carried out using universal testing machine as per ASTM E8 standards to determine the elongation and the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of FSPed AA2024/SiC composites. The corrosion rates were evaluated using immersion corrosion testing method by weighing the before and after weights of the samples as per ASTM G31-72, 2004. Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) is performed on the multiple response test results to find the optimum friction stir process parameters. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is performed to determine the most significant contributing friction stir process parameters at a 95% confidence level.

Presenting Author: Senthil Kumar Santhanam Anna University-Dept of Mech Eng

Authors:

Akash Manickam Anna University
Raman Kuppusamy Anna University
Sudha Jayaprakasham Anna University
Senthil Kumar Santhanam Anna University