Investigating Effects of Groove Dimensions on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of AA6063/SiC Surface Composites Produced by Friction Stir Processing

Friction stir processing forms an innovative and promising technology for surface composite fabrication where their fabrication is accomplished in solid state. In the current research, AA6063/SiC surface composites were fabricated and effect of ratio of groove width (w) to tool pin diameter (d) on dispersion of reinforcement particles and mechanical properties were investigated. Five varying groove widths were chosen at constant levels of tool dimensions and process parameters to observe the exclusive effect of variation of groove width on area of developed SCs. Results reflected that groove width have strong impact on the area of surface composites and a ratio of w/d of 0.5 was found optimum for developing high volume percentage of 40% of SiC reinforced surface composites. The results were supported by macro and microstructural images.