Friction stir processing: a novel technique for fabrication of surface composite

A novel surface modifying technique, friction stir processing (FSP), has been developed for fabrication of surface composite. Al-SiC surface composites with different volume fractions of particles were successfully fabricated. The thickness of the surface composite layer ranged from 50 to 200 mum. The SiC particles were uniformly distributed in the aluminum matrix. The-surface composites have excellent bonding with the aluminum alloy substrate. The microhardness of the surface composite reinforced with 27vol.%SiC of 0.7 mum average particle size was similar to 173 HV, almost double of the 5083Al alloy substrate (85 HV). The solid-state processing and very fine microstructure that results are also desirable for high performance surface composites. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.