Dry Sliding Wear And Static Immersion Corrosion Resistance of Aluminum Alloy 6061-T6/SiCp Metal Matrix Composite Prepared Via Friction Stir Processing

Abstract

In this experiment, SiC particles 20μm in average size were incorporated into the commercially Aluminum alloy 6061-T6 to form particulate metal matrix composite produced by using Friction Stir Processing (FSP). After the preparation of composite, the homogeneity of the particles distribution inside Al matrix has been observed by optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Dry sliding wear test was conducted by using pin on disk equipment and Static immersion corrosion (SIC) resistance was evaluated in 3.5% NaCl aqueous solution at various regimes. From the results, it observed that the SiC particles are well distributed homogenously inside the nugget zone without any defects, obtained good bonding between the SiC particles and Al matrix alloy. The micro hardness of nugget zone with SiC particles is more compare to the as-received Al alloy due to the dispersion of SiC particles. It found that, exhibited superior dry sliding wear resistance and significant improvement SIC resistance of FSPed Aluminum alloy 6061-T6/SiCp composite is compare with as-received Al alloy.