Microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded AA6092/SiC metal matrix composite

There is a need for improved understanding on the effects of friction stir welding (FSW) on the metallurgical and mechanical properties of aluminium matrix composite (AMC). In this study, AA6092/SiC/17.5p-T6 AMC joints were produced by using FSW with varying tool rotation and traverse speeds. The microstructural characterisation by scanning electron microscopy equipped with electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) system revealed a substantial grain refinement and a homogeneous distribution of reinforcement particles in the nugget zone. The grain size of the nugget zone was greatly influenced by weld pitch, as a key indicator to control the amount of heat input, exposure time and cooling rate. Vickers microhardness profile across the welding zone revealed a significant difference in microhardness among the base metal, heat affected zone, thermo-mechanically affected zone and nugget zone. The tensile strength of the cross-weld specimens showed a high joint efficiency of about 75% of the base metal combined with relatively high ductility. Low-cycle fatigue properties were investigated in the axial total strain-amplitude control mode (from 0.3% to 0.5%) with R=εmin/εmax=−1. The results indicate that the fatigue life of the cross-welded joints varies with grain size in the nugget zone and it is lower than that of the base metal. A significant improvement of fatigue life is found to be related to the finer equiaxed grains dominated by high angle grain boundaries in the nugget zone.