A review on reinforced particles used on the production of FSP composites

Abstract

Lightweight planes and automobiles have become very important in the aerospace & automotive and transportation industry. Additional mass in a car or plane means more power is needed to speed up and keep them moving. Though, reducing the mass not only reduces fuel consumption but also reduces carbon emissions. Using lightweight materials such as aluminium alloys and other lightweight metals have become extremely important to the aerospace and automotive & transportation industries. Despite the great qualities of aluminium, they still fall short in some of its areas where a lightweight material with high strength is required. The properties of the light materials can be enhanced by microstructural modification techniques and addition of reinforced composites to maximize the mechanical properties. There are various methods that are being used to produces a surface composite and friction stir processing is one of the methods largely used. In friction stir processing the intention is not to weld two workpieces but to modify the local microstructure in the workpieces. There are many literature reports available on the friction stir processing with particle reinforced composites, which are reviewed in this paper with the aim of identifying a current gap on the reinforced particles that can be looked into for future use.