Abstract
Improving the mechanical durability and wear resistance of aluminum alloys is a research challenge that can be solved by their reinforcement with ceramics. This article is concerned with the improvement of the mechanical properties and wear resistance of the AA2024 aluminum alloy surface. Surface composites were prepared by incorporating a hybrid of heavy particles (tantalum carbide (TaC), light nanoparticles, and boron nitride (BN)) into the AA2024 alloy using the friction stir process (FSP) approach. Three pattern holes were milled in the base metal to produce the composites with different volume fractions of the reinforcements. The effects of the FSP and the reinforcements on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and wear resistance are investigated. In addition to the FSP, the reinforced particles contributed to greater grain refinement. The rolled elongated grains became equiaxed ultrafine grains reaching 6 ± 1 µm. The refinement and acceptable distribution in the reinforcements significantly improved the hardness and wear resistance of the produced composites. Overall, the hardness was increased by 60% and the wear resistance increased by 40 times compared to the base alloy.
Highlights
The hybridization of reinforcement nanoparticles on aluminum alloys has attracted the interest of many researchers in recent years due to the significant improvements in the properties of the resulting composites
Friction stir processing (FSP) is considered one of the most advanced techniques to improve the properties of metal surfaces [4,5,6,7,8]
During the friction stirring process, additional heat is generated in the stirred zone due to extreme plastic deformation, leading to the development of a dynamically recrystallized (DRX) microstructure
Summary
The hybridization of reinforcement nanoparticles on aluminum alloys has attracted the interest of many researchers in recent years due to the significant improvements in the properties of the resulting composites. The choice of the best volume fraction of reinforcement particles is one of the most important parameters in the fabrication of metal matrix composites [24]. Hybrid reinforcements have been used in friction stir treated composites to further improve the surface properties of the Al alloys matrix [32,33,34].
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