TY - JOUR
T1 - Friction stir surface processing of 6061 aluminum alloy for superior corrosion resistance and enhanced microhardness
AU - Zainelabdeen, Ibrahim H.
AU - Al-Badour, Fadi A.
AU - Adesina, Akeem Yusuf
AU - Suleiman, Rami
AU - Ghaith, Fadi
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank King Fahd University of Petroleum and minerals (KFUPM) for providing All support. The financial support by the deanship of scientific research at KFUPM through project no. DF201013 is gratefully acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - In the current study, friction stir surface processing (FSSur.P) was carried out to alter the surface microstructure of 6061 Aluminum alloy using a pinless friction stir tool. The impact of rising tool rotational speed from 400 to 1200 rpm while keeping tool traveling speed constant at 250 mm/min on surface microstructure, mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance was explored in detail. The microstructural findings revealed a significant reduction in grain size, in addition to a remarkable improvement in microhardness of processed samples. Approximately 44% increase in microhardness, compared to unprocessed counterpart was achieved at the lowest rotation speed. The corrosion behavior of the processed samples as well as the base sample was evaluated after 15 days of exposure to 3.5 % NaCl using several electrochemical methods such as potentiodynamic polarization technique (PDP), linear polarization method (LPR) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) approach. All electrochemical techniques results demonstrated an excellent agreement where the unprocessed sample showed poor corrosion resistance with corrosion current density of (Icorr.) of 3.22 μA, whereas the sample processed at the highest tool rotating speed exhibited superior corrosion resistance with Icorr. of approximately 0.057 μA. Based on results it was found that increasing tool rotational speed has minimum effect on grain size, as well as microhardness; with best improvement achieved at lowest rotational speed or minimum heat input. On the other hand, the corrosion resistance was found to improve with increasing tool rotational speed. The use of pinless tool had a great impact on simplifying the process and achieve required surface enhancement without altering the subsurface material.
AB - In the current study, friction stir surface processing (FSSur.P) was carried out to alter the surface microstructure of 6061 Aluminum alloy using a pinless friction stir tool. The impact of rising tool rotational speed from 400 to 1200 rpm while keeping tool traveling speed constant at 250 mm/min on surface microstructure, mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance was explored in detail. The microstructural findings revealed a significant reduction in grain size, in addition to a remarkable improvement in microhardness of processed samples. Approximately 44% increase in microhardness, compared to unprocessed counterpart was achieved at the lowest rotation speed. The corrosion behavior of the processed samples as well as the base sample was evaluated after 15 days of exposure to 3.5 % NaCl using several electrochemical methods such as potentiodynamic polarization technique (PDP), linear polarization method (LPR) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) approach. All electrochemical techniques results demonstrated an excellent agreement where the unprocessed sample showed poor corrosion resistance with corrosion current density of (Icorr.) of 3.22 μA, whereas the sample processed at the highest tool rotating speed exhibited superior corrosion resistance with Icorr. of approximately 0.057 μA. Based on results it was found that increasing tool rotational speed has minimum effect on grain size, as well as microhardness; with best improvement achieved at lowest rotational speed or minimum heat input. On the other hand, the corrosion resistance was found to improve with increasing tool rotational speed. The use of pinless tool had a great impact on simplifying the process and achieve required surface enhancement without altering the subsurface material.
KW - AA6061
KW - Corrosion resistance
KW - Electrochemical analysis
KW - Friction stir surface processing
KW - Grain refinement
KW - Pinless FSW tool
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85139238989&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijlmm.2022.06.004
DO - 10.1016/j.ijlmm.2022.06.004
M3 - Article
SN - 2589-7225
VL - 6
SP - 129
EP - 139
JO - International Journal of Lightweight Materials and Manufacture
JF - International Journal of Lightweight Materials and Manufacture
IS - 1
ER -