Microstructural changes and Mechanical properties upgrading over Friction Stir Processing strategies on A356 alloy with tungsten nano particle surface layer composites

Friction stir processing (FSP) is a typical process for refinement changes of microstructure, upgradation of material’s mechanical properties and fabricating of surface layer composites. The effect of cast A356 surface composites were fabricated through Friction Stir Processing (FSP) route to appraise the metallurgical and mechanical properties were considered in the present research study. The three combination of test samples of FSP’ed cast A356 alloy, FSP’ed cast A356 FSP with tungsten nano particle addition (5 and 10 vol%) were considered to fabrication under fixed parametric conditions like tool rotational speed of 1000 rpm, load acting 9 kN, tool travel speed of 20 mm min−1 through four number of tool travel passes respectively. Obtained FSP’ed samples were exposed to microstructural, tensile strength tests and fracture surface morphology analysis were carried out to record the responses. It was observed in stir zone microstructure that the FSP parameters have affected the overall dispersion rate of the tungsten particles in the surface composite layer to a greater extent, leading to the better particle distribution. As a result of mechanical test, it is seen that FSP’ed cast A356 with 10vol% of tungsten nano particles exhibits higher hardness and tensile value compared to other combinations. These is due to better bonding between the matrix and higher vol % of nano particles. Moreover, it was finally concluded that the properties of the cast A356 alloy FSP’ed with 10vol% of tungsten nano particles responses have significantly increased and found to be good corroboration in the automotive components.