Effect of Process Parameters on Microstructural Evolution, Mechanical Properties and Corrosion Behavior of Friction Stir Processed Al 7075 Alloy

Aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of process parameters on microstructural evolution, mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of an age-hardenable Al 7075 alloy. The alloy plates (6 mm thickness) were friction stir processed (FSPed) at various traverse speed, namely 25, 45, 65, 85, 100 and 150 mm/min at 2 different rpm of 508 and 720. The optimized result in terms of defect-free processed zone with refined microstructure was obtained only at a rotational speed of 720 rpm for a traverse speed of 25, 45, 65 and 85 mm/min. The microstructural evolution was investigated using optical, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The grain size of the nugget zone was found to decrease with increase in the traverse speed from 25 to 85 mm/min at a constant rpm of 720. The mechanical properties were evaluated by Vickers hardness measurements, tensile and wear testing. Yield strength was found to be the maximum (~366 MPa) for the FSPed sample processed at 85 mm/min. The hardness values also followed the similar increasing trend with increase in the traverse speed. The wear volume loss decreased by 38% for the sample processed at a traverse speed of 85 mm/min as compared to that of the sample processed at 25 mm/min. The friction coefficient was found to substantiate well with the wear track morphology. The improvement in mechanical properties is ascertained to the refinement of grain size at higher traverse speed (due to less heat input). The FSPed samples showed inferior corrosion resistance in contrast to that of the base metal. This is possibly due to the coarsening of precipitates and depletion of solutes in the matrix. The morphology of the corroded samples corroborated well with the corrosion behavior of the corresponding specimen.