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Dissimilar materials found applications in the structural fields to withstand the different types of loads and provide multi-facet properties to the final structure. Aluminum alloy materials are mostly used in aerospace and marine industries to provide better strength and safeguard the material from severe environmental conditions. The purpose of this study is to develop new material with superior strength to challenge the severe environmental conditions.

In the present investigation, friction stir welding (FSW) dissimilar joints were prepared from AA6061 and AA5083 aluminum alloys, and the weld nugget (WN) was reinforced with hard reinforcement particles such as La₂O₃ and CeO₂. The tribological and mechanical properties of the prepared materials were tested to analyze the suitability of material in the aerospace and marine environmental conditions.

The results showed that the AA6061–AA5083/La₂O₃ material exhibited better mechanical and tribological characteristics. The FSW dissimilar AA6061–AA5083/La₂O₃ material exhibited lower wear rate of 7.37 × 10⁻³ mm3/m and minimum friction coefficient of 0.31 compared to all other materials owing to the reinforcing effect of La₂O₃ particles and the fine grains formed by FSW process at WN region. Further, FSW dissimilar AA6061–AA5083/La₂O₃ material displayed a maximum tensile strength and hardness of 378 MPa and 118 HV, respectively, among all the other materials tested.

This work is original and novel in the field of materials science engineering focusing on tribological characteristics of friction stir welded dissimilar aluminum alloys by the reinforcing effect of hard particles such as La₂O₃ and CeO₂.

The purpose of this paper is to join an anodized aluminium alloy AA6061 sheet with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) using friction spot process.

The surface of AA6061 sheet was anodized to increase the pores’ size. A lap joint configuration was used to join the AA6061 with HDPE sheets by the friction spot process. The joining process was carried out using a rotating tool of different diameters: 14, 16 and 18 mm. Three tool-plunging depths were used – 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 mm – with three values of the processing time – 20, 30 and 40 s. The joining process parameters were designed according to the Taguchi approach. Two sets of samples were joined: the as-received AA6061/HDPE and the anodized AA6061/HDPE.

Frictional heat melted the HDPE layers near the lap joint line and penetrated it through the surface pores of the AA6061 sheet via the applied pressure of the tool. The tool diameter exhibited higher effect on the joint strength than processing time and the tool-plunging depth. Specimens of highest and lowest tensile force were failed by necking the polymer side and shearing the polymer layers at the lap joint, respectively. Molten HDPE was mechanically interlocked into the pores of the anodized surface of AA6061 with an interface line of 18-m width.

For the first time, HDPE was joined with the anodized AA6061 by the friction spot process. The joint strength reached an ideal efficiency of 100 per cent.

This paper aims to present the fabrication of 6061 aluminum alloy (AA6061) using a promising laser additive manufacturing process, called the laser-foil-printing (LFP) process. The process window of AA6061 in LFP was established to optimize process parameters for the fabrication of high strength, dense and crack-free parts even though AA6061 is challenging for laser additive manufacturing processes due to hot-cracking issues.

The multilayers AA6061 parts were fabricated by LFP to characterize for cracks and porosity. Mechanical properties of the LFP-fabricated AA6061 parts were tested using Vicker’s microhardness and tensile testes. The electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) technique was used to reveal the grain structure and preferred orientation of AA6061 parts.

The crack-free AA6061 parts with a high relative density of 99.8% were successfully fabricated using the optimal process parameters in LFP. The LFP-fabricated parts exhibited exceptional tensile strength and comparable ductility compared to AA6061 samples fabricated by conventional laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) processes. The EBSD result shows the formation of cracks was correlated with the cooling rate of the melt pool as cracks tended to develop within finer grain structures, which were formed in a shorter solidification time and higher cooling rate.

This study presents the pioneering achievement of fabricating crack-free AA6061 parts using LFP without the necessity of preheating the substrate or mixing nanoparticles into the melt pool during the laser melting. The study includes a comprehensive examination of both the mechanical properties and grain structures, with comparisons made to parts produced through the traditional LPBF method.

This study aims to develop a less weight high wear resistant material to fabricate brake components especially in automotive sector.

Effort was initiated to design and develop aluminium metal matrix composite by combining aluminium alloy AA6061 and zirconium oxide (ZrO₂) with the help of stir casting coupled with squeeze casting unit. Morphology analysis of advanced composite has been carried out by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The hardness of composites having different compositions was tested using Vickers micro hardness tester. The tribological property of the developed three specimens having different composition has been tested using pin-on-disc wear test equipment under dry sliding conditions. To obtain better understanding of wear mechanism, SEM image of worn-out surface was captured and analysed. SEM images and the corresponding Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) on the wear surface were carried out.

The optical and SEM images evidenced the existence of ZrO₂ particles along the metal matrix composite. Porosity values shows that the porosity level is acceptable as it falls below 7 per cent. Also, the finding proves that increase in the percentage of reinforcement particle instigates agglomeration on the AA6061 composites. Hardness test demonstrated that the inclusion of hard ZrO₂ particles leads to substantial improvement in hardness and the hardness value started deteriorating when the composition reaches 15 per cent. The wear test results substantiated the enhancement of tribological property due to the inclusion of distinct ZrO₂ particles. Also, despite of addition of reinforcements, the wear rate increased when the load increases. SEM images proved that AA6061/ZrO2-5 per cent composite fashioned steady-state mild and smooth wear. EDX spectrum analysis revealed the existence of ZrO₂ particles along with wear debris, which caused wear of 685 µm in AA6061/ZrO₂-15 per cent composite.

The developed material possesses low wear rate which is the unique property of composite and frictional force which is directly proportional to load but the coefficient of friction remains apparently constant. As a whole, investigations on developed composites introduce a new material which is suitable for manufacturing of brake components for automobile industry.

Additive manufacturing (AM) can achieve significant weight savings with only minor compromises in strength if high-performance wrought aluminum alloys are used as feedstock. Despite the advantages in strength that aluminum alloys (AA) 6061 offer, they cannot be manufactured via printing because of hot cracking and other solidification problems. The purpose of this study is to achieve high-quality printing of AA6061 with nanotreated wires.

Nanotreating was used to modify the AA6061 alloy composition by adding a small fraction of nanoparticles to enhance the alloy’s manufacturability and resultant properties. Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) was used to print the nanotreated AA6061 wire feedstock. The microstructure of the printed AA6061 was characterized by X-ray crystallography, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy mapping. The microhardness profile, tensile behavior and fracture surface were analyzed.

This work successfully used WAAM to print nanotreated AA 6061 components. The resulting AA6061 parts were crack-free, with exceptional grain morphology and superior mechanical properties. Owing to the excellent size control capabilities of nanoparticles, a homogeneous distribution of small grains was maintained in all deposited layers, even during repeated thermal cycles.

Previous studies have not successfully printed AA6061 using WAAM. Conventional WAAM products exhibit anisotropic mechanical properties. The nanotreated AA6061 was successfully printed to achieve homogeneous microhardness and isotropic tensile properties. The promising results of this study reflect the great potential of nanotech metallurgy as applied to the WAAM process.

The most promising replacements for the industrial applications are particle reinforced metal matrix composites because of their good and combined mechanical properties. Currently, the need of matrix materials for industrial applications is widely satisfied by aluminium alloys. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the tribological behaviour of the zinc oxide (ZnO) particles reinforced AA6061 composites prepared by stir casting route.

In this study, AA6061 aluminium alloy matrix reinforced with varying weight percentages (3%, 4.5% and 6%) of ZnO particles, including monolithic AA6061 alloy samples, is cast by the most economical fabrication method, called stir casting. The prepared sample was subjected to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, experimental density measurement by Archimedian principle and theoretical density by rule of mixture and hardness test to investigate mechanical property. The dry sliding wear behaviour of the composites was investigated using pin-on-disc tribometer with various applied loads of 15 and 20 N, with constant sliding velocity and distance. The wear rate, coefficient of friction (COF) and worn surfaces of the composite specimens and their effects were also investigated in this work.

XPS results confirm the homogeneous distribution of ZnO microparticles in the Al matrix. The Vickers hardness result reveals that higher ZnO reinforced (6%) sample have 34.4% higher values of HV than the monolithic aluminium sample. The sliding wear tests similarly show that increasing the weight percentage of ZnO particles leads to a reduced wear rate and COF of 30.01% and 26.32% lower than unreinforced alloy for 15 N and 36.35% and 25% for 20 N applied load. From the worn surface morphological studies, it was evidently noticed that ZnO particles dispersed throughout the matrix and it had strong bonding between the reinforcement and the matrix, which significantly reduced the plastic deformation of the surfaces.

The uniqueness of this work is to use the reinforcement of ZnO particles with AA6061 matrix and preparing by stir casting route and to study and analyse the physical, hardness and tribological behaviour of the composite materials.

Aluminum alloys are applicable in marine and aero fields. Alloys AA5083 and AA6061 are aluminum alloys with different chemical and physical properties. Combination of two dissimilar materials could result in enhanced strength. Generally, dissimilar aluminum alloy joint is made by friction stir welding (FSW) to achieve improved physical properties compared with the parent alloys. The purpose of this research is to develop a new FSW dissimilar material with enhanced properties using AA5083 and AA6061 alloys.

In this research, FSW joint was made for butt joint configuration using AA5083 and AA6061 aluminum alloys. Cylindrical pin with threaded profile was used to perform the joint. The tool tilting angle was maintained as constant, and the tool rotational speed and the welding speed were varied. Wear performance and mechanical strength of the joint were analyzed.

The results revealed that the increase of tool rotational speed led to poor wear performance, whereas increase of welding speed showed a better wear performance. Further, the prepared joint was analyzed for different wear parameters such as sliding velocity and applied load. The results displayed that the increase of sliding velocity exhibited low wear rate and the increase of load showed high wear rate.

This work is original and deals with the wear performance of AA5083–AA6061 joint at different tool rotational and welding speeds.

The purpose of this paper is to join aluminium alloy AA6061 with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sheets using the friction spot technique.

The AA6061 specimen was drilled with a semi-conical hole and put over the PVC specimen with a lap configuration. A friction spot technique was used to generate the required heat to melt and extrude the PVC through the aluminium hole. In this study, three process parameters were used: time, plunging depth and rotating speed of the tool. Thermal finite element model was built to analyse the process temperature. Effect of the process parameters on the joint shear strength and temperature was analysed using the design of experiments method. The microstructure investigation of the joint cross section was examined.

The input heat melted and extruded the polymer into the aluminium hole with the aid of tool pressure. A mechanical interlock was observed at the interface line between the polymer and aluminium. The scattered aluminium fragments into the molten polymer increased the shear strength of the joint. The hole diameter exhibited the highest effect on the joint strength compared with the other parameters. Specimen of minimum hole diameter recorded the maximum shear strength of 224 MPa. The proposed model gave a good agreement with the experimental data.

For the first time, the PVC was joined with AA6061 by the hot extrusion using the friction spot technique. The shear strength of joint reached 7.5 times of the base material (PVC).

In the current scenario, air pollution and soil pollution from the industries wastes are one of the major problems all over the world. Further, disposal of these wastes from industries are very costly. However, several attempts were carried out by various researchers in the past to use these wastes. One of the most common waste products is bagasse from sugar industries. These hazardous bagasse wastes lead to air and soil pollution. This study aims to recycle bagasse waste in the development of aluminium base composite as partial replacement of ceramic particles.

In the present investigation, recycled bagasse waste was used in the development of aluminium base composite as partial replacement of ceramic particles such as SiC, Al₂O₃ and B₄C. Production industries of these ceramic particles (SiC, B₄C and Al₂O₃) emit huge amount of greenhouse gases such as N₂O₃, CH₄, CO₂ and H₂O. These green house gases produce lots of environment problem. Furthermore, production of these ceramic particles is also costly. AA6061 aluminium alloy was taken as matrix material. Composite material was developed using the stir casting technique.

Microstructure results showed proper distribution of bagasse ash and MgO powder in the aluminium base metal matrix composite. It was notified from analysis that minimum corrosion loss and minimum porosity were found for Al/2.5% bagasse ash/12.5% MgO powder composite. For the same composition, hardness and thermal expansion were also observed better as compared to other selected compositions. However, density and cost of composites continuously decrease by increasing percentage of bagasse ash in development of composite.

Results showed about 11.30% improvement in tensile strength, 11.64% improvement in specific strength and 40% improvement in hardness by using bagasse ash as reinforcement with MgO powder in development of aluminium base composite.

The aim of this work is to investigate the self-healing performance of epoxy coatings containing microcapsules. The microcapsule-based coatings were applied on AA6061 Al alloy and immersed in 3.5 per cent NaCl solution.

Microcapsules with urea–formaldehyde as the shell and linseed oil as the healing agent were prepared by in situ polymerization in an oil-in-water emulsion. For the sake of an optimum self-healing system, some coating samples were prepared by using different microcapsule concentrations: 0, 5, 10 and 20 Wt.%. The scratch-filling efficiency as the theoretical estimate of the self-healing performance was calculated for the coating samples with different microcapsule concentrations. The scratch-sealing efficiency (SSE) as a particularly crucial parameter in the self-healing evaluation of coatings was measured by both electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and electrochemical noise (EN) techniques.

According to EIS and EN results, the coating samples containing 5 and 10 per cent microcapsules provided the insignificant self-healing performance, while the coating sample containing 20 per cent microcapsules exhibited the acceptable self-healing performance to AA6061 alloy in the NaCl solution. The measured SSE values confirmed the good agreement of EN data with electrochemical parameters obtained from the EIS technique.

This work is an attempt to evaluate the self-healing performance of microcapsule-based epoxy coatings applied on AA6061 Al alloy in sea water.