Effects of heat input and particulate deposition on Cu/SiCp surface composite processed by friction stir processing

145-151Friction stir processing is a novel, green and low energy consumption route used to prepare surface level composites. In this study, a single pass friction stir processing was utilized to prepare copper based surface composite using silicon carbide particles at a constant rotational speed of 1000 rpm and processing speed of 50 mm/min. A cluster of blind holes 2 mm in diameter and 4 mm depth is used for particulate deposition during composite fabrication. The effects of heat input and particulate deposition technique on microstructure and mechanical properties of fabricated surface composite are studied. Temperature distributions are measured using K-type thermocouples. Optical and scanning electron micrographs reveal a uniform dispersion of SiC particles without any agglomeration problem. X-ray diffraction study shows that no intermetallic compound is formed after processing. The microhardness of the surface composite is remarkably enhanced than that of base metal