Effect of Rotational Speeds on the Friction Welding of Alumina- Aluminum 6061 alloy joints
Uday M. Basheer, Ahmad Fauzi M. N., Hasmaliza M., Ahmad Badri I
Malaysian Metallurgical Conference (MMC 2008). 2008: Ukm, Bangi.
Abstract
Friction welding is widely used for joining similar and dissimilar metals. However, joining of ceramic to metal is very challenging and requires very systematic experiments. The ceramic materials are brittle and hard as compared to metal that are ductile and soft. At the same time, both materials have different coefficient of thermal expansion. Extensive study have been devoted to investigate the appropriate processes to join dissimilar materials. The aim of this work was to study the effect of rotational speeds on the mechanical strength of ceramic and metal alloy joints formed by friction welding of alumina – 6061 aluminum alloy rods with diameters of 15 mm. The alumina rods were prepared through slip casting in Plaster of Paris molds and subsequently sintered at 1600°C, while the aluminum rods were machine down using a lathe machine to the dimension required. Rotational speeds were ranging between 1250 to 2500 rpm. A friction pressure was maintained at 14 MPa and friction time of about 30 sec were applied. Vickers microhardness was measured between two surface cross section. Scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy, were also used to characterize the interface of the joints structure.
