Wear 324-325 (2015) 45–54

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Wear
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wear

Wear performance of Al/TiN dispersion strengthened surface

composite produced through friction stir process: A comparison of tool
geometries and number of passes
R. Hashemi, G. Hussain n
Mechanical Engineering Department, Eastern Mediterranean University, N. Cyprus Via Mersin-10, Turkey

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The Al7075-T651 alloy is extensively used as structural material in the aircraft industry and as mold
Received 16 July 2014 material in the plastics industry. However, it experiences wear during service which consequently
Received in revised form reduces the service life of component. With an aim to improve its wear resistance, a surface composite
24 November 2014
employing friction stir processing (FSP) is fabricated in the present study. The TiN particles of nano scale
Accepted 30 November 2014
Available online 11 December 2014
are mixed into Al7075-T651 substrate using 3 different tool geometries (i.e., threaded taper, square and
triangular) and varying the number of passes over 2 levels of severity (i.e., 2 and 4). The results show that
Keywords: both the tool shape and the number of passes affect the distribution of reinforcing particles, which in
Al7075-T651 turn influence the composite characteristics like grain size, hardness and wear resistance. The most wear
TiN
resistant composite is realized when the processing is carried out using the combination of threaded tool
Composite
and four passes. Further, the wear resistance and friction coefficient of this composite is respectively
FSP
Wear found to be 60% higher and 45% lower than the respective properties of parent metal (i.e., Al7075-T651).
Friction This is due to a fact that the said composite sample exhibits the highest hardness and contains the finest
grains. Moreover, the formation of Al2O3 film and Fe3O4 particles is observed on the worn surfaces. These
also reduce the composite wear by preventing the direct contact of sliding surfaces during wear test. This
finding reveals that the tribo growth (s), in addition to hardness, is also important factor affecting the
wear resistance of Al/TiN composite. This study is the first report on the wear characteristics of Al/TiN
composite produced through FSP route.
& 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Because of high specific strength and good corrosion resistance, Al
alloys are extensively used in aerospace, automobile and marine
sectors. The Al7075 alloy, specifically in T6 and T651 tempers, is noted
for high strength comparable to many steels. Therefore, it is widely
used in aircraft, defense and plastics industries; particular examples
include aircraft wings, structure of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) and
injection molds [1,2]. The aircraft and UAV structures basically com-
prise a set of riveted assemblies that encounter wear when the
contacting parts of assembly rub against each other due to flight
vibrations (e.g., wing frames and wing skins against rivets). Subjected
to rubbing, the contact surfaces experience tensile and shear stresses
which create surface flaws and consequently lessens the structure
life [3,4]. Besides as an aerospace material, the Al7075 alloy also
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ 90 3926301087; fax: þ 90 3926301210.
E-mail addresses: hashemi.reza1986@gmail.com (R. Hashemi),
ghulam.hussain@emu.edu.tr (G. Hussain).
experiences wear during service when used as mold material. The
wear usually occurs at the wall/bottom interface of molding die.
The wear behavior of a material primarily depends on its surface
properties [2,3]. Therefore, to improve the wear resistance, it is
sufficient to modify the surface layer while the subsurface retains the
original composition and structure. Traditionally, the surface proper-
ties of Al alloys are improved by applying hard coating (s) [5–8]
employing techniques like physical vapor deposition, hard anodizing
and ion beam enhanced deposition [2,5–8]. These methods reason-
ably satisfy the surface engineering requirements. However, toxic
emissions associated with them increase the environmental pollu-
tion. Furthermore, most of these processes involve long processing
time and expensive consumables (like argon gas) which in turn raise
the product cost [2]. Double glow plasma alloying and laser cladding
set up a new class of coating technology with comparatively low
environmental impact [9–11]. However, like aforesaid methods,
these techniques also involve high processing cost, and laser clad-
ding specifically involve high equipment cost.
Friction stir process (FSP) is an emerging solid state material
processing method [12]. In this process, a rotating steel tool, compris-
ing a cylindrical shoulder and a pin at the bottom (Fig. 1), breaks the

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2014.11.024
0043-1648/& 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
46 R. Hashemi, G. Hussain / Wear 324-325 (2015) 45–54
Feed direction
FSPed sample
Backing plate
Fig. 1. Schematic and terminology of friction stir processing.
parent metal grains to modify its structure and properties. To obtain
specific properties, however, additional elements (or compounds) in
particulate form are mechanically mixed into the parent metal. This
task is done through simple means, i.e., making use of simple and
low-cost FSP tool. Moreover, FSP contrary to coating processes does
not produce toxic gases [12]. These features render FSP a promising
and an economical alternate material processing technique. FSP has
found applications in automobile and aerospace sectors; particular
examples include repair of casting defects [13–15] and fabrication of
metal matrix composites [16–22]. At present, the applications of FSP
are limited to planar surfaces. However, with the deployment of
sophisticated technology like robotic arms, the use of FSP is expected
to extend to aesthetic and complex surfaces and narrow features.
Recently, investigators are exploring the potential of FSP to produce
wear resistant surfaces. In fact, the surfaces alloyed with hard
elements and reinforced with ceramic particles exhibit longer service
life and higher wear performance under severe wear conditions
where the hard coatings wear off [23]. Therefore, nowadays there is
a trend to replace coatings with surface composites. In FSP, several
efforts have been done to produce surface composites, a review of
which is given as follows. Zarghani et al. [24] used hard Al2O3 particles
to improve the hardness and wear resistance of Al6082. Devaraju et al.
[25] enriched the hardness and wear properties of Al6061-T6 by
forming a hybrid surface composite containing Gr and SiC particles.
Sarmadi et al. [26] mixed graphite powder in Cu matrix in order to
enhance the lubrication property. Maxwell et al. [27] introduced the
mixture of TiC and B4C particles into Al6360 substrate to improve its
wear resistance. Barmouz et al. [28] examined the effect of mixing SiC
particles on the wear performance of Cu matrix. Alidokht et al. [29]
investigated the role of SiC and MoS2 powders on improving the
friction and wear performance of A356 aluminum. Dehong et al. [30]
Plunging
Tool shoulder
Tool Pin
ω
Work piece
Close view of tool
while processing
employed the mixture of CNT and Al2O3 particulates to enhance the
wear and friction characteristics of AZ31 magnesium.
In many cases, the components made of Al7075-T651 alloy
experience local wear damages; for instance, the part/rivet interface
in the aircraft structure and the corners in the injection mold [1].
These damages need to be prevented (or minimized) in order to
increase the service life of structures and molds. FSP due to its nature
is very economical tool for performing local surface modifications [2],
and therefore can be a suitable option for improving the wear
resistance of Al7075-T651 alloy. The present study is an attempt in
this direction. The TiN particulates are introduced into the Al7075-
T651 matrix employing FSP. The reasons of choosing TiN as reinforcing
medium include its exceptional hardness, high corrosion resistance,
inertness to aqueous environment and stability at high temperatures
[31]. The particulates are mixed employing 3 different tool geometries
and varying the number of passes as 2 and 4, because these factors
affect the mechanical properties [13,16] and hence can influence the
wear performance of resulting surface composite. The wear behavior
of composite and related factors such as microstructure and hardness
are examined respectively conducting pin-on-disc, vicker’s hardness
and microscopy tests. The findings reveal that the processing para-
meters like tool geometry and number of passes affect the wear
performance of surface composite, and further the composite exhibits
better wear performance than the parent metal does.
2. Experiments
The substrate material (Al7075) in T651 condition was obtained
from a supplier and was cut into small rectangular work pieces
(120 mm  100 mm  5 mm). The volume fraction of reinforcing
 R. Hashemi, G. Hussain / Wear 324-325 (2015) 45–54
particles affects the properties of FSPed composite. However, a
thorough study of earlier works [32–35] reveals that a volume
fraction of 20% to 25% can reasonably strengthen the substrate.
Therefore, to fabricate Al/TiN composite, a volume fraction of 20%
of TiN particles (30 nm in size) was employed in the present study.
This task was accomplished in 4 steps: (1) cutting a groove into
substrate adopting the procedure proposed in [34]; (2) filling the
groove with the nano scale particles of TiN; (3) closing the groove
using a pin-less tool; and (4) finally stirring the particles with a pin
tool. The earlier studies [16,17] have shown that the distribution of
reinforcing particles affect the properties of an FSPed composite
and further the distribution depends on the number of passes and
tool geometry employed. Therefore, with an objective to find a
suitable combination of these parameters offering uniform disper-
sion of particles, the final step of stirring was carried out employ-
ing two levels of severity for passes and three various tool
geometries (Table 1). The maximum number of passes was limited
to 4 because excessive number of passes is believed to generate
large amount of heat consequently posing adverse effect on the
properties of resulting material [21,36–39]. The tool geometries
used include square, triangular and threaded taper as shown in
Fig. 2 and respectively denoted as A, B and C. These geometries
were opted because of their good performance in terms of metal
stirring and frequent use in FSP [2,16,40]. The pin height, pin
inscribed radius and shoulder diameter of tools were 3 mm, 5 mm
and 16 mm, respectively (Fig. 2). The tools were machined from
H13 steel heat treated to the hardness of 52 HRC.
In literature [18,21,34,36], it has been shown that the increase
in the rotational speed (ω as defined in Fig. 1) of tool reduces the
grain size of metal under study; however, the use of very high
speeds increases the heat input consequently causing the growth
Table 1
FSP test plan.
Composite Tool geometry Passes Fixed parameters
A2 Threaded taper 2 f: 40 mm/min
B2 Square 2 ω: 1250 RPM
C2 Triangular 2 α: 2.51
d: 0.2 mm
A4 Threaded taper 4 Inter-pass overlap: 100%
B4 Square 4 No. of passes: 4
C4 Triangular 4 the relative humidity of 30%. After wear tests, the mass loss of each
Note: See Fig. 1 for definitions of symbols.
Threaded
Fig. 2. Tool-pin geometries, designated as A, B and C, employed in the present study.
47
of grains during FSP. Likewise, excessive feed rate (f) also causes
grain growth thus decreasing the hardness and strength of the
FSPed metal in comparison to the metal FSPed with moderate
feeds [2,41]. Therefore, the speed and feed were set fixed to the
reasonable values of 1250 rev/min and 40 mm/min, respectively.
Based on Ref. [12], the suitable values of tilt angle (α) and shoulder
penetration (d) were opted as 2.51 and 0.2 mm, respectively, (see
Fig. 1 for the definitions of symbols). FSP was carried out utilizing a
conventional milling machine, and keeping 100% overlap between
the successive passes. As listed in Table 1, six different composite
samples (designated as A2, B2, C2, A4, B4 and C4) were produced.
For each combination of parameters shown in Table 1, at least two
replicates were produced in order to provide statistical means to
the experimental data.
For microstructural characterization, at first the metallographic
specimens (30 mm  5 mm  5 mm) were cut from the samples and
were polished at the transverse sections (i.e., thickness section
perpendicular to FSP direction). Then after etching using Keller’s
solution, the sections were observed in a scanning electron micro-
scope (SEM; Make: VEGA-TESCAN) and an optical microscope (OM;
Make: SAIRAN) for examining the distribution of reinforcing particles
and to measure the grain size, respectively. The hardness of composite
and parent metal was determined employing a vicker’s hardness
tester (make: Wolpert Wilson). To do so, indentations were performed
on the polished sections (close to surface) using 100 g (or 0.98 N) load
for 15 s (HV0.1 scale).
The dry wear performance of composite and parent metal was
tested by conducting pin-on-disc tests. For this purpose, a custom-
made apparatus shown in Fig. 3 was employed. This apparatus makes
use of transducer to measure friction coefficient in an accuracy of
70.2%. During test, the transducer continuously senses lever arm
fluctuation (s) (caused by friction at the pin/disc interface) and records
it as voltage which is then converted into frictional force in order to
finally compute the friction coefficient. In the current work, the friction
tests were performed employing the following fixed conditions: pin
diameter¼ 5 mm; pin length¼5 mm; counter body¼52,100 steel disc
with average hardness of 60 HV and average surface roughness of
0.2 μm; disc radius¼17.5 mm; wear radius¼13.5 mm; sliding dis-
tance¼1050 m; sliding speed¼0.5 m/s; normal load¼ 20 N. Before
the wear tests, each pin specimen was ground down to 1000 grit
abrasive paper. All the tests were done at the room temperature and
sample was measured in an accuracy of 70.0001 g using a digital
scale. The morphology of worn surfaces was examined with SEM and
Square Triangular
48 R. Hashemi, G. Hussain / Wear 324-325 (2015) 45–54
energy dispersive spectroscope (EDS). Since the test conditions affect
the wear results [42], an additional test varying the normal load from
20 N to 60 N was carried out. Moreover, the said test was conducted
using the hardest of composite samples. Due to limited number of
samples, the effect of other variables (such as sliding speed) on the
wear performance of composite was not examined, however.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Microstructure and hardness
Fig. 4 presents the SEM micrographs of typical stir zone (also called
nugget) of various composite samples. As indicated in the figure, the
samples A2, B2 and C2 suffer from defects like agglomeration of
particles, tunnel hole and pin hole. However, the samples A4, B4 and
C4 are almost free of defects except there is a minor lip line on the top
surface in the C4 sample. This finding indicates that the samples in the
latter category are denser than those in the former one. In other
words, the 4-passes FSP tends to produce robust composite than the
2-passes FSP does, which can be ascribed to a fact that the stirring and
flow of material improve as the number of passes increases [13,37–
39]. Fig. 5 exhibits the distribution of TiN particles in the selected
samples. It can be observed that the particles distribution in the parent
metal is better in the 4-passes samples (i.e., A4, B4 and C4) than that
in the 2-passes sample (i.e., A2). Furthermore, the best result in terms
of distribution is shown by the A4 sample which was fabricated using
the threaded tool. This is to notice from Fig. 4 that the nuggets of the
A2 and A4 samples are white from the top to the bottom, revealing
that the threaded tool properly distributes the reinforcing particles
throughout the sample (white area represents the presence of TiN).
On the other hand, the nugget zones in the other samples are
Fig. 3. Pin-on-disc apparatus employed in the present study.
A2 B2
Particles
agglomeration
15x 15x
B4
A4
15x 15x
Fig. 4. The SEM images of typical stir zones for various composite samples.
comparatively black at the bottom indicating absence of TiN particles.
From these findings, it follows that the threaded tool better distributes
the particles than the other tools do.
Fig. 6 shows the post FSP grain size in the stir zone (or nugget)
of various samples. As can be seen, the average size of grains in
each of the 4-passes samples is smaller than that in the corre-
sponding 2-passes sample. There could be two reasons for this
result: (1) the increase in the number of passes increases the
break-up severity of parent-metal grains; and (2) the reinforcing
particles act as barriers against grain boundary sliding during FSP
and thus restrict grain growth [28,37,43]. The severity of this
barricading action of the particles increases as their distribution
improves with the increase in the number of passes. As a result,
the 4-passes FSP yield finer grains than the 2-passes FSP does. The
finest grains, measured to the average size of 1.4 μm (i.e., 98%
smaller than 78 μm of the parent metal), are contained by the
sample that was fabricated employing the threaded tool and
4 passes (i.e., A4, Fig. 6). This is to notice from Fig. 7 that the
4-passes samples exhibit higher hardness than the corresponding
2-passes samples. This is due to a fact that the former samples, as
found before, comprise finer grains than the latter samples: this
finding is consistent with the Hall–Petch rule which states that the
hardness increases as the grain size decreases [12]. The highest
hardness, again in agreement with the grain size result, is shown
by the A4 sample (i.e., 173 HV that is about 8% higher than 160 HV
of the parent metal).
3.2. Wear and friction performance
Fig. 8 exhibits the average friction coefficients of the composite
samples. As can be observed, the samples produced using 4 passes (i.
e., A4, B4 and C4) offer lower friction coefficient than those fabricated
using 2 passes (i.e., A2, B2 and C2). This is due to a reason that the
increase in the number of passes improves the distribution of TiN
particles, as found earlier. Moreover, the samples in the former class
contain finer grains and higher hardness in comparison to the
corresponding samples of the latter class. In consistent with the grain
size and hardness results, the least friction is exhibited by the A4
sample and the highest friction is shown by the A2 sample. The
friction coefficient of A4 sample is about 45% lower than that of the
parent metal (PM). Further, as shown in Fig. 9, the friction coefficient
of the said sample remains lower throughout the test distance. Also,
the coefficient remains almost stable. This means the A4 composite
can perform consistently for longer time and, therefore, may exhibit
long service life. The other samples, shown in Fig. 9, portray more or
less similar behavior. However, as found before, they offer higher
friction than the A4 sample does.
C2
Pin hole
Tunnel hole
15x
C4
Lip line
1 5x
 R. Hashemi, G. Hussain / Wear 324-325 (2015) 45–54
A4
300x
B4
300x
Fig. 5. Distribution of TiN powder in the matrix of some representative composite samples.
Fig. 6. Average grain size of matrix in various composite samples.
Max avg dev = ±0.5%
Sample
Fig. 7. Microhardness of various composite samples.
During wear tests, the composite and counter disc samples were
observed to encounter mass loss. The average mass loss for each of the
composite samples and the corresponding counter disc is graphically
shown in Fig. 10(a) and (b), respectively. As found for friction, the
samples processed using 4 passes experience low mass loss
49
A2
300x
C4
300x
Max avg dev = ±1.7%
60 N
Sample
Fig. 8. Average friction coefficient of matrix and composite samples: all the
samples were tested under normal load of 20 N unless otherwise given.
comparative to the samples processed using two passes. Moreover,
the A4 sample being the hardest of all composite samples encounters
the least mass loss which is about 60% lower than that experienced by
the parent metal. In other words, the addition of TiN particles (20% by
volume) can enhance the wear performance of test material by 60%.
This is to see from Fig. 10(b) that the A4 disc (i.e., the one acted as a
counter body for the A4 composite) experiences the least mass loss,
which further endorses the usefulness of employing the combination
of threaded tool and four passes to fabricate Al/TiN composite with
enhanced surface properties.
This is worth noticing from Figs. 8 to 10 that the increase in the
test load from 20 N to 60 N does not significantly affect the wear
performance of composite (compare the mass loss and friction
results of A4 sample for 20 N and 60 N loads). There is only a slight
increase in the average values of friction coefficient (i.e., 0.014) and
mass loss (i.e., 0.0001 g) due to 40 N increase in the normal load.
Also, as can be noticed from Fig. 9, the friction coefficient of A4
sample tested using 60 N load remains almost consistent over the
entire test distance. From these findings, it follows that the Al/TiN
50 R. Hashemi, G. Hussain / Wear 324-325 (2015) 45–54
PM
A4 (60 N)
A4
B4
C4
Fig. 9. Friction behavior of parent metal and 4-passes composite samples: all the
samples were tested under normal load of 20 N unless otherwise given.
composite can satisfactorily perform under high loads, up to 60 N
at least. In view of its good performance in terms of distributing
particles, refining grains, and improving the hardness and wear
resistance found in the A4 sample, it can be said that the threaded
tool is an appropriate choice to fabricate a wear resistant Al/TiN
surface composite. On the contrary, for the Cu/graphite composite,
Sarmadi et al. [32] have found that a thread-free straight (or
conical) cylinder performs better in terms of producing a wear
resistant surface. This means the effect of tool geometry on the
wear property of an FSPed composite is associated with the type of
matrix and the particles to be mixed.
3.3. Worn surfaces and wear mechanism
Fig. 11 shows the SEM images of selected surfaces worn during
pin-on-disc tests. The presence of striations on the composite
surfaces (i.e., A2, C2 and A4) suggests abrasive wear, and the
existence of welded material on the corresponding counter discs
suggests adhesive wear. Fig. 12(a) presents the EDS analysis of
welded material for a representative counter disc (i.e., A4). This is
to see from the EDS peaks that the welded material comprises
parent metal elements like Al, Ti and N, which confirm that the
composite encountered adhesion during wear test. From these
findings, it follows that the wear in the composite is controlled
Max avg dev = ±2.5%
60 N
Sample
Max avg dev = ± 2.8 %
60 N
Sample
Fig. 10. Mass loss in wear test: (a) composite and (b) counter steel disc.
both by the abrasion and adhesion mechanisms. On the other
hand, in consistent with the literature [35] the dominant wear
mechanism in the Al parent metal is adhesion as shown by the
wear scars in Fig. 11. This change of wear mode is critical for
achieving a significant improvement in the wear performance for
aluminum-based materials.
Fig. 12(b) presents the back scattered scanning electron micro-
graph for the worn surface of a representative composite (i.e., A4).
The surface was thoroughly analyzed through EDS. The EDS results
for two selected zones (A and B) are shown in Fig. 12(b). The peaks
corresponding to zone A depicts the presence of Al2O3 film and the
peaks corresponding to zone B represents the existence of Fe3O4
particles. These developments, which are outcome of tribo reac-
tions, alter the wear system from two bodies to three bodies by
preventing direct disc/composite contact [44] and thus further
improve the wear resistance of composite. Therefore, it can be said
that the tribo growths in addition to structural/property modifica-
tions caused by FSP (discussed earlier) also play role in improving
the wear resistance of Al/TiN composite. Qu et al. [35] fabricated a
composite by mixing SiC particles in the Al6061-T651 alloy. They
found that the wear resistance of composite was significantly
higher than that of the parent metal, reasoning this finding to
increase of dislocations density in the matrix after FSP. The present
study has revealed that the tribo compounds, if form during
service, may also play role in decreasing the wear of FSPed
composites, specifically Al/TiN composite.
3.4. Comparison between the wear resistance of reinforced and
unreinforced matrix
Table 2 compares the hardness and mass loss for the A4 sample
(hardest of all composite samples) and a sample FSPed without
introducing TiN particles (i.e., unreinforced). The unreinforced
sample was formed employing the threaded tool and 4 passes.
The reason of using threaded tool is its good performance, as
detailed above. As can be noticed from Table 2, the hardness of
 R. Hashemi, G. Hussain / Wear 324-325 (2015) 45–54 51

Type Composite (low magnification) Composite (high magnification) Counter disc

A2

30x 500x 500x

C2

30x 500x 500x

A4

30x 500x 500x

PM

30x 500x 500x

Fig. 11. SEM images of selected worn surfaces of composite-pin and counter steel disc.

unreinforced sample is lower and the mass loss is higher than the properties of the reinforced sample (i.e., A4) are better than those
respective properties of parent metal which is due to the anneal- of the parent metal as well as than those of the unreinforced
ing effect of FSP heat [35,38]. On the other hand, both of these sample. This reveals that the TiN particles overcome the annealing
52 R. Hashemi, G. Hussain / Wear 324-325 (2015) 45–54

Fig. 12. (a) Evidence of presence of: (a) TiN on the disc surface and (b) Al2O3 film and Fe3O4 on the composite surface.

Table 2
Comparison between the wear resistance of reinforced and unreinforced Al7075- Parent metal
T651 alloy. ( average hardness)
Attribute Parent metal Unreinforced matrix Reinforced matrix (A4)

Stir zone Surrounding

Hardness (HV) 160 73 173 128

Mass loss (g) 0.0041 0.007 0.0018 0.005

effect of FSP. However, the said effect of TiN particles is limited to

the stir zone (or composite region). Because, as shown in Table 2
and portrayed in Fig. 13, the surrounding of composite experiences
an average hardness loss of 32 HV (with respect to parent metal)
and shows poorer wear resistance. In fact, this loss occurs due to Stir Zone
coarsening of second phase precipitates on which the strength of
T651 matrix (temper of parent metal) relies [35,38]. However, as
shown in the literature [35], such hardness loss can be recovered
by applying post-FSP T6 heat treatment. This treatment does not Fig. 13. Hardness profile of A4 composite sample, showing increase and loss in
only recover the hardness loss but also increases the wear hardness with respect to parent metal.
resistance around- and in- the composite region.
Summarizing this study, both the number of passes and the type of 4. Conclusions
tool geometry affect the distribution of reinforcing particles and grain
size which in turn influence the hardness and wear resistance of The present study was undertaken with an objective to improve
resulting composite. Furthermore, the combination of threaded tool the wear resistance of Al7075-T651 alloy. To do so, a surface composite
and 4 passes is an appropriate choice to fabricate a wear resistant employing FSP was fabricated by mixing TiN particulates (20% by
Al/TiN surface composite. volume) into the surface layer of alloy. In order to find a suitable tool
 R. Hashemi, G. Hussain / Wear 324-325 (2015) 45–54
geometry and the number of passes offering uniform dispersion, the
particles were mixed using 3 different tool geometries (i.e., threaded
taper, square and triangular) and by varying the number of passes
over 2 levels of severity (i.e., 2 and 4). The important findings of the
study are summarized below:
1. The use of TiN particulates as reinforcing medium can improve the
wear resistance of Al7075-T651 alloy. In the current work, 60%
increase in the wear resistance and 45% decrease in the friction
coefficient has been observed due to addition of TiN particles in the
Al alloy. Moreover, the composite exhibits good and consistent
performance even when loaded under high force.
2. The wear resistance of surface composite depends on how
uniformly the TiN particles are distributed in the matrix: the more
uniform the distribution, the higher the resistance will be. The
distribution of particles improves as the number of passes
increases. The tool geometry also affects the particles dispersion.
In this regard, the threaded tool is the most appropriate geometry
among all used in this work. In fact, as the distribution of TiN
particles improves, the grain size reduces and the hardness
increases and as a result the wear resistance increases.
3. The Al/TiN composite experiences both abrasion and adhesion
wear. Further, as observed from the back scattered scanning
electron micrographs of worn surfaces, the Al2O3 film and Fe3O4
particles form during wear test which prevent the direct contact of
sliding surfaces and thus reduce the wear of composite by
changing the wear system from two bodies to three bodies.
Therefore, in addition to the substrate properties (like hardness
and distribution of TiN particles), the tribo formation (s) is also an
important factor affecting the wear resistance of Al/TiN composite.
4. The combination of four passes and, contrary to thread-free
cylinder [32], threaded tool is an appropriate choice to produce
wear resistant Al/TiN surface composite.
5. Future work: The effect of variation in the volume fraction of
TiN particles may affect the wear resistance of Al/TiN compo-
site. Therefore, further detailed investigations are needed to be
performed in order to thoroughly investigate this point.
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