Composites: Part A 42 (2011) 1445–1453

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Composites: Part A
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesa

Fabrication of in situ Cu/SiC composites using multi-pass friction stir

processing: Evaluation of microstructural, porosity, mechanical and electrical
behavior
Mohsen Barmouz ⇑, Mohammad Kazem Besharati Givi
School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11155-4563, Tehran, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, multi-pass friction stir processing (MFSP) is used for improvement of microstructural and
Received 20 December 2010 mechanical properties of in situ Cu/SiC composites. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and
Received in revised form 24 May 2011 optical microscopy images indicate that multi-pass FSP notably enhances the separation and dispersion
Accepted 22 June 2011
of SiC particles and also reduces the grain size in the composite matrix, SiC particles size and porosity
Available online 28 June 2011
contents. According to the results, higher microhardness values and remarkably enhanced tensile prop-
erties were caused by higher number of FSP passes. It was also found that the average friction coefficients
Keywords:
of composites fabricated by multi-pass FSP were noticeably reduced compared to the pure copper. Addi-
A. Metal–matrix composites
B. Porosity
tion of SiC particles led to enhancement of electrical resistivity of pure copper. A negligible difference
D. Mechanical testing between the electrical resistivity of composites fabricated by 1, 4 and 8-pass FSP was also detected.
B. Microstructures Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction applications [14]. An inductively coupled thermal plasma process

Metal matrix composites, in which hard ceramic particles are
dispersed in a relatively ductile matrix, have widespread applica-
tions in the areas of aerospace, automobiles and other engineering
industries because of their excellent physical, mechanical and tri-
bological properties [1]. The electrolytic co-deposition of ceramic
particles for fabrication of MMC coating is being considered as a
research domain of wide interest, as these coatings might be used
for a large field of industrial applications, especially where high
abrasive and protective properties are required [2]. In recent years,
Cu-matrix composites have been shown to be promising candi-
dates in several high tech applications such as those in homo-polar
machines and railway overhead current collection systems [3,4].
SiC particles are of great technological importance because of
their application as reinforcements for metal matrix composites
and structural ceramics [5]. Taking into consideration their excel-
lent electrical and thermal conductivity, enhanced hardness values,
wear and frictional properties, Cu/SiC metal matrix composites
have been the subject of extensive research [6,3,7–9]. These com-
posites have been prepared by powder sintering, squeeze casting,
composite electroforming technology and sintering under ultra-
high pressure [6,7,10–13]. The mechanical properties of Cu/SiCp
metal–matrix composites, made by powder sintering and
extrusion, were investigated for electrical discharge machining
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 21 88631115; fax: +98 21 88679986.
E-mail address: Mbarmouz@ut.ac.ir (M. Barmouz).
was also used to produce Cu/SiC nano-composites [15].
Friction stir processing (FSP) is defined as a severe plastic
deformation technique used in order to modify microstructural
and mechanical properties [16]. During this process, the rotational
pin of the tool is plunged into the plate leading to plastic flow of
the material. Due to the heat input during the process, the material
turns into semi-solid state on the processing zone. This process is
carried out using the same approach as friction stir welding
(FSW). It is also possible to produce surface micro- and nano-com-
posite layers using this method. Within the recent years, some
studies have been reported on upper layer modification of metal
alloys. In one of our earlier studies [17], the effect of FSP parame-
ters on microstructural and mechanical properties of Cu/SiC com-
posites was thoroughly investigated. The influence of volume
fraction and SiC particles size on the mechanical behavior of Cu/
SiC micro- and nano-composites fabricated by FSP was also re-
ported in our other research [18].
According to Wang et al. [19], a 10% increase in microhardness
values was obtained as a result of SiCp reinforcement compared to
the base metal. Cavaliere [20] reported that good strength and duc-
tility values could be achieved at room temperature because of the
very fine structure obtained by the processing, revealing an in-
crease in room temperature ductility compared to the unstirred
material. Friction stir processing when applied to 1080 carbon steel
and commercial pure aluminum Al-1050-H24 with SiC and Al2O3
reinforcings led to significant improvement of microhardness and
wear resistance [21,22].

1359-835X/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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1446 M. Barmouz, M.K.B. Givi / Composites: Part A 42 (2011) 1445–1453
There are many reports regarding FSP method used on a wide
range of materials; however reports concerning possible effects of
the quantity of FSP passes on the microstructural and mechanical
behavior of micro- and nano-composites produced by this method
are very limited. In this study, multi-pass (2, 4 and 8-pass) FSP with
100% overlap was performed on in situ fabricated Cu/SiC composite
by FSP to investigate the effect of the quantity of FSP passes on the
microstructure, powder distribution pattern, porosity contents,
microhardness values, tensile properties, electrical resistivity and
friction coefficient behavior of the developed surface layers.
2. Experimental
In this study, a pure copper plate (130 mm  75 mm  6 mm)
was used. In order to produce surface composite layers, 5 lm SiC
particles were contrived in a groove with the dimensions of
1 mm  1.2 mm in the middle of the specimens. Then, the SiC par-
ticles were compressed into the groove and upper surface of the
groove was closed with a FSP-like tool without pin to prevent out-
pouring SiC particles. The next stage was plunging the tool by the
pin into the plate for stirring the stir zone (SZ) and producing the
composite [17].
The optimum rotational and traverse speeds, resulting in an
optimum level of powder distribution, were 900 rpm and 40 mm/
min, respectively [17,18]. Processing tool was titled by an angle
of 2°. FSP tool was made of hot-working steel with the shoulder
diameter, square pin diameter and length of 20, 5 and 2 mm,
respectively. The specimens were clamped onto a thick St37 steel
and the copper plate was fixed by the bolts. The list of prepared
samples is reported in Table 1.
Microstructural changes from base metal to the stirred zone
were examined by optical microscopy (OM) and field emission
scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and the grain size was cal-
culated using linear intercept method. Density of the samples was
measured using Archimedes (water displacement) principle.
Friction stir processed (FSPed) surfaces were prepared by
standard metallographic techniques and etched with a solution
of 100 ml distillated water, 15 ml H2O2 and 2.5 g FeCl3. Microhard-
ness properties of the specimens were measured on the cross sec-
tion of the welds and perpendicular to the processing direction in
depth of 1 mm from the FSPed surface using an indenter with a
50 g load for 15 s. Friction performances of specimens were evalu-
ated through a pin-on-disk test machine. The specimens were pre-
pared by wire cut in 7.2 mm  4.1 mm  6 mm dimension from
both of the base metal and the composites produced by 1, 4 and
8-pass FSP. A load of 50 N was applied with slide speed of
0.5 mm/min for a distance of 500 m.
X-ray analysis was carried out using an X-ray diffractometer
(Xpert, Philips) operating at 40 kV and 30 mA for Cu Ka radiation
(k = 0.154 nm). XRD scans were performed on the cross-sections
of the specimens and perpendicular to the FSP direction.
Tensile testes of the pure copper and the Cu/SiC composites fab-
ricated by multi-pass FSP were determined in the room tempera-
ture (20 °C) via Instron electronic tensile machine at the strain
rate of 105 mm s1. Three tensile specimens were machined from
each sample. Fig. 1 shows the configuration of the tensile test spec-
Table 1
The list of prepared samples.
Specimens Names
Composite produced by 1-pass FSP 1P
Composite produced by 2-pass FSP 2P
Composite produced by 4-pass FSP 4P
Composite produced by 8-pass FSP 8P
20mm 20mm
6mm
Ø12mm
Fig. 1. Shape of the samples used for the tensile tests.
imens. Tensile test specimens were machined from the layer trea-
ted with FSP. Samples of 7 mm  5 mm  3 mm size were used for
testing electrical resistivity which is evaluated using Keithley 236
source in the two-probe mode.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Microstructure evaluation
Fig. 2 shows the optical microscopy images of 1P and 8P. It
could be found from these images that 8-pass FSP leads to a higher
level of dispersion of SiC particles in the copper matrix (Fig. 2b),
which could be because of the longer stirring action and stronger
mechanical stress in SZ compared to 1-pass FSP. It is also seen that
1-pass FSP causes partial agglomeration of SiC particles (Fig. 2a)
leading to weaker mechanical and microstructural behavior.
Fig. 3a–d shows the high magnification optical microscopy
images of 1P, 2P, 4P and 8P, respectively. As it is seen in Fig. 3a,
1P contains larger SiC particles in comparison to 2P, 4P and 8P
(Fig. 3b–d). The SiC particles in different sizes are marked by ar-
rows in Fig. 3a and d. On the other hand, SiC particles become
smaller upon increasing the FSP passes which may most probably
due to the continuous disruption of these particles within the ma-
trix during each pass. It is worth mentioning that severe reduction
of SiC particles size was detected during the second pass, however
breaking-up of SiC particles in higher passes is less discernible. This
hypothesis is confirmed using XRD results.
It is obviously seen in FESEM images shown in Fig. 4a–c that grain
size of the base metal is significantly larger than that of composites
produced by FSP. It might be a result of the pinning effect of SiC par-
ticles which lead to suppression of grain boundary sliding (GBS). It
also could be inferred that dynamic recrystallization caused by stir-
ring action of pin on SZ creates new nucleation cites leading to the
reduction of grain size. It was found that the grain size of 1P is about
5 lm (Fig. 4b) whereas the grain size of 8P is about 800 nm (Fig. 4c).
As mentioned above, increasing the FSP passes leads to refinement
of SiC particles and a higher level of separation and dispersion of
SiC particles in the copper matrix. It was also reported in our recent
works [17,18] that smaller size and good dispersion of SiC particles
decrease the grain size in SZ. The reduced SiC particles size together
with their good separation and dispersion, achieved in higher FSP
passes, cause the higher pinning effect of SiC particles. Despite high
enough increase in temperature (up to 0.6–0.75 Tm) this behavior
enhances the obstacle role of these particles against the grain
growth which finally results in postponing the GBS. Another impor-
tant hypothesis in higher FSP passes could be the higher dynamic
recrystallization experienced in SZ which enhances the number of
new nucleation cites and consequently further reduces the grain
size. The grain size variation in different FSP passes is presented in
Table 2.
Fig. 5 shows the XRD results for pure copper, 1P, 4P and 8P. It
could be observed that the intensity of copper reflections decreases
significantly up to 4-pass FSP, and then, upon increasing the FSP
pass to 8, it changes only slightly. Another important observation
is the broadening of copper reflections with increasing the FSP
 M. Barmouz, M.K.B. Givi / Composites: Part A 42 (2011) 1445–1453 1447

Fig. 2. Optical microscopy (100) images from the stir zone for the composites fabricated by (a) 1P and (b) 8P. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure
legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 3. Optical microscopy images (400) from the stir zone (a–d) 1P, 2P, 4P and 8P, respectively. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader
is referred to the web version of this article.)

passes which most likely implies the reduction of grain size in
these specimens compared to the pure copper. It is seen that
XRD results further support the trend of grain size variation re-
ported in Table 2.
It is also observed from XRD patterns that reflections corre-
sponding to SiC particles disappear gradually upon increasing the
FSP passes. The main possible reason for this phenomenon could
be the reduction of SiC particles size and higher level of separation
and distribution of SiC particles [23]. It also can be seen that no
reflections corresponding to new phases formed during the process
were detected which can be attributed to the lower heat produc-
tion during the FSP compared to the other methods of composites
fabrication.
3.2. Porosity content
As reported in many researches, wettability of copper and SiC
particles is weak leading to high volume of porosity contents
which shows the merit of this subject for further investigation
[17,18,24–26]. Table 3 shows the measured density, theoretical
density and porosity contents of pure copper, 1P, 4P and 8P, which
are determined using the following formula fp ¼ 1  qq [8], where
0
fp, q and q0 are the pores volume fraction, measured and theoret-
ical densities, respectively.
It is found from Table 3 that porosity content of 8P is signifi-
cantly lower than that of 1P. In the other words, increasing the
FSP passes reduces the porosity contents which can be attributed
1448 M. Barmouz, M.K.B. Givi / Composites: Part A 42 (2011) 1445–1453

Fig. 4. FESEM images of (a) pure copper, (b and c) 1P and 8P, respictively.

Table 2 bondings between the SiC particles and copper matrix are marked
Grain size of all the specimens. by arrows in these images. It is seen that the bonding between the
Specimens Grain size (lm) copper matrix and SiC particles is rather weak in 1P, and SiC parti-
Pure copper 40 cles are surrounded by a large amount of pores (19%) (Fig. 6a).
1P 5 However, this is obviously indicated that the pores between the
2P 1.3 copper matrix and the SiC particles are gradually diminished upon
4P 1 increasing the FSP passes (Fig. 6a–d). This phenomenon could be
8P 800
attributed to the improvement of the interfacial bonding between
the copper matrix and SiC particles. This is particularly observed
for 8P which might be because of higher densification of this
to the longer stirring time leading to a higher number of heat pro- composite caused by stronger bonding between the SiC particles
duction cycles of 8-pass FSP compared to 1-pass FSP. and copper matrix leading to relatively lower porosity contents
In order to better depict the quality of bonding between the (of 5% for 8P) (Fig. 6d and e). This behavior may be originated from
copper matrix and SiC particles fabricated by 1, 2, 4 and 8-pass the following reasons: (1) More uniform dispersion of SiC particles
FSP, FESEM images are presented in Fig. 6. The pores and good upon increasing the FSP passes which prevents de-bondings

Fig. 5. XRD patterns of the pure copper and 1P, 4P and 8P. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this
article.)
 M. Barmouz, M.K.B. Givi / Composites: Part A 42 (2011) 1445–1453 1449

Table 3 copper was measured to be 70 HV. It is observed that microhard-

Values of the measured and theoretical density and porosity (%) for the pure copper ness values of the composites fabricated by FSP are higher than
and 1P, 4P and 8P.
those of base metal in SZ. This phenomenon may be due to sup-
Specimens Measured Theoretical Porosity pression of GBS which is induced by presence of SiC particles and
density (g/cm3) density (g/cm3) (%) also grain size reduction [17,18,27]. It is found that the microhard-
Pure copper 8.68 8.94 2.9 ness values of 1P, 4P and 8P are increased about 30%, 50% and 58%
1P 6.77 8.36 19 when compared to the base metal, respectively. One could attri-
4P 7.68 8.36 8.2
8P 7.94 8.36 5
bute the higher microhardness values for higher FSP passes to
microstructural behavior of these specimens [23,28]. As it was
mentioned earlier, increase in FSP passes leads to smaller size, bet-
ter dispersion and higher level of separation of SiC particles which
induced by the agglomerated SiC particles [25]. (2) Frequent heat causes a severe reduction of the grain size and significant suppres-
production, material challenging and stirring action in the SZ dur- sion of GBS leading to higher microhardness values. The other
ing the incremental passes which enhances the probability of prop- interesting observation is the uniform microhardness values ob-
er bonding between the copper matrix and SiC particles. tained for 4P and 8P compared to 1P which is due to the uniform
It is worth to mention that the difference between the porosity dispersion of SiC particles [28].
contents of 1P and 4P is more notable than those fabricated by 4
and 8-pass FSP, which supports the discussed microstructure
results. 3.4. Tensile behavior

3.3. Microhardness evaluation Fig. 8 shows the tensile test results for pure copper, 1P, 4P and
8P. As reported in our recent papers [17,18], the ultimate tensile
Fig. 7 shows the microhardness behavior of 1P, 4P and 8P. It strength (UTS) was reduced in in situ Cu/SiC composites fabricated
should be noted that the average microhardness value of pure by FSP which was ascribed to the low wettability of SiC particles

Fig. 6. FESEM images from the interfacial bonding between the copper matrix and SiC particles in (a–d) 1P, 2P, 4P and 8P, respectively and (e) high magnification of (d).
1450 M. Barmouz, M.K.B. Givi / Composites: Part A 42 (2011) 1445–1453
Fig. 7. Microhardness values of 1P, 4P and 8P. (For interpretation of the references
to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this
article.)
Fig. 8. Stress–elongation curves for pure copper and 1P, 4P and 8P, respectively.
(For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the web version of this article.)
and copper matrix leading to high porosity contents. Additionally,
agglomeration of SiC particles may cause crack nucleation and
propagation which is one of the important factors controlling ten-
sile behavior [24]. It was also reported that elongation of the com-
posites was diminished which is due to the aforementioned
reasons and also because of suppressing effect of SiC particles on
the GBS and plastic deformation [18].
The results reported in Table 4 show that multi-pass FSP
remarkably improves tensile properties of composites including
UTS, yield strength (YS) and elongation which can be because of
the following reasons: (1) reduced porosity contents as discussed
earlier [26]. (2) Improved bonding between SiC particles and cop-
per matrix leading to elimination of interfacial de-bonding and also
formation of more cohesive bonding [29]. (3) As reported before,
higher level of separation and dispersion of SiC particles which
reduces the probability of agglomeration of SiC particles and crack
nucleation and also facilitates the GBS [30]. (4) Enhanced microh-
ardness due to more grain refinement in higher FSP passes.
Table 4
Tensile properties of pure copper and 1P, 4P and 8P.
Specimens Yield Ultimate tensile Elongation
stress (MPa) stress (MPa) (%)
Pure copper 112 242 18
1P 95 164 13
4P 135 200 15.5
8P 143 215 16.4
According to the results, the UTS is increased upon increasing
the number of passes; however 8P which showed the highest
UTS among the specimens containing composite layers is still low-
er than that of pure copper. This behavior can be attributed to the
higher porosity contents of this composite compared to pure cop-
per [26].
Fig. 9a–d shows the FESEM images of fractured surfaces of pure
copper, 1P, 4P and 8P, respectively. It is clearly observed that the
fractured surface of pure copper shows a variety of voids and dim-
ples sizes and tear-drop regions, which signifies the ductile frac-
ture (Fig. 9a) [31]. The fractured surface of 1P contains a flat
region which shows the brittle fractured compared to the pure
copper (Fig. 9b). Moreover, the fractured surfaces of 4P and 8P indi-
cate the ductile fracture as compared to 1P. This may be originated
from the presence of many fine voids and dimples formed at these
surfaces (Fig. 9c and d). The pulled-out SiC particles from fractured
surface of the composites may also be a hint for formation of weak
bonds between the SiC particles and the copper matrix, which can
be proper nomination zones for crack nucleation and propagation.
It is worth mentioning that the voids and dimples on the frac-
tured surfaces of these composites are finer than those of pure cop-
per due to the finer grain size of these specimens.
3.5. Friction coefficient evaluation
Fig. 10 shows the relationship between the friction coefficient
and the sliding distance up to 500 m. It is observed that friction
coefficient of the pure copper exhibits large fluctuations and a
non-uniform frequency trend (Fig. 10a) which can be attributed
to the intense cohesive contact between the copper plate and the
disk leading to severe material removal action. Another reason
for this behavior can be wearing through which occurs in this spec-
imen as a result of the absence of hard SiC particles leading to
cohesive wear mechanism [17,18,32]. However, for 1P, 4P and
8P, large fluctuations were diminished and thus the frequency
trend becomes more uniform (Fig. 10b–d). This behavior results
in reduction of actual contact area between the composite surfaces
and the disk due to the presence of SiC particles and also higher
microhardness values which debilitates the cohesion behavior of
contact [21,33]. However, it is seen that in the case of 4P, intensity
of fluctuations is slightly enhanced compared to 1P, whereas the
friction coefficient pattern of 8P shows a reduction in intensity.
These behaviors can be further explained by the following factors:
(1) higher level of coverage and distribution of SiC particles for 4P
and 8P reduces the actual contact and cohesion between the disk
and worn surface, (2) oppositely reduction of SiC particles size
may lead to wearing through and enhancement of actual contact
between the worn surface and the disk.
It can be concluded that for 4P, the latter factor is more domi-
nating which finally leads to an overall, albeit slight, increase in
intensity of fluctuations, however for 8P the prior factor is more
dominating than the latter one.
Another considerable observation is that the average friction
coefficient of 1P is higher than that of pure copper which can be
due to the dominative effect of obstacle role of SiC particles in com-
posites leading to higher resistance against the surface sliding [21].
 M. Barmouz, M.K.B. Givi / Composites: Part A 42 (2011) 1445–1453 1451

However, for 4P and 8P, the average friction coefficient remarkably
diminishes. It can be explained by severe enhancement of microh-
ardness values of these specimens, playing the role of dominative
factor, leading to notable reduction of cohesive behavior of contact
[34].
The worn surfaces of pure copper, 1P and 4P are shown in
Fig. 11 which confirms the earlier discussed results. The worn
surface of pure copper is obviously different from that of compos-
ites. It could be explained by the fact that the low hardness of pure
copper leads to severe material removal and plastic deformation at
its surface and also creation of smeared layer which forms the tribo
film layer and non-uniform wearing (Fig. 11a) [17,18,21]. Fig. 11b
shows the high magnification of worn surface of pure copper
which indicates the cohesive wear mechanism.

Fig. 9. FESEM micrographs of fractured surfaces of (a) reference pure copper, (b–d) 1P, 4P and 8P, respectively.

Fig. 10. Variation of friction coefficient with sliding distance for (a) reference pure copper and (b–d) 1P, 4P and 8P, respectively. (For interpretation of the references to color
in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
1452 M. Barmouz, M.K.B. Givi / Composites: Part A 42 (2011) 1445–1453
Fig. 11. FESEM micrographs of worn surfaces of (a) reference pure copper, (b) high magnification of (a), (c and d) 1P and 4P and (e) high magnification of (d).
However, at the worn surface of composites fabricated by FSP,
the tribo film layer is eliminated (Fig. 11c and d) which can be as-
cribed to the higher microhardness values of these surfaces com-
pared to pure copper and also the presence of SiC particles.
Fig. 11e shows the high magnification of worn surface of composite
fabricated by multi-pass FSP which contains the segregated parti-
cles. This image could be used as an evident to support the abrasive
wear mechanism hypothesis in these composites. It is also seen
that worn surfaces of composite fabricated by multi-pass FSP exhi-
bit a more homogeneous morphology compared to 1P, which could
be attributed to the uniform distribution of SiC particles.
3.6. Electrical resistivity
Fig. 12 shows the electrical resistivity of pure copper, 1P, 4P and
8P in terms of (VA/IA) fitting curve. It can be seen that electrical
resistivity of composites were enhanced which is due to the higher
electrical resistivity of SiC particles as compared to pure copper.
This behavior also can be attributed to smaller grain size of com-
posites compared to pure copper which can be described via fol-
lowing equation [35]:
R0gb ¼ Rgb :D ð1Þ
where Rgb (X/m3), D and R0gb are total grain boundary resistivity, the
grain size and the specific grain boundary resistivity (i.e. resistivity
per unit boundary area X/m2), respectively. According to this equa-
tion, one could infer that total grain boundary resistivity is reduced
when the grain size is enhanced. Based on the discussed micro-
structural behavior of composites fabricated by FSP, the grain size
of these specimens is remarkably smaller than that of pure copper
which leads to higher total grain boundary resistivity.
The other interesting result that could be obtained from Fig. 12
is the negligible difference of electrical resistivity of 1P, 4P and 8P.
Upon increasing FSP passes, two important phenomena may be oc-
curred which govern the electrical resistivity behavior of compos-
ites. Firstly, multi-pass FSP effectively reduces the grain size of the
composites matrix which enhances the volume fraction of the
grain boundaries. Secondly, increase in FSP passes causes SiC par-
ticles to disperse, separate and disrupt well resulting in changes
of incoherent low strength bounding in 1P to coherent strong
bounding in 8P which may lead to gradual enhancement of the vol-
ume fraction of interfacial bounding. Naturally, both effects lead to
 M. Barmouz, M.K.B. Givi / Composites: Part A 42 (2011) 1445–1453
Fig. 12. Electrical resistivity of (a) pure copper and (b–d) 1P, 4P and 8P, respectively
in terms of (VA/IA) fitting curve. (For interpretation of the references to color in this
figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
increase in electrical resistivity of the composites in comparison to
pure copper. Eventually, the abovementioned reasons lead to a
slight increase in electrical resistivity in composites fabricated by
FSP with higher number of passes when compared to those fabri-
cated by lower number of passes.
4. Conclusion
In this research, Cu/SiC composites were fabricated successfully
by friction stir processing. Powder dispersion, microstructural,
porosity content, interfacial bonding and mechanical properties
including the microhardness, tensile and friction coefficient behav-
ior of these composites were improved by multi-pass friction stir
processing. The role of multi-pass friction stir processing on elec-
trical resistivity behavior of fabricated composites was also inves-
tigated. The main conclusions that can be drawn from this work
are as follows:
(1) Multi-pass FSP reduces the SiC particles size and improves
the dispersion and separation of SiC particles due to longer
time and severe stirring action in the SZ.
(2) The grain size of the copper matrix is remarkably reduced by
increasing FSP passes.
(3) Proper interfacial bonding reduces the porosity contents.
(4) Above-listed structural features observed predetermine
enhancement in mechanical properties and electrical
resistivity.
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