Dispersion of Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> Reinforcements in Al Composites via Friction Stir Processing

Friction Stir Processing is a solid state process with the ability to modify microstructure and refine grain sizes of the material without melting and uniformly disperse reinforcement particles in the material matrix resulting in further improvements in the mechanical properties. In this study, it was used to disperse Al2O3 reinforcement particles of different sizes. Uniform dispersion of the reinforcements was achieved in the aluminium matrix with significant reduction in grain size were observed via SEM and EBSD. Improvement in Vicker’s micro hardness was observed after FSP.