Abstract
Aluminum (Al) and its alloys have been the prime materials of construction for many industries. The Al alloys are readily weldable and have excellent formability, good strength and excellent resistance to corrosion. While Al alloys are very strong and exhibit a high strength to weight ratio, they exhibit limited capabilities for wear and abrasion applications. The reinforcement of Aluminum and its alloys with various reinforcing powders has engineered a new type of material regarded as metal-matrix composites. The reinforcement of pure Al and its alloys with ceramic particles is expected to result in an improved mechanical property-to-weight ratio, as well as a superior resistance to wear, and to a high specific hardness. However, these composites suffer from a great loss in ductility and toughness due to the incorporation of non-deformable ceramic reinforcements as a result of inappropriate fabrication process and process parameters. The fabrication process used in this study is known as the friction stir processing technique ...
D.Phil. (Mechanical Engineering Science)