Research Article
Influence of Tool Pin Profiles on Aluminium Alloy A356 and
Ceramic-Based Nanocomposites for Light Weight Structures by
Friction Stir Processing
L. Karthick ,
1
Mruthunjaya M.,
2
Srinivas. S.,
3
Prasanna Venkatesh R.,
4
Naveen Kumar Gurajala,
5
Meghavath Mothilal,
6
and Hari Banda
7
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hindusthan College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore 641032, India
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, JSS Academy of Technical Education, Dr. Vishnuvardhan Road,
Bengaluru 560060, India
3
School of Mechanical Engineering, REVA University, Rukmini Knowledge Park, Kattigenahalli, Yelahanka,
Bengaluru 560064, India
4
Department of Mechanical Engineering, SACS MAVMM Engineering College, Madurai 625301, India
5
Department of Mechanical Engineering, CMR College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad 501401, Telangana, India
6
School of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Katpadi, Vellore, Tamil Nadu-632014, India
7
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Villa College, Boduthakurufaanu Magu, Maldives
CorrespondenceshouldbeaddressedtoL.Karthick;bemechkarthick@gmail.comandHariBanda;banda.hari@villacollege.edu.mv
Received 22 October 2022; Revised 14 February 2023; Accepted 16 November 2023; Published 18 March 2024
Academic Editor: P. M. Gopal
Copyright © 2024 L. Karthick et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
In this research, the main aim is to focus the enhancement of aluminium-based metal matrix composites for improving the
attributes of light weight metals, aerospace structures and other tailor blank material properties. By this way, the friction
stir processing (FSP) was the suited alternate technique to enhancing the mechanical attributes and superior micro-
structural amendment in the processed MMCs. Terefore, this study investigates the dispersion of ceramic-based
strengthening particles of chromium oxide (Cr
2
O
3
) in the aluminium base matrix of A356 alloy. During the process-
ing, the diferent tool pin sizes having the conical threaded tool pin profles. Similarly, the tool spinning speed and tool
travel speed also varied while in FSP. Before the processing, the A356 alloy was prepared by the grooved surfaces for
packing the chromium oxide particles to compose the aluminium metal matrix composites. Te tensile strength and
hardness was employed to carry out from the friction stir processed A356 alloy with infuencing ofCr
2
O
3
. Te maximum
occurred tensile processing parameters are 1500 rpm of spinning speed, 6 mm of tool pin sizes and 90 mm/min of tool
travel speed. Similarly, the maximum obtained hardness processing parameter are 2000 rpm of spinning speed, 5 mm of
tool pin sizes and 90 mm/min of tool travel speed. A scanning electron microscope was utilized to investigate the dispersed
Cr
2
O
3
in the A356 alloy for confrming the refnement grains in the nugget zones of FSPed A356 alloy. Te increased grain
boundary by the infuence ofdiferent tool pin sizes was the major reason to produces the better mechanical properties in
the processed A356/Cr
2
O
3
.
1. Introduction
In various engineering industries such as aerospace, auto-
mobile, and other light weight-related manufacturing ap-
plications, aluminium plays the major role to produce the
light weight structures by the utilization of various pro-
cessing technologies [1–5]. Normally, the aluminium alloys
had better mechanical attributes due to their enhanced
corrosion, recyclability, low weight, and alleviate to form-
ability. In the normal aluminium alloys, the mechanical
Hindawi
Advances in Materials Science and Engineering
Volume 2024, Article ID 2494900, 9 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/2494900