Fabrication of a laminated aluminium matrix composite using friction stir processing as a cladding method

Highlights: • The two-layer Al-Zn alloy matrix composite was fabricated using friction stir processing and sheet lamination method. • Using nano-size copper particles resulted in the formation of coarser copper-rich particles in the stir zone. • The presence of Alclad layer at the interface by forming debonding at interface reduced the strength of the composite. In this study, a two-layer Al-Zn alloy matrix composite was fabricated using sheet lamination method and applying reinforcing particles in one of the layers. Friction stir processing were performed on Alclad Al-Zn aluminium alloy sheets using micro- and nano-size copper particles, along with graphene nano-particles (GNPs), as reinforcement. The results showed that the Alclad inclination from the interface to the stir zone reduced the effective thickness in the stir zone and ultimately weakened the joint between the two layers. As the weight percentage of GNPs increased, the temperature of the stir zone decreased, and the inclination structure of Alclad layer was formed from the interface to the stir zone. The maximum tensile toughness (73.08 ± 3.87 MJ.m⁻³) was achieved for a composite fabricated with micro-size copper particles, which showed 26.3% increase in ultimate tensile strength (422.69 ± 4.31 MPa) compared to the powderless double-layer sample.