Experimental Investigation on Wear and Corrosion Behavior of Stir Cast Alloys and Friction Stir Cast Welds

The vicinity of the present investigation enfolds the wear and corrosion behavior of cast alloys (A356 T6 and AA 2014 T6) and cast welds (Weld achieved with threaded cylinder shaped tool pin-W1 and Weld with square shaped tool pin-W2) fabricated by stir casting and stir welding route. Higher hardness is the outcome of re-precipitation process which led to 15% improvement in the weld nugget area among W1 and W2. The cast alloys and the weldments were subjected to wear test with three strategic plans by employing 10–20 N, 0.5–1.5 ms−1, and 500–1500 m range of varied applied load, sliding velocity and distance on an individual set. The study of wear at constant load, velocity, and distance disclosed lower order wear rate (0.12, 0.18, and 0.09 mgm/min) and coefficient of friction (0.03, 0.31, and 0.24) values. The specimens were also subjected to potentiodynamic polarization corrosion test. In terms of corrosion rate, cast alloy A356 T6 outperformed AA 2014 T6 by 11.5% while W1 outdistanced W2 by 16.3%. The worn and corroded surface morphology entailed the dispersion of silicon and copper eutectic phase throughout the aluminium matrix. The symbiotic channel of the wear and the corrosion study unveiled the performance of the cast alloys and cast welds in terms of wear rate, coefficient of friction and corrosion rate for automotive applications. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.