Effect of Carbonitriding on Tribomechanical and Corrosion-Resistant Properties of Friction Stir Welded Aluminium 2024 Alloy

Friction stir welding (FSW) is extensively used to join aluminium alloys components in space and aircraft industries. Al 2024 is a heat-treatable aluminium alloy with copper as the primary alloying element which has good strength and fatigue resistance. This paper investigates the effect of carbonitriding surface modification on the hardness, tensile strength and impact strength of FSW welded Al 2024 joints. The friction stir welding was performed on three different sets of aluminium alloy (Al2024:Al2024, Al2024: carbonitrided-Al2024, carbonitrided-Al2024: carbonitrided-Al2024) at two different tool rotation speed (TRS) and two welding speed using cylindrical pin tool. The carbonitriding pre-treatment of Al-2024 alloy demonstrated significant improvement in the tensile strength, percentage elongation, abrasion wear resistance and corrosion resistance with the sacrifice of impact strength. The maximum tensile strength of all three sets of samples after FSW was recorded in descending order of (i) carbonitrided-Al2024:carbonitrided-Al2024 (ii) Al2024:Carbonitrided-Al2024 and (iii) Al2024:Al2024. The friction stir welded joint of carbonitrided aluminium alloy exhibited best abrasive wear resistant and corrosion resistant properties.