Tungsten particle reinforced Al 5083 composite with high strength and ductility

Tungsten particles were incorporated into an Al 5083 matrix by friction stir processing (FSP). FSP resulted in uniform dispersion of the tungsten particles with excellent interfacial bonding and more importantly without the formation of any harmful intermetallics. For the first time, the particles penetrated to a depth equal to the full pin length of the tool. A novel aspect of the 5083 Al–W composite is that it showed an improvement of more than 100 MPa in the UTS and at the same time exhibited a high ductility (30%). The ductility was also evident from the well defined dimples in the fracture surface which also revealed the superior bonding between the particles and the matrix. FSP also resulted in substantial grain refinement of the Al matrix. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that the fine grains formed by dynamic recrystallization. A gradual transformation from sub-grain to high-angle grain boundaries was observed from EBSD analysis pointing towards the occurrence of a continuous type of dynamic recrystallization process.