Investigation of thin layer zinc coating on aluminium 6061 substrate using friction stir additive manufacturing process for material development

The thin layer material deposition on aluminum substrate is always an interesting domain of work. The current research work demonstrates the feasibility of thin layer Zn material deposition on Al 6061 substrate material using friction stir additive manufacturing process. The work delivers a detailed investigation on the numerical simulation and experimental work on the friction stir additive manufacturing process for effective coating of Zn layer of thickness 500 μm on aluminum alloy AA 6061. The investigation revealed that the Zn–Al interface temperature reaches to the maximum value of 762 K which is well above the melting point of the Zinc for its effective deposition on the Al substrate. The macrograph shows that the friction stir additive manufacturing process can achieve a consistent distribution of the deposited material across the Zn–Al interface. The study also delivers the analysis of the phase transformation behaviour of the Zn at the joint interface. The results from Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) confirm the presence of zinc in the deposited material. Additionally, tensile testing reveals about the enhancement in mechanical properties of the deposited material. The study can be considered as the preliminary investigation where the feasibility of deposition of a thin layer is established using the friction stir additive manufacturing process for the development of the bimetallic materials.