Additive Manufacturing of Aluminum

Using Friction Stir Deposition

Ebtessam Elfishawy, M. M. Z. Ahmed and M. M. El-Sayed Seleman

Abstract In the current work, additive manufacturing process using friction stir
deposition technique from die-cast Al–Si bar of 20 mm diameter against aluminum
substrate was carried out. The effect of the spindle rotation speed (1200 rpm) and
the feeding speed (3–5 mm/min) on the deposition process, the microstructure, and
the hardness of the friction deposited parts were investigated. During the additive
manufacturing process, after fixing the bar on the spindle shank and while rotating,
the bar approaches the substrate at a constant feeding speed, and the bar plastically
deformed due to the friction between the rotating bar and the fixed substrate under
the effect of axial loading that causes the material to transfer from the bar to the
substrate under the continuous feeding and the severe plastic deformation. This has
resulted in a successful additive manufacturing of three cylindrical parts of 25 mm
diameter of different heights at the different feeding rates. The additive manufactured
parts (AMPs) were found to have a sound structure with ultra-fine grains.

Keywords Additive manufacturing · Friction stir deposition · Friction stir

welding · Friction stir processing · Aluminum alloys · Hardness

E. Elfishawy · M. M. Z. Ahmed (B) · M. M. El-Sayed Seleman

Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department, Faculty of Petroleum and Mining
Engineering, Suez University, 43511 Suez, Egypt
e-mail: Mohamed.Zaky@bue.edu.eg
E. Elfishawy
Mechanical Engineering Department, The American University in Cairo, AUC, Avenue, 11835
New Cairo, Egypt
M. M. Z. Ahmed
Mechanical Engineering Department, The British University in Egypt, al-Shorouk, 11837 Cairo,
Egypt
M. M. Z. Ahmed · M. M. El-Sayed Seleman
Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, College of Engineering at Al Kharj Mechanical
Engineering Department, 11942 Al Kharj, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

© The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 2020 227

The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (ed.), TMS 2020 149th
Annual Meeting & Exhibition Supplemental Proceedings, The Minerals,
Metals & Materials Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36296-6_21
228 E. Elfishawy et al.

Introduction

The industrial history can be classified into periods separated by four industrial
revolutions; the first revolution starts with the transition from manual production to
steam-driven manufacturing between 1760 and 1830, the second technical revolution
was ignited by the development of large scale material and energy production between
1840 and 1940, the third digital-driven revolution was initiated by transferring from
analog, mechanical, and electronic systems to highly connected digital technology
which starts from 1945 up to now, and the fourth industrial revolution which is known
as direct digital manufacturing starts since 2010 which was driven by embracing
much contemporary automation, data interconnectivity, and advanced manufacturing
technologies [1]. In the fourth industrial revolution, additive manufacturing (AM)
is considered as the key component for technological applications [2, 3]. Fusion
beam-based AM methods are the most techniques used for metal-based AM [4].
However, achieving high structural performance is a main challenge because the
liquid–solid phase transformation that makes their structural properties is limited
by solidification microstructures[5]. Moreover, Anisotropic mechanical properties
and high cost of powder manufacturing and preparation are another challenges that
increase the gap between the beam-based AM capabilities and the industrial demand.
That’s why, solid-state AM technique has been introduced as a promising application
of non-beam-based AM to bridge these gaps [2, 6]. As per the American Society for
Testing and Materials (ASTM) classification, there are seven techniques of additive
manufacturing. But the main approaches for metals and alloys manufacturing are the
beam-based technologies such as powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition
[1]. Those techniques are considered as high-energy and high-temperature processes
which depend on melting the metal powder by laser or electron beam [7, 8]. As
result of the rapid epitaxial solidification of the metal, the microstructure of the
final product is highly orientated with columnar grains and anisotropic mechanical
properties [1, 2, 7].
As most applications require isotropic mechanical properties, the non-beam-based
solid-state additive processes have been developed to provide the isotropic structure
required and to avoid the other limitations of beam-based additive manufacturing like
the high-cost and time-consuming process of preparing suitable powders, in addition
to the difficulty of fabricating non-weldable alloys, such as 2xxx or 7xxx Al alloys
[2]. Afterwards, solid-state additive manufacturing has lagged behind in the form of
friction stir additive manufacturing depending on the main concept of friction stir
welding and friction stir processing [9, 10].
In 2011, Dilip et al. [11] succeeded to build a solid cylinder of 20 mm dia and
50 mm height with more than 30 layers by friction deposition using a 19-mm-diameter
consumable rod of austenitic stainless steel AISI 304 against a mild steel substrate of
dia (25 mm) and the following parameters: 800 rpm spindle rotation speed, 9.8 kN
ton friction force, and 3 mm burn-off were used [12]. Non-beam-based additive
manufacturing has many techniques; one of them is the seam welding of multi-layered
similar and dissimilar metallic sheets which has been introduced by Prasad et al. in
Additive Manufacturing of Aluminum Using Friction Stir Deposition 229

2015. In their study, a defect-free, metallurgically bonded, multi-track, and multi-

metal seam welds were obtained of relatively high-temperature melting materials,
AISI 304, C-Mn steels, Ni-based alloys, CP Cu, CPNi, Ti6Al4V, and relatively low-
temperature melting material, AA6061. This process depends on the rotation of non-
consumable rod (CP Mo or AISI 304) against the upper sheet of a clamped metallic
stack [13]. Then, an axial force was applied once the distal end of the rod touched
the top portion of the upper metallic sheet. And to get the desired welding length,
the metallic stack moved horizontally relative to the stationery non-consumable rod
after an initial dwell time causing the metallurgical bonding between the metallic
sheets which was attributed to localized stick and slip at the interface, dynamic
recrystallization, and diffusion. The mechanical tensile shear testing showed that
the seam welds were generally stronger than the base metal counterparts [13]. In
2015, using friction deposition, Karthik et al. [14] succeeded to make a metal–
metal composite of aluminum matrix with titanium particle reinforcement (6 vol.%
Tip/AA5083). The friction deposited multi-layer composite microstructure was very
fine grain size including uniformly distributed titanium particles without any harmful
intermetallic formation at the reinforcement/matrix interfaces. The produced layers
were well-bonded. [14].
Another technique of additive manufacturing was developed in 2017 by Bandari
et al. [15], who have worked on commercial pure aluminum with a thickness of 6 mm
as the base plate and TiC particles of average size 44 m which were used as rein-
forcement to form tailor-made functionally graded composites by friction stirring.
In addition to control reinforcement particle volume fraction using a mathemati-
cal model by managing their distribution in a matrix and counting on the ability of
friction stirring for local homogenization that leads to property gradients, Sharma
et al. [15] also concluded that the parameters which affect mixing of particles and
grain size of matrix are the particle size [16, 17], volume fraction, number of stirring
passes, and change or continuation of tool traverse direction in successive passes.
While those that affect the mechanical properties are continuous dynamic recrys-
tallization by helping grains to grow, crushing of reinforcement particles restricts
grain boundary migration and crushing of the initial matrix grain. Hence, changes
in local properties can be controlled by achieving control over the volume fraction.
Therefore, the observed defects after initial pass of stirring like cracks and voids can
be eliminated after multiple passes. This developed approach results in gradients in
mechanical properties such as yield stress, Young’s modulus, and the strain harden-
ing coefficient which can be evaluated with the digital image correlation technique
[15].
Recently, Rivera et al. [18] have succeeded in 2019 to deposit AA2219 material at
high deposition rate (1000 cm3 /h) with the aid of solid-state additive deposition pro-
cess depending on additive friction stir deposition or MELD. MELD technique sig-
nificantly differs from additive friction stir deposition where now material is extruded
through a hollow rotating tool [11]. This process allows for repairing, coating, and/or
building fully dense materials, as it is a highly scalable process, with high deposition
rates for aluminum alloys over 1000 cm3 /h. Rivera et al. [18] studied the influence
of texture and grain refinement on the mechanical behavior of AA2219; they found
230 E. Elfishawy et al.

Fig. 1 Consumable rod

(20 mm diameter, as
-received die-cast Al–Si

an equiaxed grain morphology in the three orientations. Moreover, while using elec-
tron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), they identified a layer-dependent texture in the
top of the build with a strong torsional A fiber texture which was transitioning to
weaker textures in the middle and bottom layers. Consequently, the tensile strength
increases from the bottom to the top of the deposition which reflects the texture layer
dependence. However, the statistically measured hardness showed no significant
differences from the top to the bottom of the deposition. Furthermore, mechanical
properties were observed to have no orientation dependence for both compression
and tension specimens tested. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) illustrated a
lack of θ precipitates in the as-deposited cross section, which is resulting in no pre-
cipitation strengthening [18]. The current study investigates the use of Al–Si cast rod
as the consumable rod to produce FSAMed simple parts. The effect of the rotation
rate and feed speed on the microstructure evolution and hardness will be investigated.

Experimental Work

Material

Consumable rods (picture shown in Fig. 1) of die cast Al–Si of 20 mm diameter and
100 mm length have been used as the starting material in the friction stir additive
manufacturing process.

Friction Stir Additive Manufacturing

Friction stir additive manufacturing was conducted using homemade FSW machine
[9]. The difference between FSW&FSP [19] and FSAM is that the used tool in FSW&
FSP [20] is non-consumable, hard, and wear resistant tool, unlike the soft consumable
tool to be used in FSAM. Most of the previous studies use a continuous feeding
extruded wire through a hollow non-consumable tool. This study is to investigate
the mechanism of solid-state friction deposition in the vertical alignment using a
consumable tool to make the additively manufactured parts (AMPs). Figure 2 shows
the friction stir welding machine at Suez University that used to perform the friction
stir deposition.
Additive Manufacturing of Aluminum Using Friction Stir Deposition 231

Fig. 2 FSW machine at

Suez University

Different parameters were used to investigate the effect of friction stir deposi-
tion process parameters on the microstructure of the produced parts. After care-
ful optimization of process parameters, the following parameters were investigated:
1200 rpm spindle rotation speed with 3, 4 and 5 mm/min feeding speeds was exam-
ined using consumable rod of die-cast Al–Si. All experiments were done at 0° tilt
angle.

Characterization

The additively manufactured parts (AMP) have been sectioned vertically along the
building direction and the longitudinal sections were prepared according to the stan-
dard metallographic procedures of grinding and up to mechanical polishing using
0.3 μm alumina suspension and then investigated using the optical microscopy after
etching using Keller’s etchant of chemical composition of 25 ml methanol, 25 ml
hydrochloric acid, 25 ml nitric acid, and 1 drop hydrofluoric acid.

Results and Discussion

Macro-observations

During the process after fixing the consumable bar on the spindle shank and while
rotating, the consumable bar is exposed to severe plastic deformation and heat-up
due to the friction between the rod and the substrate. That causes the consumable
232 E. Elfishawy et al.

Fig. 3 Cylindrical part produced by FSAM at feeding rate of 3 mm/min, and spindle rotational
speed of 1200 rpm. a As additively manufactured part, b longitudinal section of the FSAMed part

rod tool to soften and deposit on the substrate in a continuous manner as long as the
feeding continues. The material continues to transfer from the consumable rod to the
substrate in the form of well-bonded layer upon layer to finally form an additively
manufactured cylinder by solid-state friction deposition. For more understanding of
the process, the material of the tool under hydrostatic pressure is plastically deformed
and deposited on the substrate as they were stirred together to metallurgically bond
the material to the substrate and the successive layers together as well. This causes
the success of producing the AM cylindrical parts with dimensions’ range about 20–
35 mm height and 25 mm dia which was built by friction stirring deposition as shown
in Fig. 3a. The friction stir additive manufactured (FSAMed) parts were completely
sound and continuous without any separations between the internal layers along the
AM building direction as shown in Fig. 3b so that the number of layers could not be
measured internally.
A typical section of the AM parts is shown in Fig. 4 which clearly illustrates the
continuity of the process. Moreover, the macrograph assures the sound defect-free
structure of the AM parts.

The Consumable Tool Interface

The investigation of the used consumable tool microstructure showed that at the tool
tip adjacent to the substrate, the processing surface of the tool has a refined recrys-
tallized grains due to severe plastic deformation. The grain size increases gradually
going up to reach the base metal coarse grain structure as shown in Fig. 5. This
microstructure shows the effect of friction stirring process on refining and recrystal-
lizing the grains and the silicon precipitates. In Fig. 5, on the right hand a macrograph
of the tool side section is shown where the processing side is down which faced the
substrate and was exposed to the friction. On the left hand, the different structure of
Additive Manufacturing of Aluminum Using Friction Stir Deposition 233

Fig. 4 Optical macrographs of the FSAMed parts (longitudinal section) at spindle rotational speed
of 1200 rpm at feeding rates of a3 mm/min, b 4 mm/min and c 5 mm/min

Fig. 5 Macro- and micrograph of the used consumable rod (longitudinal section) at feeding speed
of 4 mm/min and spindle rotational speed of 1200 rpm a microstructure of the above area of the
tool near the base microstructure, b the transition zone, c the recrystallized fine structure which was
exposed to friction with the substrate
234 E. Elfishawy et al.

Fig. 6 Macro- and microstructure of Al–Si AMP at feeding rate of 3 mm/min, and spindle rotational
speed of 1200 rpm

the tool illustrating the effect of the friction on refining the tool tip grains as shown
in (c), going up through the tool, the transition zone (b) between the fine structure of
the recrystallized tool tip and the base coarse grain structure (a) is shown. The con-
sumable die-cast rod alloy Al–Si has a relatively coarse grain structure as shown in
Fig. 5a, where the silicon is forming the coarse grain boundaries. During friction stir-
ring deposition, the silicon precipitates on the grain boundaries were broke into fine
particles and redistributed in the plastically deforming aluminum matrix (Fig. 6c).
Thermal treatment with severe plastic deformation causes silicon to coalesce and
spheroidize.

Additive Manufactured Parts (AMPs) Microstructure

Microstructural examination of the AMPs was carried out using an Olympus upward
Microscope. The optical microscopy examination was carried out on long-transverse
sections of the cylindrical AMPs. The microstructure investigation of the AMPs
showed very fine grain structure as that is produced in the nugget zone of FSW. That’s
why the stirring zone in the FSAM follows the same dynamic recrystallization (DRX)
[13, 21]. There are two types of DRX, continuous DRX and discontinuous DRX. The
difference between them is that new grains are formed by a gradual increase in the
misorientation between the subgrains in case of the continuous DRX. In the case of
discontinuous DRX, grains with high-angle grain boundaries form through dynamic
nucleation and growth from a previously deformed microstructure [22]. Previous
research works have concluded that aluminum alloys commonly undergo dynamic
recovery (DRV) during hot deformation [21]. Another study made by Su et al. on
AA7075 has shown that Aluminum alloys in the FSW and FSP will experience
Additive Manufacturing of Aluminum Using Friction Stir Deposition 235

different mechanisms such as discontinuous DRX, DRV, and continuous DRX at

different stages of the microstructural evolution [21, 23, 24]. This explained the
formation of equiaxed fine grain morphology in the tip of the consumable tool and
AMPs microstructure.
The microstructure investigation of the AMPs has been studied in different posi-
tions along the specimen. This helps in better understanding of the microstructure.
In all feeding rates as shown in Figs. 6, 7, and 8, the microstructure is homoge-
neous and nearly the same in any position of the specimen. This fine equiaxed
microstructure is the aim which most of AM researchers are seeking for, to ful-
fill the industrial requirements of isotropic mechanical properties. The micrographic
study also shows the refined grains and the spheroidal precipitates resulting from
dynamic recrystallization.

Fig. 7 Macro- and microstructure of Al–Si AMP at feeding rate of 4 mm/min, and spindle rotational
speed of 1200 rpm

Fig. 8 Macro- and microstructure of Al–Si AMP at feeding rate of 5 mm/min, and spindle rotational
speed of 1200 rpm
236 E. Elfishawy et al.

Table 1 Hardness values of

Specimen Rotation Feeding Average
the base Al–Si rod and the
no. speed (rpm) speed hardness
AMPs
(mm/min) (HV)
Base 85.86
1 1200 3 81.08
2 1200 4 79.84
3 1200 5 82.14

Hardness

Bulk hardness measurements were carried on the longitudinal sections of the cylin-
drical AMPs using a Vickers hardness tester. The results in Table 1 show the average
of 5 readings which were taken on each sample. There were no statistically signifi-
cant differences in hardness measured from the top to the bottom of the deposition.
The hardness results showed no significant change of the hardness properties of the
material before and after FSAM. This implies that the grain refining has almost no
effect on the hardness and also the fragmented stable particles also have not affected
the hardness of the AMPs.

SEM Analysis

SEM examination of the AMPs revealed significant fragmentations for the inter-
metallic particles that were existing in coarse sizes in the base material. This reflects
the effect of the stirring process in the fragmentation and distribution of the stable
intermetallic particles (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9 SEM micrographs for the Al–Si AMPs using 1200 rpm and 6 mm/min feeding speed at
different magnifications
Additive Manufacturing of Aluminum Using Friction Stir Deposition 237

Conclusion

This study investigates the microstructure and mechanical properties of AMPs pro-
duced using die-cast Al–Si consumable rod by continuous friction stir deposition
process, and the following conclusions can be drawn:
• Al–Si AMPs were successfully produced by friction stir deposition in multiple
layers of thickness up to 30 mm without any physical discontinuities or interfa-
cial defects between layers. Moreover, the parts are homogenous and continuous
without any separation between the layers.
• The current investigation establishes the feasibility of a novel additive manufac-
turing technique depending on the high-performance continuous friction stirring
process.
• The Al–Si AMPs produced in the current work feature several impressive
microstructural characteristics such as dynamically recrystallized, ultra-fine grains
with very fine, well-distributed precipitates, and homogeneous and equiaxed
microstructure.
• The grain structure formed in the AMP is significantly fine grain structure ranging
between 2 and 5 μm relative to the base material grain structure that was coarse
grain structure of about 50 μm. In addition, the coarse intermetallic in the cast
alloy has been significantly refined and uniformly distributed in the matrix alloy.

Acknowledgements Science and Technology Development Fund is acknowledged for funding

this work with grants no. 3926 and 5304.

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