Friction Surface Cladding: an Exploratory Study of a New Solid State Cladding Process

Friction surface cladding is a newly developed solid state cladding process to manufacture thin metallic layers on a substrate. In this study the influence of process conditions on the clad layer appearance and the mechanical properties of both the clad layer and the substrate were investigated. Thin layers of commercially pure aluminum (approximately 0.2mm thick and 20mm wide) could be successfully deposited on top of an AA2024-T351 substrate within a range of process conditions. The quality of the deposited layers was shown to be highly dependent on the process temperature. Homogeneous, well bonded and defect free layers could be deposited within a 300–420°C temperature range. At lower process temperatures no continuous layers were deposited, whereas at higher process temperatures mixing of the clad material with the substrate took place. Thermal simulations confirmed the relation between the process conditions and the amount of heat generated. An analytical model was developed to predict the occurrence of mixing. Additional bending and corrosion experiments demonstrated the high bonding quality and proper intrinsic and sacrificial corrosion performance of the manufactured layers.