Post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) and solid-state thermomechanical treatment (TMT) via friction stir processing (FSP) have been shown to enhance the mechanical properties of aluminum alloys. The current work investigates the effects of PWHT and TMT on the microstructure and mechanical performance of AA6082-T6 welded butt joints welded using the MIG process. The 5 mm thick AA 6082-T6 plates were joined in butt configuration using MIG welding with ER 5356 filler wire, 120 A current, 0.3 mm/s weld speed, and argon shielding gas at 15 L/min flow rate. PWHT was performed on the MIG welds per the T6 temper procedure. TMT was implemented via FSP using a pinless tool rotating at 800 rpm and traversing speed at 200 mm/min with a 3° tilt angle. Microstructural analysis, hardness mapping, tensile testing, and fracture surface evaluation were utilized to characterize the as-welded, PWHT, and TMT samples. The results demonstrate that both PWHT and TMT significantly refine and homogenize the microstructures of the welded joints. However, the TMT samples displayed superior hardness and tensile strength compared to the as-welded and PWHT conditions. The TMT-processed welds achieved approximately 99% joint efficiency versus only 69% and 85% for the as-welded and PWHT samples. In summary, PWHT and especially TMT via FSP are effective at enhancing the mechanical properties of MIG welded AA6082-T6.

Welding of dissimilar aluminum alloys has been widely used in many industrial applications. However, the selection of filler type still attracts significant interest in the welding research area. The present work concerns the effect of filler metal on the microstructure and corrosion of weld joints of dissimilar aluminum alloys. AA 5083 and AA 6082 alloys were welded by tungsten inert gas welding (GTAW) using filler metals ER 4043 and ER 5356. The microstructure observations and the corrosion test of the weld joints were carried out. Solidification cracks were observed in the ER 4043 weld zone, whereas defect-free joints were obtained using a mix filler welding process. A galvanic corrosion was observed on the boundary between the filler rod ER 4043 weld zone and AA 5083 base alloy. From the corrosion standpoint of view, the using of ER 4043 electrodes is not preferred for welding 5000 series aluminum alloys, whereas ER 5356 filler electrode is more favorable than ER 4043 filler electrode either for dissimilar welding of AA 5083 and AA 6082 alloys or individual welding of both aluminum alloys. No galvanic corrosion is observed between ER 4043 fillers and AA 6082 base alloy.

This study investigates the impact of different filler wires (ER5356, ER4043, and ER4047) on the microstructural and mechanical properties of EN AW-6082 Al alloy joints produced by tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding. Butt-welded samples with a single V-groove joint configuration were prepared using optimized welding parameters. The welded samples were subjected to visual inspection, microstructural analysis, hardness testing, tensile testing, and impact toughness evaluation. The results showed that all the welds were free of visible defects. Microstructural examination revealed that the ER5356 filler produced the finest grain structure of 18.03 ± 3 μm, while ER4047 resulted in the coarsest grains of 36.07 ± 5 μm. Correspondingly, the joints made with ER5356 exhibited the highest tensile stress of 278 ± 6 MPa, yield stress of 219 ± 5.4 MPa, hardness values of 72.7 ± 5 HV, and welding efficiency of 86.07%, whereas those made with ER4047 produced the lowest values. The hardness in the weld region was lower than that in the parent metal and heat-affected zone for all samples. However, ER4047 welds demonstrated superior impact toughness and strain-hardening capacity. The findings underscore the importance of filler metal selection in tailoring mechanical properties for high-performance applications.

Al-Al₂O₃ and SiC metal matrix composites (MMCs) samples with different volume fractions up to 20% were produced by high-pressure torsion (HPT) using 10 GPa for 30 revolutions of Al-Al₂O₃, and SiC and powder metallurgy (PM). The effect of the processing method of micro-size Al MMCs on the density, microstructure evolution, mechanical properties, and tensile fracture mode was thoroughly investigated. HPT processing produces fully dense samples relative to those produced using powder metallurgy (PM). The HPT of the Al MMCs reduces the Al matrix grain size and fragmentation of the reinforcement particles. The Al matrix average grain size decreased to 0.39, 0.23, and 0.2 µm after the HPT processing of Al, Al-20% Al₂O₃, and SiC samples. Moreover, Al₂O₃ and SiC particle sizes decreased from 31.7 and 25.5 µm to 0.15 and 0.13 µm with a 99.5% decrease. The production of ultrafine grain (UFG) composite samples effectively improves the microhardness and tensile strength of the Al and Al MMCs by 31–88% and 10–110% over those of the PM-processed samples. The good bonding between the Al matrix and reinforcement particles noted in the HPTed Al MMCs increases the strength relative to the PM samples. The tensile fracture surface morphology results confirm the tensile properties results.

Commercial Al-brass tube was successfully processed by Parallel Tubular Channel Angular Pressing (PTCAP) in 2 passes under an imposed strain of 1.49 per pass. The effect of the number of PTCAP passes on the microstructure and the mechanical properties (hardness, tensile, and wear mass loss) of the Al-brass tubes was fully investigated. The average grain size of the as-received tube decreased to 1.28 μm after up to two passes of PTCAP with a mixture of ultrafine grain (UFG) and coarse grain (CG). The annealed tubes’ tensile strength and Vickers hardness increased by 237.65% and 175.6%, respectively, after two passes. In addition, a ductile fracture occurred with a clear necking. The fracture surface morphology indicated an apparent decrease in dimple size after PTCAP processing, combined with a decrease in ductility. Moreover, the wear mass loss decreased with increasing number of PTCAP passes due to the decrease in the grain size, and the increase of the hardness of the tubes was enhanced after PTCAP processing.

The influence of the number of passes and the tube materials on the microstructural evolution, mechanical properties, and wear behavior of Cu and brass tubes after parallel tubular channel angular pressing (PTCAP) was investigated. The grain size decreased to final grain sizes of 138.6 nm and 142.7 nm, after PTCAP of the Cu and brass tubes was conducted in up to 4 and 2 passes, respectively. PTCAP contributes to obtaining an ultra-fine grain (UFG) microstructure, with a mixture of different grain sizes that conferred high hardness. The present results indicate the superior wear resistance of Cu and brass PTCAP tubes, relative to Cu and brass samples that were previously deformed by different severe plastic deformation (SPD) processes. The wear mechanism of the Cu tubes changed from delamination and cracks with a high degree of adhesive wear before PTCAP into a combination of adhesive and abrasive wear, with a decrease in the presence of oxygen content after the PTCAP procedure. The wear mechanism also changed from a combination of adhesive and abrasive mechanisms into abrasive ones with the absence of oxygen after the PTCAP of brass tubes.