Repair of aluminum 6061 plate by additive friction stir deposition

The deposition of new alloy to replace a worn or damaged surface layer is common strategy for repairing remanufacturing structural components. For high-performance aluminum alloys in the automotive, aerospace, and defense industries, however, traditional fusion-based methods can lead solidification cracking, void formation, loss strength heat-affected zone. Solid-state methods, such as additive friction stir (AFSD), mitigate these challenges by depositing material at temperatures below melting point. In this work, solid-state volumetric repair was performed using AFSD 6061-T6 fill grooves machined into plate 6061-T651. groove-filling process relevant replacement cracked corroded after removal localized grinding. Three groove geometries were evaluated means metallographic inspection, tensile testing, fatigue testing. conditions used study, effective mixing substrate deposited achieved depth 3.1–3.5 mm. Below that depth, interface between exhibited poor bonding associated with insufficient shear deformation. This suggests practical limitation approximately 3 mm filling current combination parameters, materials, tool design. mechanical properties filler alloy, zone, areas further optimization are discussed within context precipitation hardened alloys.