Deposition behaviour, optimisation, and coating quality of Al‐19Zn friction‐surfaced on low carbon steel

Abstract

This study examines deposition behaviour, process optimisation, and coating geometry for aluminium–19 wt.% zinc coatings on an AISI 1020 steel substrate using friction surfacing. Nine experimental runs were attempted by varying axial pressure, rotational speed, and feed rate in order to evaluate the coating's continuity and uniformity. Only a few coatings were free of defects across the full range of parameters (0.35 MPa – 0.6 MPa, 1150 min −1 – 1350 min −1 , 55 mm/min – 80 mm/min). This shows that aluminium–19 wt.% zinc deposition is very sensitive to heat input and material flow. The Taguchi L9 optimisation method was used to make a comparison between coating width and thickness. Then, an analysis of variance showed that pressure was the most important factor. Regression models were created for coating width and coating thickness, and they matched the experimental results well and were tested for their ability to make accurate predictions. The best parameter combination was determined through contour and main‐effect plots which showed that 0.5 MPa pressure; 1200 min −1 speed; and 70 mm/min feed rate produced optimal results. Both experimental and statistical methods confirmed that friction surfacing could generate dense, uniform aluminium–19 wt.% zinc coatings, indicating their suitability for surface protection applications.