Study of friction stir processed zone under different tool pin profiles in pure copper

Friction Stir Processing (FSP) is a solid-state surface modification technique to alter the properties of metals and alloys.This work studies the effect of FSP on pure copper with six different tool pin profiles ( plain cylindrical, threaded cylindrical, triflute, triangle, square and hexagonal ) at low-heat input condition.The tool rotational speed and tool traverse speed were kept constant to maintain the low heat input.Temperature distribution, microstructure, microhardness and tensile strength were analyzed to evaluate the modifications occurred in the mechanical properties.From the investigation, it is observed that threaded cylindrical pin profile tool is more effective in bringing about a favourable mechanical modification in pure copper than other pin profiles under low-heat input condition.