High damping capacity of Al alloys produced by friction stir processing

Abstract Friction stir processing (FSP) was performed on both age-hardened and non-age-hardened Al alloys, with excellent damping properties obtained. The improved room temperature damping capacity of the FSP Al alloys can be mainly attributed to their low amount of solute atoms and the uniform distribution and high density of incoherent phases. The FSP Al alloys also exhibited improved high temperature damping capacity due to their equiaxed grain structure. The grain refinement and grain boundary pinning phase can further optimize the damping property of the FSP Al alloys. This work provides an effective strategy to improve the damping capacity of commercial Al alloys, which are regarded as low damping materials.