Friction surfacing was carried out with stainless steel 304 and mild steel 1020 consumables on to an aluminium 5083 substrate in an argon atmosphere. Mild steel bonded well with the substrate and there was evidence of interfacial compound formation whereas in the case of stainless steel consumable there was no evidence of mixing and the coating was found to have a rolled structure on the surface. No clear evidence of mechanical interlock was obtained for stainless steel on aluminium. In both cases a nominal contact pressure as high as 21.8 MPa was required to obtain a good coating. For the mild steel coating there was evidence of transfer of aluminium on to the coating and the matrix had a shear crack along the matrix/coating interface.