Deformation of expanded steel mesh inlay inside aluminum matrix during the roll bonding

Abstract

Abstract The study is devoted to the analysis of behavior of reinforcing inlay at roll bonding of aluminium composite with deformable steel mesh inside during both experimental and numerical simulation procedure. A composite material based on outer sheets of a EN AW 1050 aluminum alloy and an inner core of expanded AISI 304 steel mesh was manufactured by hot roll bonding with a rolling reduction of 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% at 500 °C. A numerical simulation of the roll bonding process was performed with the finite element software QForm VX 8.2.3. The strain parameters of the composite material and its elements were studied, and the strain hardening of the expanded mesh core was analyzed via the Vickers hardness test. The evaluable parameters of the mesh deformation inside the composite such as: knuckle reduction, strand reduction, strand contraction as well as cell elongation were quantitatively described. The preferable rolling reduction range was established at current experimental conditions regarding to the inlay deformability. Described in the study composites shown enhanced fire resistance as well as peeling strenght compare to other similar roll bonded composites.