Load transfer mechanism and mechanical properties of SiCw/Al metal matrix composites

Abstract

The load transfer mechanism and mechanical properties of SiC whisker reinforced aluminum matrix composites were investigated. A generalized shear-lag model was proposed to analyze the effects of the aspect ratio, misorientation angle and volume fraction of SiC whisker on the mechanical properties of SiCw/Al composites. A new concept on effective aspect ratio was suggested, combining the effects of aspect ratio and alignment of whiskers, to calculate the effective stress acting on the aluminum matrix in SiCw/Al composites. The magnitude and anisotropy of the yield strength of the SiCw/2124Al composite can be estimated more accurately by substituting the average aspect ratio with the effective aspect ratio based on the generalized shear-lag model. The SiCw/2124Al composite with the largest effective aspect ratio showed the lowest minimum creep rate which decreased with increasing effective aspect ratio of SiC whisker, but were found to be almost similar under the same effective stress acting on the Al matrix. It is suggested that the role of SiC whisker is to improve the mechanical properties by reducing the effective stress acting on the Al matrix in the SiCw/Al metal matrix composite.