Mesoscale hetero-deformation induced (HDI) stress in FeAl-based metallic-intermetallic laminate (MIL) composites

Abstract

Single-phase intermetallic FeAl layered material is synthesized using a layered foil approach to study the fracture mechanisms of FeAl-based metallic-intermetallic laminate (MIL) composites containing a similarly fabricated structure. The mechanical properties and crack evolution of the single-phase FeAl are investigated via incremental compression testing. Microstructure and composition assessment confirm a similar intermetallic layer laminate microstructure of single-phase FeAl and FeAl-based MIL composites. When compressed perpendicular to the layers, both materials fail by the axial splitting of the FeAl phase along the loading direction. Mesoscale hetero-deformation induced (HDI) stress, which is tensile on the FeAl layers of MIL composites, accelerates crack nucleation and crack propagation, eventually inducing failure. The HDI stress evaluated via finite element analysis (FEA) simulation provides an explanation for the difference between 430SS-FeAl and 304SS-FeAl MIL composites, which posses similar microstructure and composition, but very different strengths. When compressed parallel to the layers, mesoscale HDI stress is expected to be negligible, whereas the geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) pile-up induced HDI stress can enhance the performance of the composites. Fracture toughness is characterized via four-point bend testing, and the results demonstrate improvement of the FeAl-based MIL composites over the single-phase FeAl material.