Thermal expansion behavior of aluminum alloys reinforced with alumina planar random short fibers

Abstract

The thermal expansion behavior of two aluminum alloys (Al-4%Cu and Al-12%Si) reinforced with alumina planar random short fibers has been studied, both experimentally and theoretically. The metal matrix composites (MMCs) were manufactured by pressure infiltration of molten metal into short fiber preforms with a planar random distribution of fibers. Dilatometric testing was used to investigate the influence of fiber volume fraction and architecture, and the effects of thermal cycling between 25 °C to ∼560 °C. Thermal expansion measurements showed that, by increasing the fiber content in the composites, both the thermal strains and the effective coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) were reduced in the whole temperature range. Furthermore, the thermal strains of MMCs increased almost linearly up to a critical temperature, T cr, where the metallic matrix began to yield macroscopically due to internal thermal stresses. For temperatures higher than T cr the thermal strains of MMCs showed a marked hysteresis during heating/cooling cycles due to the elasto-plastic response of the metallic matrix. In this temperature range, the thermal expansion curves deviated appreciably from linearity and the planar (in the plane of fibers) and transverse (normal to the plane of fibers) responses were very different: while the planar CTE was strongly reduced, the transverse CTE increased sharply with temperature, being even larger than the CTE of the unreinforced alloy. Thermal cycling produced a net dimensional change of composites during the first 2-3 cycles but, on the subsequent cycles, the permanent deformation disappeared almost completely and the successive thermal expansion curves were identical. Experimental results were compared to the theoretical predictions of an analytical model based on the Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method, and an excellent agreement was obtained.