Fiber Reinforced Metal Matrix Composites Research Articles

Fiber reinforced metal matrix composites - a review

Modern technology has placed increasing demands on materials. The need of hour is to develop the new materials so as to overcome the limitations of the materials existed presently regarding applications in different fields. The materials with properties such as better wear resistance, high specific strength and stability at high temperatures have been in great demand in the past few decades. The properties of conventional materials can be improved by the method of reinforcing whiskers, fibers and particles in to polymers, metals and ceramics. This has resulted in the manufacturing of composite materials. The mechanical properties of fiber reinforced metal matrix composites (MMCs) make them the suitable choice for applications in the fields of automotive and aerospace etc. The paper outlines the overview of fiber reinforced MMCs. The applications, manufacturing methods and mechanical properties of these composites are discussed. Furthermore, this review describes the single fiber push-out test which is developed in the past years so as to measure quantitatively the properties of the interface between the fiber and the matrix in these fiber reinforced MMCs.

Finite element modeling and simulation of the fiber–matrix interface in fiber reinforced metal matrix composites

The properties of fiber–matrix interface in the fiber reinforced metal matrix composites (MMCs) have been investigated in the past with the use of push-out test. The finite element (FE) analysis which is used to model the push-out test helps the composite’s designer in optimizing the interfacial properties. A two dimensional planar FE model is presented for investigating the properties of interface. Cohesive layer concept is used to model the interface with a specified thickness. The initial response of the cohesive element is assumed to be linear elastic. The maximum nominal stress criterion is used to define the damage initiation and the damage evolution is defined in terms of fracture energy. The simulation results show that the cohesive layer behaves almost like the matrix for the linear elastic deformation prior to damage. It is concluded that the values of Young’s modulus and shear modulus for the cohesive layer can be taken equal to that of the matrix material for the finite element simulation of the debonding behavior of these MMCs. Furthermore, it is observed that the shear stress at which damage initiates can be determined by using the cohesive layer concept for the interface. Once a damage initiation criterion is met, material damage occurs in accordance with the defined damage evolution law. The complete failure of the interface takes place when the stress becomes zero. However, the interface behavior needs to be defined in a more sophisticated way so as to model the stepwise debonding and failure evolution once the complete debonding has occurred.

Role of fiber arrangement in the thermal expanding behavior of unidirectional metal matrix composites

The influence of fiber arrangement on thermal expanding behavior of unidirectional fiber-reinforced metal matrix composites (MMCs) is evaluated using a unit cell micromechanical approach. Both regular and random fiber arrangements are considered in the MMC simulation by extending the number of sub-cells of the representative volume element (RVE). Moreover, the unit cell micromechanical model is used to investigate the role of fiber cross-section on the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) of unidirectional MMCs. The validity of the model is verified by comparing the predictions and those available experimental measurements. The effective axial CTEs are not dependent on the MMC microstructure with different types of fiber arrays and cross-sections. However, the results show that besides the volume fraction, shape and the arrangement type of fibers plays a significant role in the effective transverse CTEs of MMCs. The discrepancy between the transverse predictions of the model with a random fiber arrangement and those of the model with a regular fiber arrangement increases with the rise of difference between the constituent material properties. Also, the effects of different statistical distributions of the random fiber arrangement, the number of RVE sub-cells and fiber orientation on the MMC thermal expanding response are examined.

Micro-debond Experiment and Analytical Model for Interfacial Fracture Toughness between Single Carbon Fiber and TiO2 Micro-droplet

To improve mechanical behaviors of the carbon fiber-reinforced metal matrix composites, TiO2-coated carbon fibers are usually used in the composites to protect the fiber from degradation. Thus, it is crucial to maintain both strong interfacial bonding at carbon fiber–TiO2 interlayer interface and high interfacial fracture toughness, which influence the damage tolerance of the composites as well as their energy absorption capacity. In this study, different single carbon fiber/TiO2 systems with and without modified carbon fiber were prepared at heat treatment temperatures of 80 and 700 °C, respectively, and an analytical modeling for evaluating interfacial fracture toughness from the micro-debond tests by using the tests that record only the debond and friction force as a function of the TiO2 micro-droplet length was implemented first, and then, the interfacial adhesion forces, interfacial fracture toughness and the influence of friction force and thermal residual stress on the fracture toughness of the systems were discussed in detail. From the experimental and theoretical results, heat treatment temperature and local strong bonding sites have a significant effect on the interfacial fracture toughness, while the interfacial morphology and functional groups are dominant in determining the interfacial adhesion forces. Meanwhile, the dominant factor of the interfacial fracture toughness will change as the heat treatment temperature increases. The friction force is a major contributor to the interfacial fracture toughness of the systems treated under lower temperature (80 °C), while the residual thermal stress is responsible for the toughness of the systems treated under higher temperature (700 °C). The results in this study can serve as reliable input data in multi-scale simulation of the carbon fiber-reinforced light metal matrix composites and offer exciting opportunities for further investigation of the microscopic deformation mechanisms in the composites.

Fiber Traction Printing: A 3D Printing Method of Continuous Fiber Reinforced Metal Matrix Composite

A novel metal matrix composite freeform fabrication approach, fiber traction printing (FTP), is demonstrated through controlling the wetting behavior between fibers and the matrix. This process utilizes the fiber bundle to control the cross-sectional shape of the liquid metal, shaping it from circular to rectangular which is more precise. The FTP process could resolve manufacturing difficulties in the complex structure of continuous fiber reinforced metal matrix composites. The printing of the first layer monofilament is discussed in detail, and the effects of the fibrous coating thickness on the mechanical properties and microstructures of the composite are also investigated in this paper. The composite material prepared by the FTP process has a tensile strength of 235.2 MPa, which is close to that of composites fabricated by conventional processes. The complex structures are printed to demonstrate the advantages and innovations of this approach. Moreover, the FTP method is suited to other material systems with good wettability, such as modified carbon fiber, surfactants, and aluminum alloys.

Carbon Fibre Reinforced Composite Material: Review of Properties and Processing for various Metal Matrix Materials

Carbon Fibres (CF) are used as a reinforcing material from past few decades. Carbon Fibres are reinforced in Metal matrix composites (MMC), Ceramic matrix composites (CMC) & polymer matrix composites (PMC). Numerous Research work was done on Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites (CFRP), but Carbon Fiber Reinforced Metal Matrix Composites (CFMMC) & Carbon Fiber Reinforced Ceramic Matrix Composites (CF-CMC) have wide scope to explore. This Paper reviews effect of Carbon Fibre reinforcement on Mechanical, Tribological and Morphological Properties of various Metal Matrix Materials. This paper also presents various processing techniques of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Composite Material.

Numerical simulation of the debonding behavior of fiber reinforced metal matrix composites

Finite element analysis (FEA) is performed for investigating the debonding behavior of fiber reinforced metal matrix composites (MMCs). An Axisymmetric cylindrical and three dimensional solid finite element (FE) models without interface are constructed which consist of a stainless spring steel wire as fiber reinforcement and an aluminium alloy as matrix. Numerical simulation is carried out with both the spherical and cylindrical indenters. The simulation results obtained in this work are compared with the experimental findings reported in the past. The initial part of load–displacement curve for cylindrical indenter is linear in nature as compared to the non linear behaviour with the spherical indenter. This shows that the non linearity is because of the shape of the indenter and not due to other reasons such as incorrect modeling. The coefficient of friction does not affect the response regarding the load–displacement curve. A large gap between the experimental and simulation curves for the elastic region is due to stiffness of the experimental setup. The simulation curve shows continuous increase in the value of load which is due to the absence of definition of failure criterion. The axisymmetric FE model presented in this study shows the capability to simulate the debonding behaviour of fiber reinforced MMCs. However, it can be improved further with the implementation of cohesive layer concept for modeling the fiber–matrix interface. In future work, the FEA of the axisymmetric model with interface using the cohesive zone modeling (CZM) for the interface will be carried out.

Creep behavior due to interface diffusion in unidirectional fiber-reinforced metal matrix composites under general loading conditions: a micromechanics analysis

In this paper, the creep behavior due to interface diffusion in unidirectional fiber-reinforced metal matrix composites under general transverse loading conditions is studied. A micromechanics model is adopted to estimate the average stresses in fibers, which is demonstrated to be of reasonable accuracy by comparing with finite element analysis. The creep deformation due to interface diffusion is characterized by a tensor-form creep strain rate, which is related to the components of average stress in fibers and possesses incompressibility. The derived creep strain tensor is then introduced into fibers as eigenstrain to estimate the effect of creep strain on stress redistribution in composites. Eventually, the macroscopic creep strain of composites under constant external loads and the stress relaxation at fixed displacements due to interface diffusion are calculated by the incremental creep analysis procedures based on the average field theory. The effects of loading conditions on the overall creep behavior are examined in detail. Results of this study show that under the fixed strain condition, the initial biaxial stress ratio actually varies rather than remains unchanged during the stress relaxation process. In both constant stress and constant strain conditions, stresses in fibers have a propensity to approach hydrostatic stress state, thus suppressing the interface diffusion. These findings were not reported in previous researches and may bring new understanding on diffusion-induced creep deformation in metal matrix composite materials.

Homogenization of Mechanical Properties of Unidirectional Fibre Reinforced Composites with Matrix and Interface Defects: A Finite Element Approach

Fiber Reinforced Composites find increasing applications in the areas of Aerospace, Military Armours, Bullet-proof vests, etc. As the composites are composed of two different constituents, there arises a need to determine the effective properties of the homogenous composites. Experimental determination of the effective properties is very expensive considering the amount of experiments that are required to be conducted, the time and cost to be incurred for each experiment, and the permutations and combinations of the optimal fiber volume fraction. The effective properties are essential for modeling of composites with reference to real-time applications. The micro-mechanics approach reduces most of the above mentioned complexities and helps in accurately evaluating the effective properties. In the presented paper, the properties like Young’s Modulus, Poisson Ratio, and Shear modulus of a healthy (defect free) composite is obtained by modeling a Representative Volume Element (RVE) using the commercial Finite Element Analysis (FEA) solver – Abaqus, with application of Periodic Boundary Conditions (PBC). The presented research focuses on Fiber-Reinforced Metal-Matrix composites like AA2024-Al2O3 and the Ceramic-Matrix composites like ZrB2-SiC. In general, defects in composites arise during the manufacturing process. Matrix Crack, Interfacial De-bonding and Fiber Crack are the major defects which degrade the mechanical properties of composites. This paper presents the modeling of Interfacial de-bonding using the Cohesive-Zone Modelling (CZM) technique for every 90° variation in the fiber-matrix interface and the subsequent evaluation of the corresponding homogenous properties. Matrix Crack is modelled as a matrix defect with a ‘V’ notch for varying a/w ratios. For every variation in matrix crack, the corresponding properties are estimated. Numerical evaluation of the individual effects of interfacial de-bonding and fully grown matrix cracks are followed by the modelling of the coupled effects.

STUDIES OF IMPRESSION CREEP BEHAVIOR OF ALUMINUM (7079) BASED CARBON FIBER REINFORCED METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES

This current work aims to is to assess the impression creep behavior of Aluminum based Carbon Fiber reinforced Metal Matrix Composites for three different temperature namely, room temperature, 100oC and 200oC under a constant load of 2 Kg and to find the steady-state creep rates and creep mechanism occurring. In this test, a cylindrical indenter with a flat end is allowed under the action of stress to make a shallow impression on the surface of the specimen. Penetration depth at given stress is measured as a function of time to obtain an impression creep curve. At constant stress similarity can be seen between impression creep curve and normal creep curve. The same procedure is repeated for different temperature conditions. The impression creep curve explains creep characteristics of the specimens. Four different grade carbon specimens are used for testing. Deflection readings are noted for a time interval of 30 seconds. Impression creep curve will be plotted to find the creep behavior.

Fabrication of glass/carbon fiber-reinforced Al-based composites through deformation bonding

The goal of the present study is to fabricate the short fiber-reinforced metal matrix composites by accumulative roll bonding. Various mixtures of fibers including 100 glass, 95 glass/5 carbon and 80 glass/20 carbon (all in wt.%) were used as the reinforcement. In order to investigate the bonding quality at layer interface, the composites with various fiber mixtures were produced by cold roll bonding. The bonding strength of the composites under different processing conditions including the fiber mixture, reduction in thickness and post-rolling annealing was measured by the peeling test. The 95 glass/5 carbon mixture was used to fabricate the fiber-reinforced composite through accumulative roll bonding. The fiber distribution, tensile properties and wear behavior of the composite were investigated at various numbers of accumulative roll bonding cycle. It was found that during accumulative roll bonding, the fiber clusters were broken and fragmented into smaller pieces. Results showed that the tensile strength and wear resistance of the composite enhanced with increasing the number of accumulative roll bonding cycles.

Electroless carbon fibers: A new route for improving mechanical property and wettability of composites

For carbon fiber reinforced metal matrix composites, there are many potential problems such as severe agglomeration of carbon fibers (CFs), their poor interfacial wettability with the matrix, and poor mechanical strength. To solve these problems, we proposed to use electroless plating to coat a layer of Ni onto the CFs, and then studied their interfacial structures, fracture strain/strength and wettability. The coated Ni layer was uniformly distributed onto and well bonded with the CFs. The maximum strain of the CFs coated with the Ni layer was increased by 23.4%, though their average fracture strength was slightly decreased from 3.5 GPa to 2.25 GPa. The wettability of the Ni-coated fiber was significantly improved, verified from testing results using both a dip coating method and a fiber reinforced composite simulation test.

A novel selective laser melting process for glass fiber-reinforced metal matrix composites

A novel selective laser melting (SLM) process is presented for fabrication of glass fiber-reinforced metal (GFRM) matrix composite material. The SLM experiments are conducted using aluminum powders as matrix material and S-2 glass fibers as reinforcement. Laser heating turns the aluminum powders into a molten viscous flow which encapsulates the S-2 glass fibers. The glass fibers are not melted during the SLM process as the glass transition temperature is significantly higher than the melting point of aluminum powder. After the process, a mechanically enhanced glass fiber-reinforced metal matrix composite is produced with intact glass fibers embedded in the aluminum matrix.

A micromechanics method for transverse creep behavior induced by interface diffusion in unidirectional fiber-reinforced metal matrix composites

In this study, we present a new micromechanics method to predict the transverse creep rate induced by interface diffusion in unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites and evolution of overall creep strain under constant applied stress. An analytical solution for creep rate induced by interfacial diffusion, depending on the applied stress, fiber volume fraction and radius of the fiber, as well as the modulus ratio between the fiber and the matrix, is obtained. A micromechanics model is proposed to estimate the stress field in the fiber, which is related to the driving force for the interface diffusion, the normal stress on the interface. Comparison with finite element analysis shows that the present micromechanics model is of good accuracy, especially for high fiber volume fraction and large elastic modulus ratio between fiber and matrix. With the proposed micromechanics method based on the average field theory, the variation of overall creep strains and stresses with time in fibers under constant external load are analyzed by the incremental creep analysis procedures.

The effects of heat treatment at temperatures of 1100 °C to 1300 °C on the tensile properties of high-strength drawn tungsten fibres

The design and manufacture of highly heat loaded plasma-facing components (PFCs) represents a major challenge for the realisation of thermonuclear magnetic confinement fusion. The performance of such PFCs is essentially related to the properties of the materials that are used for their design. Currently, tungsten fibre-reinforced metal matrix composites (MMCs) are regarded as promising advanced materials for PFC applications. In this respect, tungsten fibre-reinforced tungsten is being investigated as an advanced pseudo-ductile plasma-facing material while tungsten fibre-reinforced copper is being developed as an advanced heat sink material. The essential ingredients for the abovementioned MMCs are the fibrous reinforcements which are commercially available drawn tungsten fibres.An important aspect regarding the development of the abovementioned MMCs is the effect of the composite material manufacturing process on the properties of these high-strength reinforcements. During composite material manufacturing experiments it has been found that the mechanical properties of the used W fibres can be deteriorated significantly already at process temperatures of approximately 1200 °C.Against this background, dedicated investigations have been conducted on drawn tungsten fibre samples. In more detail, single fibre tensile tests, microstructural investigations as well as chemical composition analyses have been conducted. All in all, the performed investigations indicate that impurities incorporated into the tungsten fibre material are the underlying reason for the observed deterioration of the mechanical properties.

Application of Composite Materials in Engine

This paper analyzes the technical and demand problems of the current automotive and aviation engines, andintroduces the applications of carbon fiber reinforced metal matrix composites and resin matrix composites in thepiston and connecting rods of automobile engines. Composite materials and ceramic matrix composites on civilaircraft engines, as well as composite materials and composites in military aerospace engines (solid rocket motors andtranscendental ramjet) applications, and some of the composite materials The application raises key questions andsuggestions.

Pressure-assisted infiltration of molten metals into non-rigid, porous carbon fibre structures

Mercury intrusion porosimetry has been conducted on a range of non-rigid, porous carbon fibre structures. Comparison with data from gas pressure infiltration experiments in a molten Al-Si alloy shows it to be a useful tool in determining the pressure required to produce Al metal matrix composites with low levels of porosity. Whilst for non-rigid fibre preforms, as studied here, it is difficult to pin-point every aspect of the infiltration process, the method does give an indication of critical aspects of the infiltration behaviour. Preforms made from loose and spread tow can be fully infiltrated at relatively low pressures (12bar) and although metal can fill the spaces between fibre bundles within textile-based preforms at low pressures, densely-packed bundles are only infiltrated at higher pressures, usually in excess of 50bar. Mercury intrusion porosimetry could provide a valuable and simple tool in the design of fibre-reinforced metal matrix composites with optimised structures that are easy to manufacture.

МЕТОДЫ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ ПОЛУФАБРИКАТОВ ДЛЯ ИЗГОТОВЛЕНИЯ ВОЛОКНИСТЫХ МЕТАЛЛИЧЕСКИХ КОМПОЗИЦИОННЫХ МАТЕРИАЛОВ (обзор)

МЕТОДЫ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ ПОЛУФАБРИКАТОВ ДЛЯ ИЗГОТОВЛЕНИЯ ВОЛОКНИСТЫХ МЕТАЛЛИЧЕСКИХ КОМПОЗИЦИОННЫХ МАТЕРИАЛОВ (обзор)

连续纤维增强金属基复合材料研究进展及其激光熔覆

连续纤维增强金属基复合材料研究进展及其激光熔覆

Elastoplastic damage micromechanics for continuous fiber-reinforced ductile matrix composites with progressive fiber breakage

An elastoplastic damage micromechanical framework considering evolutionary fiber breakage is proposed to predict the overall material behaviors of continuous fiber-reinforced composites with ductile matrix under external loading. In the present work, we assume that the overall nonlinear behavior of a composite is primarily attributed to the plastic deformation in the matrix as well as the damage evolution due to fiber breakage. The effective elastoplastic deformations are governed by means of the effective yield surface derived from a representative microstructure with elastic fibers embedded in an elastoplastic matrix material. The matrix behaves elastically or plastically depending on the local stress, and the effective elastoplastic deformation obeys the associative plastic flow rule and isotropic hardening law. In addition, taking advantage of the eigenstrain due to fiber breakage together with a Weibull statistic model, the evolutionary fiber breakage mechanism is effectively predicted. Finally, the overall elastoplastic stress–strain responses are reached under the framework of micromechanics and damage mechanics. Comparisons between the proposed theoretical predictions and experimental data are performed to illustrate the capability of the proposed framework. In particular, the proposed model is employed to investigate the overall uniaxial and axisymmetric elastoplastic stress–strain responses of the continuous fiber-reinforced metal matrix composites. Studies of the initial yield surfaces at various damage levels are conducted as well.