The essential work of fracture as a means for characterizing the influence of particle size and volume fraction on the fracture toughness of plates of Al/SiC composites
- Universite Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium). Dept. des Sciences des Materiaux et des Procedes
- Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium). Dept. Metaalkunde en Toegepaste Materiaalkunde
Over the past 20 years, particulate-reinforced aluminium-matrix composites have been increasingly considered for weight-saving applications in the automotive and aerospace industries. The addition of ceramic particles can lead to higher modulus, yield strength and tensile strength. However, the low ductility and fracture toughness of MMCs remain a major obstacle for applications. When the particle volume fraction is high and when plane strain conditions prevail, the inelastic zone surrounding the crack tip is generally small enough as to allow the testing of fracture toughness on laboratory size specimens using conventional linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) methods. However, for composites containing low volume fractions of particles and/or for samples in the shape of thin plates, extensive yielding invalidates LEFM methods. In such cases, fracture toughness may be measured using the essential work of fracture (EWF) approach. This work aims at investigating the application of the EWF method for measuring the fracture toughness of Al/SiC composite plates with different reinforcement sizes and volume fractions. It will be shown that this method allows to highlight the respective contributions of reinforcement size and matrix strain hardening to the toughness of the plates.
- OSTI ID:
- 276166
- Journal Information:
- Scripta Materialia, Journal Name: Scripta Materialia Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 35; ISSN 1359-6462; ISSN XZ503X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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