Materials Science Forum, Vol.473-474, 111-116, 2005
Fatigue crack growth tests on carbon fibre reinforced aluminium matrix composites
Composite materials combine the advantages of their components. Carbon fibre reinforced composites are used in construction where reduced weight is critical. To produce carbon fibre reinforced composites, aluminium alloys can be the matrix. Advantageous properties of aluminium matrix composites - good toughness, low weight - are applied in aerospace and automotive industry. Because aluminium alloys are not reactive to carbon, therefore the coating of the fibres can solve the problem. Nickel coated and chemically treated carbon fibres were used to producing of aluminium matrix composites. The investigated composite materials were prepared by pressure infiltration. The influence of treating of carbon fibres was examined on the fracture mechanical proper-ties of aluminium matrix composites. Three types of matrix materials, three types of carbon fibres and four types of surface treatment were studied. Fatigue crack growth tests were performed under mode I loading condition and the failure mechanisms of the composite materials were investigated. Test results belonging to different coated fibres were compared, and our results were compared with the results from the literature, too.
Keywords:metal matrix composites;carbon fibre;surface treatment;pressure infiltration;fatigue crack growth