Journal of Materials Science, Vol.36, No.18, 4459-4463, 2001
Effect of metal volume fraction on the mechanical properties of alumina/aluminum composites
The influence of metal volume fraction on the mechanical properties of Al2O3/Al composites with constant diameter of metal ligaments was studied. Alumina/aluminum composites with interpenetrating networks and metal content between 12 and 34 vol.% were fabricated by gas-pressure infiltration technique. The fabricated composites exhibited good mechanical properties, e.g. the bending strength of 740 MPa for samples containing 12 vol.% of Al. The bending strength of the composites decreased with increasing volume fraction of metal phase. High strength of the fabricated composites was explained by strong interfacial bonding between alumina and aluminum. The fracture toughness of the composites increased, however, with increasing volume fraction of aluminum. The highest fracture toughness values of similar to6 MPa rootm were measured for the composites containing 25 vol.% of Al. Fractographic analysis of fractured surfaces showed deformed metal ligaments which demonstrated that crack bridging by plastic deformation of the metal phase is the main toughening mechanism in Al2O3/Al composites.