Fracture toughness of discontinuously reinforced aluminium 6061 matrix composites

✍ Scribed by M. J. Hadianfard; J. C. Healy; Yiu -Wing Mai

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 854 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-2461
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00365047

✦ Synopsis

The fracture toughness of two aluminium 6061 matrix composites reinforced with 20 vol% discontinuous reinforcement has been determined over a range of heat treatments. The materials investigated were Comral-85, reinforced with 20 vol % alumina-based microspheres, and Duralcan reinforced with 20 vol% angular alumina particulates. These were produced in an identical manner. Although the fracture toughness of both materials was relatively insensitive to ageing time, the Duralcan composite was significantly tougher than Comral-85 for all heat treatments examined. The matrix composition of both alloys was determined and it was found that Comral-85 contained higher additions of silicon and iron, resulting in the formation of an increased density of secondary particles. This was found to be the primary cause of the difference in fracture toughness between these two materials.