Laminated particulate-reinforced aluminum composites with improved toughness Original Research Article

An architectural approach for toughening discontinuously reinforced aluminum (DRA) alloys is described. It is based upon exploiting the higher apparent toughness of thin DRA lamina to obtain a laminate of higher thickness and toughness. The laminated composite consisted of alternate layers of a 7093/SiC/15p DRA, and an unreinforced aluminum–manganese alloy, 3003. Fracture toughness tests in the crack divider configuration showed a toughness improvement of 79% in an underaged condition and an improvement of 53% in the peak-aged condition compared to the monolithic DRA. Fractographic observations of the primary void size, and its close correspondence with the fracture surface of thin specimens, provided evidence that the individual DRA lamina indeed experienced sufficient loss of constraint in the thickness direction. This was further confirmed by observations of delamination in the fast fracture domain. However, the bond strength was quite good, as evidenced by very little delamination in the fatigue crack growth region, and by a lack of such damage in tension specimens. In essence, the laminate behaved as a smart structure, being resistant to failure under normal conditions, but allowing full loss of constraint in the severe stress–strain field ahead of a loaded crack. Modeling efforts were consistent with a reduction of hydrostatic stress, through the loss of out-of-plane constraint for the laminas, although the predicted level of toughness improvement was lower than observed. Overall, this study clearly demonstrates that the fracture toughness of laminated composites can be engineered based on the understanding of constraint effects associated with specimen thickness in the DRA composite.