AN ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF RESIDUAL-STRESSES ON DEFORMATION AND DAMAGE MECHANISMS IN AL-SIC COMPOSITES

The effect of thermally induced residual stresses on the mechanical properties and ductility of Al-SiC composites was investigated numerically. The predicted behavior in uniaxial loading was calculated with and without the inclusion of the residual stresses which result from the mismatch in thermal expansion between aluminum and SiC. In this analysis, void nucleation by interfacial debonding at the whiskers' ends was assumed to be the limiting failure mechanism. Two cases, both with a fiber volume fraction of 20% and fiber aspect ratio of 4, but with different fiber spacings, were considered. The residual stresses had a small effect on the predicted ductility of the composite, even when a relatively weak interface strength was assumed. The residual stresses are shown to redistribute as interfacial failure is approached. A close end-to-end fiber spacing gives a greater flow strength in compression than in tension and the residual stresses which arise during thermomechanical processing tend to enhance this effect.