1993 Volume 42 Issue 477 Pages 689-695
As a first step in the study on the fatigue mechanism of fiber and/or particle reinforced aluminum alloys, we carried out, in this study, a series of fatigue tests and fatigue crack growth tests on an alumina short fiber reinforced aluminum alloy in push-pull load conditions. The results indicated that the fatigue failure of this fiber reinforced aluminum alloy was governed by two main mechanisms: One was a debonding of the fiber and the matrix induced by the localized plastic strain, depending on the mismatch of elastic constants, and another was the failure of the matrix induced by the accumulation of fatigue damage around the bond interface. In the higher applied stress range, and at room and relatively lower temperatures, the former mechanism is predominant, but in the lower stress range, and consequently in longer life region, the latter mechanism plays a main role and this trend becomes more dominant with each increase in temperature.
