Abstract
Direct observation of the reinforcing fibers was attempted by X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) using synchrotron radiation in the Photon Factory of the National Laboratory for High Energy Physics (KEK) in Tsukuba. The energies were selected 21 and 29 keV for aluminium and aluminium alloys matrix composites and titanium alloy matrix composite on the basis of the X-ray absorption coefficients of the included elements in composites, respectively. The inner fibers and debonding parts of the interface between fiber and matrix were clearly found for SiC/Al composite. In the case of SiC/Al and SiC/A6061 aluminium composite the core carbon fibers of 30 μm in diameter were also observed. It is considered that the resolution of X-ray CT scanner used in this study was about 10 μm. The 3-dimensional images were reconstructed from several cross sectional CT images. It is point out that the 3-dimensional images visually displayed inner structures are very useful to examine the fracture process of the fibers contained in the metal matrix composite.
