Interfacial microstructure characterization and mechanical behavior of NiTi fiber reinforced Al3Ti composite

Publication date: 5 April 2018
Source:Materials & Design, Volume 143
Author(s): Zichuan Lu, Fengchun Jiang, Yunpeng Chang, Zhongyi Niu, Zhenqiang Wang, Chunhuan Guo
To improve the ductility of Al3Ti alloy, the continuous shape memory alloy NiTi fiber (CSMAR) was introduced into intermetallic Al3Ti matrix for fabricating the novel CSMAR-Al3Ti composite in this work. Microstructure characterizations demonstrated that the CSMAR-Al3Ti composite mainly consists of Al3Ti layer, NiTi fiber, eutectic area and interfacial reaction layer. EBSD results indicated that the eutectic area is made up of Al3Ti and Al3Ni phases, the Al3Ti phase shows a strong [001] crystallographic oriented structure, while the Al3Ni phase has a non-textured structure. TEM results showed that the interfacial reaction layer between NiTi fiber and eutectic area is a multiple phase mixture, including various Ti-Al and Ni-Al intermetallics. Furthermore, TEM and HRTEM analyses revealed a newly formed Ti2Ni layer between NiTi fiber and interfacial reaction layer. Tensile test results confirmed that the CSMAR-Al3Ti composite could effectively improve the ductility of the Al3Ti alloy. Based on the systematic investigations of interfacial microstructure characterization, mechanical behavior and fracture morphology observation, it is found that the toughening mechanism of CSMAR-Al3Ti composite is related to the interfacial fine grain strengthening effect with the gradual distribution characteristic. In addition, the excellent metallurgical bonding between fiber reinforcement and matrix is also beneficial to the mechanical properties.

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