Research on Transverse Mechanical and Fracture Behavior of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Aluminum Alloy Composites Based on Micromechanical FEM

Continuous carbon fiber reinforced aluminum alloy composites (CF/Al composites) were fabricated by vacuum assisted pressure infiltration method. A micromechanical unit cell of the composites was established in which the damage evolution and failure behaviors of matrix alloy and interface were defined with ductile damage constitutive and cohesive interface constitutive respectively. The numerical simulation was carried out to calculate the microstructure damage evolution and failure behaviors of the matrix alloy and interface during transverse tensile process. By comparing the calculated transverse tensile curves with the experimental ones, the reliability of the micromechanical unit cell model was verified. According to the results of mechanical test and fracture surface examination, the fracture behavior and failure mechanism of the CF/Al composites during transverse tensile process was also discussed.