Fabrication And Property Investigation Of Carbon Fiber Reinforced5052Aluminum Alloy Composite Plate

With the continuous improvement of the scientific research level and process, aluminum matrix composites with excellent properties have been fabricated. It’s well-known that GLARE laminates (glass fiber/epoxy resin reinforced aluminum laminates) have been applied in the aircraft; and carbon fiber/epoxy resin reinforced aluminum laminates have been developed. However, the laminates with the epoxy resin adhesive have lower interfacial bonding strength, therefore, the damage can happen easily in the interface. In addition, the epoxy resin adhesive of the laminates has some disadvantages: being prone to aging and inferior high-temperature stability, which affects the overall performance of the fiber reinforced aluminum matrix laminates and limits its application range. Therefore, in order to replace the traditional CRALL laminates, the superior high-performance laminates are essential to be developed and are expected to be applied in aerospace field in the future. In the paper, the fiber reinforced aluminum laminates are proposed and fabricated, and its structures and properties are researched.With selecting5052aluminum alloy sheet as the matrix material and T-300unidirectional carbon fiber as the reinforcement material and the good plasticity ZnAl8zinc alloy as the solder between the matrix and the reinforcement, carbon fiber reinforced aluminum matrix composite laminates were fabricated by hot-pressing method. In the paper, the effect of the two variables hot-pressing temperature and hot-pressing loads on the tensile mechanical property, the interfacial bonding strength and interfacial microstructure of composite laminates were investigated. The interfacial bonding strength and the room temperature tensile mechanical property of the composite laminates under different process were tested by using the electronic universal testing machine; the interfacial microstructure and tensile fracture surface were characterized by the scanning electron microscope (SEM); and the energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and the X ray diffraction (XRD) were utilized to investigate the interfacial components.Experiment results show that:(1) Carbon fiber reinforced aluminum matrix laminates with high interfacial bonding strength and room temperature tensile property can be fabricated by hot pressing method with the solder good plasticity ZnAl8alloy;(2) With the increase of hot-pressing loads, the interfacial bonding strength of the laminates fabricated under different hot-pressing temperature first increased and then decreased. Under hot-pressing loads20MPa, the interfacial bonding strength under400℃was greater than that under385℃, which reached respectively at11.06MPa and4.43MPa;(3) When the interfacial bonding strength was higher, fewer carbon fiber was pulled out at the longitudinal tensile fracture of the composites, contributing to function of enhancement effect of the more carbon fiber. As the interfacial bonding strength under hot-pressing temperature400℃and hot-pressing loads is higher, more carbon fiber can play a role in stress transfer and the tensile strength can reach at351MPa, which increases by1.56times compared with the original tensile strength;(4) In the laminates fabricated under20MPa and400℃, no chemical reaction exists between the carbon fiber and the solder; and the way of combination between the solder and the matrix is metallurgical bond, while the way between the solder and carbon fiber is mechanical bond;(5) The wettability between carbon fiber and the solder is closely related to the applied loading. Under400℃hot-pressing temperature, and the solder can partly wet carbon fibers at the load of10MPa, entirely wet at20MPa and still partly wet at30MPa.It is concluded that under the appropriate temperature the applied loading can supply sufficient energy for the solder to flow and infiltrate among the carbon fibers, which makes the solder wet carbon fibers and form the strong bonding interface. The mechanical property of carbon fiber reinforced aluminum laminates depends on the interfacial bonding strength and the integrity of carbon fibers. When carbon fiber was damaged, its enhancement effect on the composites would be reduced; moreover, the lower interfacial bonding strength results in partly function of carbon fibers. Therefore, the stronger bonding interface and remaining integrity of carbon fiber are necessary conditions to obtain the optimal mechanical property of the laminates.