Effects of the coating system and interfacial region thickness on the thermal residual stresses in SiCf/Ti-6Al-4V composites

A three-dimensional finite element model was developed to study effects of the coating system and interfacial region thickness on the distributions of the thermal residual stresses in continuous SiC fiber reinforced Ti-6Al-4V composite. Three coating systems were applied in this study, that is, C coating, C/TiB2 coating and without coating. The influence of the interfacial region thickness on the thermal residual stresses in the composite was analyzed with concerning the simple case of without coating. Some proposal was given for the interface structure design of the composites. With regard to the thermal residual stresses, the C coating is an advisable choice for the interface structure design of the continuous SiC fiber reinforced Ti-6Al-4V composites. And for the region of the interfacial region thickness from 1 mu m to 3 mu m, the thicker interfacial region can reduce most of the thermal residual stresses in composites and improve the axial tensile strength of the composite. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.