Mechanical properties and strength prediction of Al/E-glass fiber composites fabricated by cross accumulative roll bonding process

In this work, Al/E-glass fiber composites were fabricated by the cross accumulative roll bonding (CARB) process, and their structure and mechanical behaviors were investigated. The structural characterization by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy indicates that the continuous fibers are fragmented during the CARB process, leading to the production of an ultrafine-grained short fibers reinforced composite at the final cycle. A combined model was used to predict the yield strength of the fabricated Al/E-glass fiber composites. Also, the yield strength of the samples was measured by tensile tests. The agreement of the calculated and measured yield strength showed the model used for the strength prediction is dependable. The investigation of the micro-hardness and wear properties of the composites depicted that by increasing the CARB cycles, despite the increase in micro-hardness, the wear resistance is decreased, which was attributed to the layered structure.

Automated summary

Al/E-glass fiber composites were fabricated using the cross accumulative roll bonding (CARB) process, resulting in short fiber reinforced ultrafine-grained composites. The yield strength of the composites was accurately predicted by a combined model and verified through tensile tests. Increasing CARB cycles led to higher micro-hardness but decreased wear resistance due to the layered structure.