Effects of particle size on the fracture toughness of SiCp/Al alloy metal matrix composites

The influences of the SiC particles, constituents and precipitates on the fracture toughness of SiCp/Al alloy metal matrix composites have been investigated through both modeling and experimental studies. It has been shown that the model predictions are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data when testing on SiCp/Al-Cu-Mg composites. The fracture toughness of the composites decreases with the increase in the volume fractions of the SiCp, constituents and precipitates. The evolution of the fracture toughness during aging is almost inversely proportional to the evolution of the yield stress. Increasing the aging temperature can accelerate the evolution velocity and increase the minimum value of the fracture toughness.