Fatigue damage and fracture behavior of tungsten fiber reinforced Zr-based metallic glassy composite

The fatigue life, damage and fracture behavior of tungsten fiber reinforced metallic glass Zr41.25Ti13.75Ni10Cu12.5Be22.5 composites are investigated under cyclic push–pull loading. It is found that the fatigue life of the composite increases with increasing the volume fraction of tungsten fibers. Similar to crystalline metals, the regions of crack initiation, propagation and overload fracture can be discerned on the fracture surface of the specimen. Fatigue crack normally initiates in the metallic glass matrix at the outer surface of the composite specimen and propagates predominantly in the matrix. Different crack front profile around the tungsten fibers and fiber pullout demonstrate that fatigue crack may propagate around the fiber, leading to bridging of the crack faces by the unbroken fiber and hence improved fatigue crack-growth resistance. Locally decreased effective stiffness in the region where fiber distribution is sparse may provide preferential crack path in the composite. A proposed model was exercised to elucidate different tungsten fiber fracture morphologies in the fatigue crack propagation and overload fracture regions in the light of Poisson's ratio effect during fatigue loading.