Impact behavior and damage characteristics of hybrid composites reinforced by Ti fibers and M40 fibers

• Hybrid composites present higher impact resistance than aluminum alloy sheets.
• Addition of M40 and Ti fibers can improve the impact resistance of matrix alloy.
• Addition of M40 and Ti fibers can restrain the formation of adiabatic shear bands.
• Hybrid composites fracture predominantly by delaminating and interfacial cracks.

Hybrid composites reinforced by Ti fibers and M40 fibers were fabricated by pressure infiltration method. Hypervelocity impact behaviors of the composites thin targets were researched by two-stage light gas gun and the corresponding damage mechanism was analyzed by means of SEM and TEM. Results showed that the hybrid composites presented high impact resistance. The penetration depth was 1.17 mm as impacted by a ∅1.0 mm projectile, much lower than that of 5A06-T6 sheets. The reinforcement fibers as Ti fibers and M40 fibers also caused the spallation damage. Microstructure observation indicated that hybrid composites fractured dominantly by internal delaminating and interlayer cracking between M40–Al and Ti–Al interfaces. The damage region diameter measured by non-destructive method was 1.65 times higher than the crater diameter. It was considered that the inferior to the hybrid composites was ascribed to the mismatch of physical and mechanical properties among the matrix and reinforcement fibers, especially for M40 fibers.

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