aluminum fiber can be used as an alternative to aluminium for manufacturing products that weigh less while offering improved strength. This type of material is used for a variety of applications, including aircraft, automotive and construction machinery.
Impact Damage Analysis of Composites Made from Aluminum Alloy and Carbon Fiber
There are several challenges in the development of FMLs based on aluminum alloys containing a high proportion of carbon fibers. First, it is challenging to infiltrate molten aluminum within the fiber meshes because of the lack of wettability of the carbon fibers under 680 degC. The second challenge is overcoming the delamination of carbon fiber/epoxy layers due to the higher impact energies.
In this study, a gas pressure-assisted high-pressure dilute chemistry (HPDC) process has been developed to infiltrate aluminum alloys with a high fiber volume fraction in carbon fiber/epoxy prepreg. During the HPDC process, the carbon fiber/epoxy prepreg and aluminum alloy are bonded together by means of thermal and chemical bonding processes. The result is a hybrid aluminum alloy composite with a higher Young’s modulus than the aluminum alone, as well as improved yield and tensile strength.