Study of interfacial stress distribution of SiC fibre reinforced titanium matrix composites under transverse tensile loading

A combination of the transverse tensile test and the unilaterally coupled finite element method was used to evaluate the interfacial normal bond strength and stress distribution of titanium matrix composites (TMCs). In addition, in order to identify the interface shear failure mode of TMCs under transverse loading, both the push out test and the finite element method have been used to characterise the interfacial shear strength of TMCs, which is one of the interfacial failure criterions. The results showed that the interfacial normal bond and shear strengths of SiCf/Ti-6Al-4V were 300 and 350 MPa respectively, and the interface failure mode of TMCs under the transverse tensile test was radial failure rather than shear failure. Moreover, the effect of residual stress on radial stress was also discussed in detail in this paper.