RARE METALS

Vol. 29, No. 1, Feb 2010, p. 102

DOI: 10.1007/s12598-010-0018-2

Comparative study on the interface and mechanical properties of T700/Al and

M40/Al composites

ZHANG Yunhea, b and WU Gaohuia

a
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
b
School of Electromechanical Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Received 22 January 2009; received in revised form 9 June 2009; accepted 22 June 2009
© The Nonferrous Metals Society of China and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010

Abstract

T700/Al and M40/Al composites were fabricated by squeeze casting technology, and their interface and mechanical properties were investi-
gated comparatively. The results showed that both of the composites were dense, and the fibers were distributed uniformly in aluminum ma-
trix. Aluminum carbide (Al4C3) was observed on the interface of the two carbon fiber-reinforced aluminum (Cf/Al) composites. There was
little Al4C3 with a length of 300-500 nm and a width of 30-60 nm in the M40/Al composite, whereas there was a great deal of Al4C3 with a
length of 200-400 nm and a width of 100-200 nm in the T700/Al composite, due to a higher graphitization of M40Cf than T700Cf. The
M40/Al composite showed a much higher tensile strength than the T700/Al composite, and it was related to interfacial bonding between
carbon fibers and aluminum matrices.

Keywords: carbon fiber; aluminum matrix composite; interface reaction; mechanical properties

minum matrices at elevated temperature [12-13]. However,

1. Introduction
Recently, continuous carbon fiber-reinforced aluminum
alloy (Cf/Al) composites have been receiving considerable
attention due to their high specific strength and modulus for
application in automobile, aerospace, and electrical cable
industries [1-9]. Choice of fiber reinforcements is the first
issue to be considered for composite materials. Carbon fi-
bers can be classified into two main categories according to
their mechanical properties, i.e., the high-strength type and
the high modulus type. High-strength carbon fibers (HSCFs),
which are heat-treated to temperatures lower than 1773 K,
have a low modulus but very high strength. Although
HSCFs also have crystallite orientation mainly parallel to
the fiber axis, the size of crystallites is too small compared
to that of High-modulus carbon fibers (HMCFs). HMCFs
are highly graphitized at temperatures of above 2273K and
are characterized by a high modulus. They have the
long-distance order of graphite crystallites, mainly parallel
to the fiber axis [10-11]. The two types of carbon fibers have
been applied in aluminum matrix composites. Generally, it
has been reported that HMCFs are more suitable for rein-
forcing aluminum matrices than HSCFS because HMCFs
have a lower degree of reaction between the fibers and alu-
Towata et al. [14] have also reported that HSCF/Al compos-
ites with hybridizing of SiC whiskers and particulates had a
flexural strength of about 1000 MPa.
The present work is focused on the effects of the type of
carbon fibers on the interface and mechanical properties of
the composites. Thus, T700Cf and M40Cf, which indicated
HSCFs and HMCFs, were chosen as reinforcements, respec-
tively. The interface reaction and mechanical properties of
T700/Al and M40/Al composites were investigated in detail.
2. Materials and experimental methods
High strength T700 PAN-based carbon fibers and high
modulus M40 PAN-based carbon fibers (both purchased
from Toray) were used to reinforce 6061Al, respectively.
Table 1 shows the mechanical properties of the two fibers.
The 6061 Al alloy used as a matrix in this study had the fol-
lowing chemical composition: Cu, 4.3 wt.%; Mn, 1 wt.%;
Mg, 0.9 wt.%; Si, 0.5 wt.%; and the rest of Al. Two Cf/Al
composites were fabricated by squeeze casting technology,
both containing a high volume fraction of fibers (about
55%).
The microstructure feature of the composites was exam-

Corresponding author: WU Gaohui E-mail: zyh115@126.com, hitmmc@126.com

Zhang Y.H. et al., Comparative study on the interface and mechanical properties of T700/Al and M40/Al composites 103

Table 1. Basic properties of carbon fibers

Fiber Tensile strength / GPa Young’s modulus / GPa Fracture elongation / % Density / (g⋅cm−3) Diameter / μm
T700 4.9 230 2.1 1.80 7
M40 4.41 377 1.2 1.77 5

ined using a ZEISS-40MAT optical microscope, and the
phase of the composites was identified by X-ray diffraction
(XRD). The interfacial microstructure in the composite was
observed by a Philips T20 transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) with 200 kV of accelerating voltage, and the speci-
mens for TEM were thinned by a Gattan-600 ion beam
thinner. Tensile tests were conducted at ambient temperature
using an INSTRON 5569 universal test machine with a
loading rate of 0.5 mm/min. The test specimens were cut
along the fiber’s orientation. Each tensile strength was the
average of five measurements. Fractured surfaces of the ten-
sile specimens were examined using an S-570 scanning
electron microscope (SEM).
To understand the change of carbon fibers after compos-
ite fabrication, scanning electron microscopy (S-570, SEM)
observations were performed on the fibers extracted from
Cf/Al composites and the as-received carbon fibers. The ex-
traction of carbon fibers from Cf/Al composites was accom-
plished with a 10 wt.% NaOH aqueous solution.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Microstructure of composites
Metallographic examination was performed to under-
stand the microstructure of the two composites. The com-
posites were mechanically polished using standard metal-
lographic techniques.
The fiber volume fractions of the two composites were
evaluated and found to be about 55%. Fig. 1 shows typical
optical micrographs of as-cast Cf/Al composites. As shown
in Fig. 1, the two composites were free from common cast
defects, such as porosity and shrinking cavities. It was bene-
ficial to improvement in mechanical strength. The carbon
fibers were distributed relatively uniformly in the aluminum
matrix, indicating that the composite was dense and macro-
scopically homogeneous.

Fig. 1. Optical microstructure of Cf/Al composites: (a) T700/Al; (b) M40/Al.

3.2. XRD analysis

Fig. 2 shows the XRD patterns of the two composites
with different fibers. The diffraction peaks of Al phase and
C phase can be clearly observed in the two patterns. As
Al4C3 phase can be observed in the pattern of the T700/Al
composite, it indicates that the reaction between Al and C
happened in the T700/Al composite. The intensity of the
diffraction peaks of Al4C3 phase in the pattern of M40/Al
becomes so weak that it cannot be observed due to a low
extent of interface reaction between M40 carbon fiber and
aluminum matrix.

3.3. Interface reaction Fig. 2. XRD patterns of Cf/Al composites: (a) T700/Al; (b)
The undesirable formation of aluminum carbide (Al4C3) M40/Al.
104
at the interface is often observed in Cf/Al composites fabri-
cated at high temperatures. At 750°C, the free energy of
formation of Al4C3 (4Al(l) + 3C(s) → Al4C3(s)) is −168
kJ/mol [15].
The T700/Al composite shows extents of Al4C3 at the fi-
ber/matrix interfaces, which is 200-400 nm long and
100-200 nm wide, and has a length-width ratio of 2, as
shown in Fig. 3(a). In the M40/Al composite, as shown in
Fig. 3(b), Al4C3 has transformed from blocky to needle,
which is 300-500nm long and 30-60 nm wide, and has a
length-width ratio of 10, and their sizes are less than those in
T700/Al. For a better understanding of the formation of car-
bides in the composites, it is important to clarify the process
of growth. The growth of carbide crystals in liquid alumi-
num may be described as a three-stage process [16]: (1)
dissolution of carbon fibers in liquid aluminum; (2) carbon
diffusion, producing a homogeneous distribution in the melt
Fig. 3. TEM images of Cf/Al composites: (a) T700/Al; (b) M40/Al.
3.4. Fiber surface morphology
Fig. 4 shows the surface morphologies of the as-received
T700Cf and M40Cf, as well as those extracted from the fab-
ricated composites (abbreviated as extracted carbon fiber).
In the case of T700Cf, as shown in Figs. 4(a) and 4(c), the
surface of the as-received carbon fiber is very smooth and
that of the extracted carbon fiber is so rough and has many
small erosion pits, which are caused by interface reaction
products eroded by NaOH aqueous solution. In the case of
M40Cf, as shown in Figs. 4(b) and 4(d), the surface of the
as-received carbon fiber is also smooth and has many
grooves on its surface while that of the extracted carbon fi-
ber has few fine erosion pits and has deeper grooves on its
surface.
The above observations imply that the amount of reaction
RARE METALS, Vol. 29, No. 1, Feb 2010
of aluminum and its transport to the growing carbide surface;
(3) deposition of carbon atoms in moving growth steps of
the carbide crystal surface. It is well known that high
modulus carbon fibers are made from high strength carbon
fibers after graphitization stage at the extreme temperatures.
Therefore, the graphitization degree of high modulus carbon
fibers is high as compared with that of high strength carbon
fibers. This means when the graphitization degree of the
carbon fiber is higher, its crystal structure is closer to that of
perfect graphite. It is clear that carbon atoms are separated
easily from the irregular structure of T700Cf than from the
regular structure of M40Cf. The carbon concentration of
T700Cf in liquid aluminum is higher than that of M40Cf.
Much more carbon atoms are furnished to aluminum car-
bides growing in the T700/Al composite than in the M40/Al
composite. Consequently, the carbide growth in the M40/Al
composite is limited due to high graphitization of M40Cf.
products in the T700/Al composite is larger than that in the
M40/Al composite, which is consistent with foregoing XRD
analysis, and considerable damage on the T700Cf happened
during fabrication, while weak damage on the M40Cf oc-
curred.
3.5. Mechanical properties
The mechanical properties of T700/Al and M40/Al
composites are presented in Fig. 5. The tensile strength of
the M40/Al composite reaches 751 MPa, whereas that of the
T700/Al composite only attains 386 MPa, although the ten-
sile strength of the high strength T700Cf is much higher
than that of the high modulus M40Cf. The above results
suggest that the high modulus carbon fibers have effectively
reinforced the weak aluminum matrix, but the high strength
carbon fibers have only contributed a rather limited per-
Zhang Y.H. et al., Comparative study on the interface and mechanical properties of T700/Al and M40/Al composites
Fig. 4. SEM surface morphologies of as-received T700Cf (a), as-received M40Cf (b), T700Cf extracted from the T700/Al composite
(c), and M40Cf extracted from the M40/Al composite (d).
Fig. 5. Tensile strength of two Cf/Al composites.
centage of their original strength to the composite. It is clear
that interface reaction has a significant influence on the me-
chanical properties of the composites. With the extent of in-
terface reaction decreasing, two characteristic failure
mechanisms occur, which correlate with the strength of the
composites. In the T700/Al composite with heavy interface
reaction, the fracture surface is flat, and no fiber pull-out is
observed (Fig. 6(a)); splitting of carbon fibers is also clearly
observed at the locations denoted by arrows (Fig. 6(b)), in-
dicating a strongly bonded interface of this composite that
led to a typical brittle fracture. Interface reaction of the
M40/Al composite is relatively weaker, and the fracture
surface is characterized by pull-out and fracture of fiber
bundles (Figs. 6(c) and 6(d), which hints the effective use of
the fiber strength. Therefore, the two different failure modes
105
of brittle failure and bundle failure are induced due to
changing the nature of the interface.
Generally, a weak reaction between the components es-
tablishes weak bonds at their interfaces, so the composite
fracture is used as a lightly bound bundle of fibers exhibiting
low mechanical strength. However, if the interface bonding
is medium, the fracture of individual fibers does not have a
significant deleterious effect on the load-carrying capacity of
the composites. Once microcracks are nucleated in a brittle
fiber under stress, they are stopped or deflected at interfaces
due to interface debonding and sliding by medium bonding,
which results in the broken fiber pull-out, therefore leading
to high composite strengths. However, while the reaction is
strong, these brittle Al4C3 may break before fibers break
during loading. The corresponding crack may propagate in
the fiber and the surrounding aluminum matrix due to strong
interface bonding, which finally result in low stress fracture
of composites [17-19]. Thus, heavy interface reactions in the
T700/Al composite due to low graphitization of T700Cf re-
sult in a strong interface bonding and the degradation in
mechanical properties, whereas relatively weaker interface
reactions in the M40/Al composites than in T700/Al
composites lead to a relatively weaker interface bonding and
the improvement in mechanical properties. It should be
noted that if higher graphitized carbon fibers, such as M55
(E = 540 GPa, σ = 4020 MPa), are used as reinforcement,
the mechanical properties of the composites will be further
improved due to further weaker interface reaction in the
106
Fig. 6. SEM tensile fractographs of Cf/Al composites: (a)-(b) T700/Al, noting the split of carbon fibers denoted by arrows; (c)-(d)
M40/Al.
M55/Al composite than in the M40/Al composite, and the
interface bonding of the M55/Al composite is close to me-
dium interface bonding.
4. Conclusions
The interface and mechanical properties of T700/Al and
M40/Al composites were investigated. The preliminary re-
sults indicated the following.
(1) Both dense and homogeneous T700/Al and M40/Al
composites were successfully fabricated by squeeze casting
technology.
(2) Microscopic observations show a heavier interface
reaction of the T700/Al composite than the M40/Al com-
posite corresponding to a lower graphitization of T700Cf
than M40Cf. A great deal of Al4C3 with a length of 200-400
nm and a width of 100-200 nm was observed in the T700/Al
composite, whereas little Al4C3 with a length of 300-500 nm
and a width of 30-60 nm was observed in the M40/Al com-
posite.
(3) The M40/Al composite achieves a longitudinal tensile
RARE METALS, Vol. 29, No. 1, Feb 2010
strength of 751 MPa, whereas the T700/Al composite has
only 386 MPa. The observation of the fracture morphology
of the two composites indicates that the interface bonding of
the M40/Al composite is weaker than that of the T700/Al
composite, which results in the improvement in mechanical
properties of the former than the latter.
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