Evaluation of material properties of SiC particle reinforced aluminum alloy composite using neutron and X-ray diffraction

The phase stresses under loading in a monolithic aluminum alloy and an aluminum alloy reinforced with silicon carbide particles were measured by the neutron diffraction method. Under uniaxial loading, the longitudinal and transverse strains in each constituent phase were measured. The diffraction elastic constants for each diffraction plane were investigated as a function of the diffraction intensity by TOF. Single peak analysis was carried out for each diffraction profile. The measured results were compared with the theoretical micromechanical models such as the self-consistent and Mori–Tanaka method using the Eshelby theory (MTE). The accuracy of the elastic constant strongly depends on the diffraction intensity. In order to confirm the rule of mixture, the phase stress was measured by the X-ray method. The macrostress calculated by the rule of mixture agreed very well with the applied stress. Finally, fatigue damage was evaluated by the neutron method. The change of the full width at half maximum in the aluminum phase during fatigue is small. On the other hand, the value in the SiC phase increased steeply just before fracture.