INVESTIGATION ON THERMAL PROPERTIES OF Al/SiCp METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE BASED ON FEM ANALYSIS

Computational simulations on the thermal analysis of metal matrix composite (MMC) composed of Al and SiC were performed in extended areas of SiC volume fraction. Due to the experimental limitations, only the narrow range of SiC volume fraction has been examined. Through the simulation, which enables current experimental situation to extend, we attempted to explore the dependencies of thermal and mechanical properties on changing the value of volume fraction (Vf). To calculate the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), variables with temperature and Vf were given in a range from 25°C to 100°C and 0 to 100%, respectively. We obtained quantitative results including CTE as a function of Vf, which are in a good agreement with previous experimental reports. Furthermore, the stress analysis about thermally expanded MMC was performed. At low volume fraction of SiC, the thermal expansion caused the tensile stress at Al near the interface. However, as the volume fraction of SiC was increased, the stress turned to be compressive, it’s because the linked SiC particles contracted the expansion of Al. The MMC of Al matrix face centered cubic site SiC particles has more stress evolutions than the MMC of Al matrix simple cubic site SiC particles at same volume fraction.