Effect of the initial specimen shape of stacked foils on the bending properties of multilayered Al/Ti-flake composites fabricated by cold pressure welding.

Titanium-flakes-reinforced aluminum-matrix composites with three kinds of titanium volume fractions were fabricated by cold pressure welding of alternately multilayered pure aluminum and titanium foils. Effects of the initial specimen shape of the stacked foils on the shape and size of composites fabricated, morphology of dispersed titanium flakes, and anisotropy of the bending strength of the composites were investigated. Results obtained are as follows: (1) After cold pressure welding, increment in length of the shorter side of the initial specimen increases with ratio of length of the both sides, and increment in length of the longer side decreases with the ratio. (2) The length to width ratio of dispersed titanium flakes in the aluminum matrix increases with increasing ratio of long side length to short side one of the initial specimen. (3) Bending strength in the longitudinal and transverse direction of the composites are nearly equal when the ratio of length of the both sides is one. The difference in the bending strengths gets greater with increasing ratio of length of the both sides. In other words, the longitudinal bending strength increases, but the transverse bending strength decreases, with increasing ratio of length of the both sides of the initial specimen.