STATISTICAL-ANALYSIS OF THE TENSILE-STRENGTH OF AN AL2O3 SHORT-FIBER-REINFORCED ALUMINUM COMPOSITE

Metal matrix composites are presently being introduced in various indu strial applications; specifically delta-alumina short-fibre-reinforced aluminium composites are already employed by some Japanese companies for the production of car pistons. Many studies on the fundamental pro perties of these composites can be found in the literature. However, i n spite of what would be expected from an industrially employed materi al, some relevant aspects still remain to be studied. One of these imp ortant aspects scarcely found in the literature is the reliability of the material. This paper presents a statistical evaluation of the tens ile strength of a delta-alumina short-fibre-reinforced aluminium alloy by means of Weibull statistics, in order to determine the reliability and repeatability of the material.