ROLE OF CLADDING IN THE NOTCHED TENSILE PROPERTIES OF A TITANIUM MATRIX COMPOSITE

The utility of Ti cladding in alleviating the notch sensitivity of bot h the monotonic and cyclic tensile properties of Ti matrix composites (TMC) has been examined. Experiments have been conducted on panels wit h two different clad thicknesses as well as on the TMC alone. Crack br idging models have been used to describe the composite behavior, incor porating explicitly the effects of the cladding. It is demonstrated th at the notched strength can be raised up to the level corresponding to the unnotched TMC alone, with a critical clad thickness that depends on the fracture properties of the TMC and the notch size. The fatigue threshold can be elevated also, though it cannot reach the threshold o f the un-notched TMC. The bridging models have been used to calculate the trends in the strength and the fatigue threshold with the clad thi ckness.