Unidirectional steel wire reinforced metal matrix syntactic foams

Abstract A double composite structure has been successfully produced using vacuum infiltration. In this structure, the matrix was unalloyed aluminium filled with Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate Particles to create metal matrix syntactic foam, and stainless steel wires were placed inside this matrix as unidirectional reinforcement. The wires created a shape-locking bond with the matrix owing to their wave-like form, which helped to prevent reinforcement pullout. Based on the acquired tensile data, the tensile strength of the specimens calculated with the theoretical maximum area of reinforcement wires is R m, theoretical = 1063 ± 192 MPa, while the tensile strength of the individual wires is R m, wires = 882 ± 2, which leads to the conclusion that the matrix distributed some of the stress.