Fracture micromechanisms of dispersion strengthened Al-Al4C3 systems

In the presented work the change in the nature of the strain for the Al-Al4C3 system was studied by ''in situ tensile test in SEM''. It has been shown, during tensile strain the first cracks appear in large Al4C3 particles. The following stress increase brings out the damage of the matrix, either by cracking, or by the decohesion of other larger particles. The crack propagation can be influenced also by the layout of smaller particles in the microstructure if they are arranged in lines. This study helped us to work out a model, presenting the fracture mechanism in the investigated system.