High strain rate deformation behavior of a continuous ®ber reinforced aluminum metal matrix composite M. Guden a , I.W. Hall b, * a Izmir Institute of Technology, Izmir, Turkey b University of Delaware, Mechanical Engineering, Newark, DE 19716, USA Abstract An aluminum metal matrix composite reinforced with continuous unidirectional a-Al 2 O 3 ®bers has been compression tested at quasi-static and dynamic strain rates. In the transverse direction, the composite showed increased ¯ow stress and maximum stress within the studied strain rate regime, 10 3 to 3500 s 1 . The strain rate sensitivity of the ¯ow stress in this direction was found to be similar to that of a similar, but unreinforced, alloy determined from previous work. In the longitudinal direction, the maximum stress of the composite increased with increasing strain rate within the range 10 5 to 700 s 1 . The strain rate dependent maximum stress in this direction was described by the strain rate dependent ®ber buckling stress. 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Continuous ®ber; Metal matrix composite; High strain rate; Compression 1. Introduction The high strain rate mechanical behavior of Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) and as well as other com- posites is important for several reasons. First, knowl- edge of the mechanical properties of composites at high strain rates is needed for designing with these ma- terials in applications where sudden changes in loading rates are likely to occur. Second, knowledge of both the dynamic and quasi-static mechanical responses can be used to establish the constitutive equations which are necessary to increase the con®dence limits of these materials, particularly if they are to be used in critical structural applications. This study reports further research on the high strain rate compressive deformation behavior of a con- tinuous ®ber reinforced Al MMC tested in the longi- tudinal and transverse directions and compared with its quasi-static behavior. Previous work on this ma- terial [1] reported some preliminary mechanical prop- erty results. This report now presents further results of the quasi-static and dynamic compression tests and uses the data to examine the predictions of simple con- stitutive equations for unidirectionally reinforced com- posite. 2. Materials and testing methods The FP 2 (99% a-alumina)/Al composite was pro- duced by DuPont Company using a molten metal in®l- tration technique. The composite contained 35 volume percent (V f %) unidirectional ®bers and 3% Li in the Computers and Structures 76 (2000) 139±144 0045-7949/00/$ - see front matter 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0045-7949(99)00158-3 www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruc * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-3028312062; fax: +1- 3028314545. E-mail address: hall@me.udel.edu (I.W. Hall).