Hypervelocity impact damage and microstructure evolution of woven Ti₆Al₄V fabric reinforced aluminum matrix composites

Highlights: • Woven Ti6Al4V fabrics in (2D-T_if)/Al composites can hinder the penetration of hypervelocity projectile effectively. • TiAl₃ interfacial reaction products and TiAl diffusion layer were formed during the fabrication stage. • Phase transition happens on Ti-Al interfacial region of (2D-T_if)/Al composites under hypervelocity impact. • A transit band characterized as amorphous, nano-grain and multigrain is formed on Ti-Al interfacial layers. For improving the strength and the ductility, woven Ti6Al4V fabric were chosen as the reinforcements for aluminum matrix composites (AMCs). The composites were fabricated by squeeze casting method with a very short solidification time. Interfacial characteristics and hypervelocity impact damage of (2D-Ti_f)/Al composites were analyzed by means of TEM and HREM. The effects of hypervelocity impact on microstructure evolution in the crater were also discussed. TEM observation showed that TiAl₃ interfacial reaction products and TiAl diffusion layer were formed on Ti-Al interfaces during the fabrication stage. Hypervelocity impact results showed that the addition of woven Ti6Al4V fabric improved the hypervelocity impact resistance of aluminum alloy. After hypervelocity impact, the dislocation density in the matrix increased obviously. Microstructure evolution of TiAl diffusion layer was characterized as a phase transition band including TiAl amorphous, nano-grain and multigrain. It was attributed to adiabatic shear temperature rising which caused the formation of amorphous and nano-grain.