The noteworthy tensile plasticity and strength of CoFeSiB metallic glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract Metallic glass fibers have high strength, poor plasticity and low Young's modulus. In this study, it was used as a reinforcement to prepare metallic glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites with different fiber volume contents (20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%). The effect of fiber volume contents on the tensile properties of the metallic glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites was studied by experiment and the finite element analysis method. The experiment and simulation results are in good agreement. The tensile strength and plasticity of the metallic glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites increase with the increase of fiber volume contents. When the fiber volume content is 40% or 50%, a sharply necking feature appeared on the fibers and exhibited improved plasticity, due to the formation of interacting and arresting events of shear bands occurring at the interface between the metallic glass fibers and the epoxy. In addition, the strain hardening due to plastic deformation of the metallic glass fibers further enhanced the tensile strength of the metallic glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites. This is a first step toward toughening the inherently brittle metallic glass fibers under tensile conditions. Highlights A novel CoFeSiB metallic glass fiber reinforced epoxy resin composite The increase of fiber volume fraction improves the tensile strength and plasticity of fiber reinforced composites. The strain hardening due to plastic deformation of the metallic glass fibers further enhanced the tensile strength of the metallic glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites.