The effects of micro-defects and crack on the mechanical properties of metal fiber sintered sheets

The effects of three types of defect (i.e., two micro defects—broken fibers and separation of fiber joints and one macro defect—crack) on the mechanical properties of porous metal fiber sintered sheets (MFSSs) are investigated by a combination of numerical simulation, analytical modeling, and experimental test. All simulations are based upon the previously developed micromechanics random beam model (Jin et al., 2013). Broken fibers are realized by removing cell edges (i.e., fibers between two joints) in an otherwise perfect model. Their induced decreases in the elastic moduli and strengths are found to be much lower than those of two dimensional (2D) foams and Kagome grids. For the defect in the form of separation of fiber joints, both analytical and numerical models are developed. The predicted linear decreases in the moduli and strengths (except for the compressive strength) with increasing number of separated fiber joints indicate that MFSSs be insensitive to the defect of joint separation. To explore the effect of crack, fracture toughness of MFSSs is measured and is found to be significantly higher than that of metal foams of the same relative density (i.e., volume fraction of the constituent solid material). The underlying ductile mechanism of MFSSs is further investigated by numerical simulations, showing that plastic deformation spreads all over the fibers in ligament rather than concentrates around crack tip. This study shows that MFSSs are superior in view of their resistance to the considered micro-defects and crack.