The effect of particle size and mass ratio on the mechanical response of Al/PTFE/SiC composite with a 2(3) factorial design

In order to study the effects of different SiC mass ratios, SiC particle sizes and Al particle sizes on the mechanical response of Al/PTFE/SiC, an experiment was conducted through the full 2(3) factorial design. The specimens were prepared by means of molding-vacuum sintering, while the mechanical response of the materials was measured through quasi-static compression. The regression models between failure stress, failure strain and various factors were established respectively and then verified through the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and residual analysis. Besides, the relationship between factors and response as well as that between factors were analyzed using response surface plots. According to the analytical results, the ultimate compressive strength of the material can be improved either by reducing the particle size of SiC and Al or increasing the mass ratio of SiC, while the ductility of the material can be enhanced by maintaining the interaction between SiC mass ratio and SiC particle size at high levels. The interaction effects are significant and can not be ignored, especially the interaction between SiC mass ratio and SiC particle size has an important impact on the mechanical responses, which shows that SiC has a greater influence than Al particles in the material system.