Influence of hot compaction pressure on the interfacial properties in the amorphous metallic ribbon/thermoplastic matrix composite system

Abstract The application of rapidly solidified amorphous metal ribbons as continuous reinforcements for thermoplastic composites is examined. The metallic glass alloy Fe₄₀Ni₄₀B₂₀ (at. percent), with good stiffness, strength, and magnetic properties, was selected as the ribbon alloy. The mechanical properties of the ribbons (elastic modulus and fracture strength) were determined by tensile testing under plane‐stress conditions. The continuous FE₄₀Ni₄₀B₂₀ amorphous ribbons were incorporated as reinforcements into a polypropylene (thermoplastic) matrix. To evaluate the quality of the composites formed, ribbon pullout tests were performed to measure the interfacial ribbon/matrix bond strength. It was noted that increasing the hot compaction pressure during fabrication and the surface texture of the ribbons by etching significantly improved the interfacial shear strength between the ribbon and thermoplastic matrix.