Development of a thin film technique for an amorphous metallic ribbon/thermoplastic matrix composite system

Abstract A thin film method is developed for the fabrication of an amorphous metallic ribbon/PP (polypropylene) matrix composite system. The interfacial shear strength of composites fabricated with thin film is 0.52 ± 0.09 MPa (process B), which is comparable to that of the sandwich method of composite fabrication reported recently. The optical micrographs of the interfacial zone appear to be defect free and there are no visible voids, cracks, or air entrapment during fabrication. This qualitative analysis of the ribbon/matrix interface suggests that thin film can provide a better interfacial bond, a result which is supported by the results of pullouts tests. The composite fabrication time using the thin film method is short, and this method therefore has the potential to produce composites at a high volume fraction of ribbon reinforcements as compared to the sandwich method.