3. Interphase interface in CMMs

Composite materials with metal matrices, produced by liquid, semi-liquid and solid processes, combine constituents that are often incompatible from a physicochemical and thermomechanical point of view. These incompatibilities result in one or other of the following phenomena:

• no chemical reactivity between R and M ;

• excessive chemical reactivity between R and M ;

• the appearance of a stress field at the R-M interface due to the difference between the thermal expansion coefficients of each of the constituents, and to volume variations associated with the formation of new phases. A thorough understanding of M-R coupling mechanisms and the transfer of physical and mechanical properties is essential to any study of MMCs. This knowledge must enable us to identify the nature and...