"The term ""composite materials"" encompasses a wide variety of materials from one of the earliest made by man; adobe brick formed from a mixture of mud and straw@ to one of the latest; inter metallic rods or platelets grown in a melt of eutectic composition. Others@ sometimes referred to as composites@ include felted materials@ laminates@ clad materials@ and dispersion-hardened materials. In recent years@ however@ the greatest interest has been found in matrix materials reinforced with nonmetallic fibers@ either continuous or discontinuous@ because of their potentially very high strength and elastic modulus. Research and development in these fiber composites began in earnest about 1960 and reached its peak in perhaps 1971. Extensive investigation has been conducted on both resin-matrix and metal-matrix composites@ with some work being done on ceramic matrixes. The present declining interest in metal-matrix fiber reinforced materials is due to a number of factors@ but of major importance are the high cost and the difficult fabricability of these materials. Not the least of the fabrication problems is joining. The subject of this report has been limited to metal-matrix fiber reinforced materials. Other materials@ e.g.@ the dispersion-hardened metals and the resin-matrix composites have not been included because of their different strengthening mechanism@ or because they are less appropriate to the functions of the Welding Research Council"
BULLETIN 207-1975 history
1975BULLETIN 207-1975 JOINING OF METAL-MATRIX FIBER-REINFORCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS