Tensile properties of fibre-reinforced metals: Copper/tungsten and copper/molybdenum

Tensile tests at a variety of temperatures have been carried out on composites consisting of tungsten or molybdenum wires, uniaxially aligned in a copper matrix. Both continuous and discontinuous wires have been used, and both brittle and ductile tungsten wires. It is found that the breaking strength is a linear function of the wire content. A simple theory to explain this is developed and auxiliary experiments to check the theory are described. Some simple predictions about the behaviour of fibre reinforced metals are made from the results.