Elastic–Plastic Stress Analysis in a Unidirectionally Reinforced Aluminum Metal–Matrix Composite Cantilever Beam Under a Bending Moment

In this study, an elastic–plastic stress analysis is carried out in a steel fiber reinforced aluminum metal–matrix composite cantilever beam. The composite beam is manufactured by squeeze casting method. It is loaded by a bending moment at the free end. In the solution, the material is assumed to be linear strain hardening. The orientation angles of the fibers are chosen as 0, 30, 45, 60 and 90. An analytical solution is carried out under the Bernoulli–Navier hypotheses for small plastic deformations. The magnitude of the residual stress component of x is maximized at the upper and lower surfaces. However, it becomes the highest at the boundary of the elastic and plastic regions for further expansions of the plastic zone. The magnitude of the residual stress component of x is found to be the highest for 0 orientation angle. It is also obtained that the vertical displacement is maximized for the same orientation angle.