A novel porous metal fiber/powder sintered composite sheet (PMFPSCS) is developed by sintering a mixture of a porous metal fiber sintered sheet (PMFSS) and copper powders with particles of a spherical shape. The characteristics of the PMFPSCS including its microstructure, sintering density and porosity are investigated. A uniaxial tensile test is carried out to study the tensile behaviors of the PMFPSCS. The deformation and failure mechanisms of the PMFSCS are discussed. Experimental results show that the PMFPSCS successively experiences an elastic stage, hardening stage, and fracture stage under tension. The tensile strength of the PMFPSCS is determined by a reticulated skeleton of fibers and reinforcement of copper powders. With the porosity of the PMFSS increasing, the tensile strength of the PMFPSCS decreases, whereas the reinforcement of copper powders increases. At the elastic stage, the structural elastic deformation is dominant, and at the hardening stage, the plastic deformation is composed of the structural deformation and the copper fibers' plastic deformation. The fracture of the PMFPSCS is mainly caused by the breaking of sintering joints.
Keywords: porosity; porous metal composite; porous metal fiber sintered sheet; tensile properties.