This work presents a combined experimental and computational study of the deformation and fracture of microcantilever specimens made of chromium(rhenium)-alumina metal–matrix composite (MMC), with a particular focus on the failure properties of the metal–ceramic interfaces. The obtained experimental results show that the bending strength of microcantilevers containing alumina particles in critical cross-sections near specimen’s fixed end is considerably higher than that of unreinforced chromium(rhenium) samples. Brittle cracking along chromium–alumina interfaces is the dominant fracture mode of the composite microcantilevers. The interface characteristics are determined in an indirect way by numerical simulations of the experiment with account of the actual specimen microstructure from the scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. A parametric study demonstrates that the overall material response may be reproduced by different sets of model parameters, whereas the actual failure mode permits to discriminate among the possible alternatives. Using this approach, the in situ values of the chromium–alumina interface cohesive strength and the fracture energy are estimated.

这项工作提供了对由铬（r）-氧化铝金属-基体复合材料（MMC）制成的微悬臂梁试样的变形和断裂进行的组合实验和计算研究，特别着重于金属-陶瓷界面的失效特性。获得的实验结果表明，含氧化铝颗粒的微悬臂梁在试样固定端附近的关键截面的抗弯强度明显高于未增强的铬（hen）试样。沿铬-氧化铝界面的脆性开裂是复合材料微悬臂梁的主要断裂方式。考虑到来自扫描电子显微镜（SEM）图像的实际样品微观结构，通过实验的数值模拟以间接方式确定界面特性。参数研究表明，整体的材料响应可以通过不同的模型参数集来再现，而实际的失效模式可以区分出可能的替代方案。使用这种方法，估算了铬-氧化铝界面的内聚强度和断裂能的原位值。