Abstract: To investigate the Acoustic Emission(AE) characteristics of 16MnR/0Cr18Ni9Ti composite material in the process of tensile failure, a whole tensile test of 16MnR/0Cr18Ni9Ti composite material can be monitored by AE technique. The test outcome indicates that the AE signal is abundant and has good measurability in the process. Besides, the AE signal at different tensile stages has different characteristics. Through parameters analysis of the AE signals acquired at each stage, the prominent AE characteristics of different tensile stages could be used to analyze the origination and propagation procedure of the material damage. Compared to traditional mechanical test, AE technique has obvious advantages in this aspect.