The Influence of Particle Shapes on Strength and Damage Properties of Metal Matrix Composites

The influence of the distribution of particle shapes, locations and orientations on the mechanical behavior of the particle reinforced Metal-Matrix Composite (MMC) is studied through finite element (FE) method under different loading conditions in this investigation. The FE-model with multi-particle is generated through the random sequential adsorption algorithm, with the particles treated respectively as elastic-brittle circular, regular octagon and hexagon and square shape. Ductile failure in metal matrix, brittle fracture of particles and interface debonding are taken into account during the simulations. 2D cohesive element is applied to simulate the debonding behavior of interface. The damage models based on the stress triaxial indicator and maximum principal stress criterion are developed to simulate the ductile failure of metal matrix and brittle cracking of particles, respectively. Simulation results show that the interface debonding dominates the failure process under the loading, while the damage in particle grows at slowest rate compared with those in matrix and interface.