Computational studies on high-stiffness,high-damping SiC–InSn particulate reinforced composites

With the objective of achieving composite material systems that feature high stiffness and high mechanical damping, consideration is given here to unit cell analysis of particulate composites with high volume fraction of inclusions. Effective elastic properties of the composite are computed with computational homogenization based on unit cell analysis. The correspondence principle together with the viscoelastic properties of the indium–tin eutectic matrix are then used to compute the effective viscoelastic properties of the composite. Comparison is made with parallel experiments upon composites with an indium–tin eutectic matrix and high volume fractions of silicon-carbide reinforcement. The analytical techniques indicate that combinations of relatively high stiffness and high damping can be achieved in particulate composites with high SiC volume fractions. Based on analysis, the tradeoffs between stiffness and damping characteristics are assessed by changing the volume fraction, size, packing, and gradation of the particulate reinforcement phases. Practical considerations associated with realization of such composites based on the surface energy between the SiC and the InSn are discussed.     

Stiffness properties of particulate composites containing debonded particles

This paper considers the problem of determining the nonlinear bimodular stiffness properties, i.e., the tensile and compressive Young’s moduli and Poisson’s ratios, and the shear modulus, of particulate composite materials with particle–matrix interfacial debonding. It treats the general case in which some of the particles are debonded while the others remain intact. The Mori–Tanaka approach is extended to formulate the method of solution for the present problem. The resulting auxiliary problem of a single debonded particle in an infinite matrix subjected to a remote stress equal to the average matrix stress, for which Eshelby’s solution does not exist, is solved by the finite element method accounting for the particle–matrix separation and contact at the debonded particle–matrix interface. Because of the nonlinear nature of the problem, an iterative process is employed in calculating the stiffness properties. The predicted stiffness properties are compared to the exact solutions of the stiffness properties of particulate composites with body-centered cubic packing arrangement.     

Elasto-optic technique for measurement of elastic wave propagation in solids

The modulation of the optical path of the beam of a laser vibrometer in a specimen under acoustic excitation is measured at two planes, separated by a precisely known distance. The phase shift and the decrease in magnitude are used to calculate the phase velocity and attenuation, respectively. The method is demonstrated for a homogeneous specimen, and the results compare favorably with those obtained by a conventional ultrasonic technique. The method is then applied to measure specular and first diffraction-order reflection from a coplanar periodic array of particles in an elastic matrix and phase velocity spectra in a tetragonal periodic particulate composite. As expected, in a periodic composite the establishment of dispersive Floquet-type waves is observed throughout the entire periodic particulate composite.     

Debonding of particles in thin films

Thin composite films consisting of a matrix with embedded particles are currently being developed both as hard, wear resistant coatings and as functional surfaces. The effect of stiff particles in the film are studied for systems where the film is under residual tensile stresses. The particles, when they are fully bonded to the matrix, increase the stiffness of the composite film. In cases where the particles debond from the matrix material, the stiffness of the composite film decreases. The conditions under which the debonding process is stable are studied. For systems properly designed, a controlled debonding process of the particles can thus be used to reduce the stress levels in composite film lowering the risk for delamination of the composite film from the substrate as well as the risk of through cracks in the film. The work includes finite element based unit cell calculations of interface debonding between spherical particles and the film, and the release of residual stresses following this. The three dimensional unit cell calculations assume a periodic distribution of particles in the plane parallel to the substrate interface with equi-biaxial tension and periodicity with zero overall stress perpendicular to the substrate interface.     

Differential schemes for the elastic characterisation of dispersions of randomly oriented ellipsoids

The paper deals with the elastic characterisation of dispersions of randomly oriented ellipsoids: we start from the theory of strongly diluted mixtures and successively we generalise it with a differential scheme. The micro-mechanical averaging inside the composite material is carried out by means of explicit results which allows us to obtain closed-form expressions for the macroscopic or equivalent elastic moduli of the overall composite materials. This micromechanical technique has been explicitely developed for describing embeddings of randomly oriented not spherical objects. In particular, this study has been applied to characterise media with different shapes of the inclusions (spheres, cylinders and planar inhomogeneities) and for special media involved in the mixture definition (voids or rigid particles): an accurate analysis of all these cases has been studied yielding a set of relations describing several composite materials of great technological interest. The differential effective medium scheme (developed for generally shaped ellipsoids) extends such results to higher values of the volume fraction of the inhomogeneities embedded in the mixture. For instance, the analytical study of the differential scheme for porous materials (with ellipsoidal zero stiffness voids) reveals a universal behaviour of the effective Poisson ratio for high values of the porosity. This means that Poisson ratio at high porosity assumes characteristic values depending only on the shape of the inclusions and not on the elastic response of the matrix.     

金属基纳米复合材料等效弹性模量的均匀化方法数值模拟

均匀化理论利用位移场双尺度渐近展开建立有限元列式，本文将其与有限元通用程序相结合，应用于金属基复合材料的弹性本构数值模拟。通过对不同尺度增强相金属基复合材料等效模量的数值模拟，考察了均匀化方法的适用情况。数值计算结果表明，对常规尺度增强相金属基复合材料，均匀化方法可以较准确地预测其等效弹性模量；对纳米增强相金属基复合材料，该方法仍可给出较好的预测，但存在某种程度的系统偏差。通过对纳米尺度增强机理的分析讨论，认为纳米增强相与基体材料问的界面效应可能有别于连续介质假设，指出可以考虑采用离散原子-连续介质耦合模型改进数值模拟结果。     

颗粒增强复合材料的屈服极限

基于渐近均匀化方法,导出了颗粒增强复合材料的屈服准则,给出了初始屈服应力的解析表达式。因为颗粒增强体的弹性模量远比弹塑性基体的弹性模量高,这个模量差在增强体和基体中产生了装配刚度。解局部问题可以得到该装配刚度。从屈服应力的表达式可以看出,增强体和基体两者的平均装配刚度和剪切模量之比决定了屈服应力的提高程度。给出了两个数值算例。采用菱形十二面体单胞求解了局部问题。取单胞形状为菱形十二面体的优点是增强体的体积比可以高达74%。     

The uniaxial tension of particulate composite materials with nonlinear interface debonding

Debonding of particle/matrix interfaces can significantly affect the macroscopic behavior of composite material. We have used a nonlinear cohesive law for particle/matrix interfaces to study interface debonding and its effect on particulate composite materials subject to uniaxial tension. The dilute solution shows that, at a fixed particle volume fraction, small particles lead to hardening behavior of the composite while large particles yield softening behavior. Interface debonding of large particles is unstable since the interface opening (and sliding) displacement(s) may have a sudden jump as the applied strain increases, which is called the catastrophic debonding. A simple estimate is given for the critical particle radius that separates the hardening and softening behavior of the composite.     

钢筋混凝土空间杆件精细非线性分析模型

针对现有钢筋混凝土空间杆件非线性分祈模型进行了评还,应用结构力学方法推导得到了沿秆长配筋分布均匀的钢筋混凝土空间杆件的非线性单元刚度矩阵,建立了应用高斯积分点所在截面的非线性性质描述钢筋混凝土空间杆件非线性的计算过程。对于沿杆长配筋分布不均匀的杆件,根据其实际情况,将其细分为两段或三段沿杆长配筋分布均匀的杆段,以沿杆长配筋分布均匀的钢筋混凝土空间杆件非线性分析模型为基础,建立了沿杆长配筋分布不均匀的空间杆件的非线性分析模型。最后,给出了两个算例。就本文方法及程序的计算结果与模型结构振动台试验结果、常规非线性杆件模型的计算结果进行了比较。     

STUDY ON THE RESPONSE TO LOW-VELOCITY IMPACT OF A COMPOSITE PLATE IMPROVED BY SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY

Improvement from the pseudo-elastic effect of shape memory alloy (SMA) on the low-velocity impact (LVI) resistance of a composite plate is investigated by the finite element method (FEM).The stiffness matrix of the dynamic finite element equation is established step by step and the martensite fraction is obtained at each time step.The direct Newmark integration method is employed in solving the dynamic finite element equation,while the impact contact force is determined using the modified Hertz's law.It is found that SMA can effectively improve the performance of a composite structure subjected to low-velocity impact.Numerical results show that the deflection of a SMA-hybrid composite plate has been reduced approximately by thirty percent when the volume fraction of the embedded SMA reaches 0.3.     

Investigation of stress-strain behavior of single walled carbon nanotube/rubber composites by a multi-scale finite element method

The excellent properties of carbon nanotubes have generated technological interests in the development of nanotube/rubber composites. This paper describes a finite element formulation that is appropriate for the numerical prediction of the mechanical behavior of rubber-like materials which are reinforced with single walled carbon nanotubes. The considered composite material consists of continuous aligned single walled carbon nanotubes which are uniformly distributed within the rubber material. It is assumed that the carbon nanotubes are imperfectly bonded with the matrix. Based on the micromechanical theory, the mechanical behavior of the composite may be predicted by utilizing a representative volume element. Within the representative volume element, the reinforcement is modeled according to its atomistic microstructure. Therefore, non-linear spring-based line elements are employed to simulate the discrete geometrical structure and behavior of the single-walled carbon nanotube. On the other hand, the matrix is modeled as a continuum medium by utilizing solid elements. In order to describe its behavior an appropriate constitutive material model is adopted. Finally, the interfacial region is simulated via the use of special joint elements of variable stiffness which interconnect the two materials in a discrete manner. Using the proposed multi-scale model, the stress-strain behavior for various values of reinforcement volume fraction and interfacial stiffness is extracted. The influence of the single walled carbon nanotube addition within the rubber is clearly illustrated and discussed.     

炭黑增强橡胶复合材料力学行为的三维数值模拟

本文基于炭黑填充橡胶复合材料具有周期性细观结构的假设,采用一种新的、改进的随机序列吸附算法建立了三维多球颗粒随机分布式代表性体积单元,并通过细观力学有限元方法对炭黑颗粒填充橡胶复合材料的力学行为进行了模拟仿真。研究结果表明：采用改进的随机序列吸附算法所建立的模型更加便于有限元离散化;模拟中周期性边界条件的约束,使其更加符合实际约束的真实情况;炭黑填充橡胶复合材料的有效模量明显高于未填充橡胶材料,并随着炭黑颗粒所占体积分数的增加而增大;通过比较发现,本文提出的多球颗粒随机分布式三维数值模型对复合材料的应力-应变行为和有效弹性模量的预测结果与实验结果吻合良好,证实了该模型能够用于炭黑颗粒增强橡胶基复合材料有效性能的模拟分析。     

Short-term microdamage of laminated material with nonlinear matrix and microdamaged reinforcement

A structural theory of short-term microdamage is proposed for a two-component laminated composite with microdamageable reinforcement and physically nonlinear matrix. The basis of the theory is the stochastic elasticity equations of a laminated composite with a porous reinforcement. Microvolumes in the reinforcement material meet the Huber-Mises failure criterion. The damaged-microvolume balance equation for the reinforcement is derived. This equation and the equations relating macrostresses and macrostrains of a laminated composite with porous reinforcement and physically nonlinear matrix constitute a closed-form system of equations. This system describes the coupled processes of physically nonlinear deformation and microdamage occurring in different composite components. Algorithms for computing the microdamage-macrostrain relationships and deformation diagrams are developed. Uniaxial tension curves are plotted for a laminated composite with linearly hardening matrix __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 41, No. 12, pp. 3–12, December 2005.     

Stress concentrations in composites with interface sliding,matrix stiffness and uneven fiber spacing using shear lag theory

The stress concentrations near a single fiber break in a unidirectionally reinforced fiber composite are investigated using a shear lag theory within the framework of finite elements. A model for uniformly spaced, well bonded fibers embedded in a matrix that cannot carry axial loads that was formulated previously is first introduced. The solution of this problem involves Fourier transforms and requires only a two-dimensional numerical integration. The work described in the current paper characterizes the stress concentrations around a single fiber break in the presence of fiber/matrix interface sliding, axial matrix stiffness and uneven fiber spacing. Due to the introduction of these complicating factors, the model no longer lends itself to the simple Fourier transformation solution method. For the case of interface sliding a new method is developed to handle sliding in any shear lag system. For the cases of axial matrix stiffness and uneven fiber spacing a finite element code specifically written for this problem is used to determine the fiber stresses. The results are discussed in the context of global versus local load sharing, and the effects on composite failure.     

Deformation of a laminated composite with a physically nonlinear reinforcement and microdamageable matrix

The structural theory of short-term microdamage is generalized to a laminated composite with a microdamageable matrix and physically nonlinear reinforcement. The basis for the generalization is the stochastic elasticity equations of a laminated composite with a porous matrix. Microvolumes in the matrix material meet the Huber-Mises failure criterion. The damaged-microvolume balance equation for the matrix is derived. This equation and the equations relating macrostresses and macrostrains of a laminated composite with porous matrix and physically nonlinear reinforcement constitute a closed-form system of equations. This system describes the coupled processes of physically nonlinear deformation and microdamage occurring in different composite components. Algorithms for computing the microdamage-macrostrain relationships and deformation diagrams are developed. Uniaxial tension curves are plotted for a laminated composite with linearly hardening reinforcement __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 41, No. 11, pp. 47–56, November 2005.     

A theory of plasticity for carbon nanotube reinforced composites

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possess exceptional mechanical properties, and when introduced into a metal matrix, it could significantly improve the elastic stiffness and plastic strength of the nanocomposite. But current processing techniques often lead to an agglomerated state for the CNTs, and the pristine CNT surface may not be able to fully transfer the load at the interface. These two conditions could have a significant impact on its strengthening capability. In this article we develop a two-scale micromechanical model to analyze the effect of CNT agglomeration and interface condition on the plastic strength of CNT/metal composites. The large scale involves the CNT-free matrix and the clustered CNT/matrix inclusions, and the small scale addresses the property of these clustered inclusions, each containing the randomly oriented, transversely isotropic CNTs and the matrix. In this development the concept of secant moduli and a field fluctuation technique have been adopted. The outcome is an explicit set of formulae that allows one to calculate the overall stress-strain relations of the CNT nanocomposite. It is shown that CNTs are indeed a very effective strengthening agent, but CNT agglomeration and imperfect interface condition can seriously reduce the effective stiffness and elastoplastic strength. The developed theory has also been applied to examine the size (diameter) effect of CNTs on the elastic and elastoplastic response of the composites, and it was found that, with a perfect interface contact, decreasing the CNT radius would enhance the overall stiffness and plastic strength, but with an imperfect interface the size effect is reversed. A comparison of the theory with some experiments on the CNT/Cu nanocomposite serves to verify the applicability of the theory, and it also points to the urgent need of eliminating all CNT agglomeration and improving the interface condition if the full potential of CNT reinforcement is to be realized.     

Optimal Fiber-Mesh Layout for a Composite Anisotropic Elastic Wedge

We consider a homogeneous orthotropic elastic wedge in plane stress loaded by a concentrated force at the apex. The orthotropic material is conceived of to be formed by a matrix reinforced by a triangular net of elastic fibers, so that the fiber size and the net shape determine the average elastic moduli of the composite material. It is found that maintaining fixed the amount of material used for the reinforcement, there exists a particular fiber disposal which maximizes the stiffness of the wedge. The optimal disposal is different-in-type for diverse opening-angles of the wedge. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Mullins effect in elastomers filled with particles aligned by a magnetic field

Magnetorheological elastomers (MRE) are particulate composite materials, whose fillers are structured by a magnetic field during curing. These particles are brought in quasi-contact by the field, in a chain-like unidirectional structure. Due to this organization the local stresses between the particles is high and debonding between particles and elastomer occur at low strain. We have experimentally studied and analytically modeled the progressive breaking of the polymer-to-particle bonds. The two cases of strong and weak bonds between elastomers and particles have been studied. The analytical model correctly reproduces the stress strain curve in the presence of a debonding process although overestimating the size of the debonding cavity which is obtained by comparison between experiments and FEM simulations. The extension of the model to a chain of spheres allows to well explain the Mullins effect on MRE. Furthermore it is shown that the quality of the bonds between the particles and the elastomer does not influence the change of stiffness brought by the application of a magnetic field.     

Influence of the Physical Nonlinearity of the Matrix on the Deformation of a Particulate Composite with Microdamageable Inclusions

The structural theory of short-term damage is generalized to particulate composites with nonlinearly elastic matrix and microdamageable inclusions. The basis for this generalization is the stochastic elasticity equations for a particulate composite with porous inclusions. Microvolumes of the material meet the Huber-Mises failure criterion. The damaged-microvolume balance equation and the equations relating macrostresses and macrostrains of a particulate composite with porous inclusions and physically nonlinear matrix constitute a closed-form system. This system describes the coupled processes of physically nonlinear deformation and microdamage. Algorithms for computing the microdamage-macrostrain relationships and deformation curves are proposed. Uniaxial tension curves are plotted for a particulate composite with linearly hardening matrix__________Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 3–11, April 2005.     

Influence of reinforcement arrangement on the local reinforcement stresses in composite materials

The state of stress in and around reinforcements governs a number of physical processes in composite (multi-phase) materials, including the initiation of damage by either reinforcement cracking or interfacial decohesion. The stresses in the reinforcements have been observed to depend on the spatial distribution of the reinforcements, although the exact correlation is unclear. The present work determines the reinforcement stress for different reinforcement arrangements, ranging from a linear array of three uniformly spaced particles, to random and clustered microstructures. The stress calculations for elastic matrices were undertaken using a computationally efficient iterative technique. The technique was validated by comparing the results to finite element models, and the range of validity was determined. For the three-particle arrangements, the maximum reinforcement stress was observed when the particles were close to each other along the line of loading (a vertical arrangement). On the other hand, when the particle arrangement made a large angle with the loading direction, the reinforcement stress was low. Similar observations were recorded for the random and clustered arrangements where the location of the maximum reinforcement stress coincided with a vertical arrangement. The present work also develops a scheme for determining ‘representative volume elements’ for composite micromechanical models, based on the length scales of stress field interactions. These observations can be used to rationalize damage evolution mechanisms in commercial composites, and aid the development of physically based failure models for such materials.