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.