Jc. Michel et P. Suquet, AN ANALYTICAL AND NUMERICAL STUDY OF THE OVERALL BEHAVIOR OF METAL-MATRIX COMPOSITES, Modelling and simulation in materials science and engineering, 2(3A), 1994, pp. 637-658
An analytical and numerical study of the overall behaviour of metal-ma
trix composites reinforced by particles or short fibres is presented.
The particles are elastic and the matrix is elastic-plastic with isotr
opic hardening. Cell calculations are performed under the assumption o
f continuity of displacements and tractions across the interfaces and
are compared with theoretical predictions for the overall stress-strai
n curves of the composites derived from a bounding procedure for non-l
inear materials. Experimental evidence of the influence of the interfa
ce on the overall characteristics of the composite has been given in t
he literature. To get some insight into this problem, a model of inter
facial degradation is proposed. The influence of the interface propert
ies on the overall ductility, through its effect on the deformation of
the matrix surrounding the reinforcements, is discussed. Finally, the
effects of ductile damage due to void growth in the matrix and to cra
cking of the particles are respectively examined.