ON THE STIFFNESS OF COMPOSITES WITH LARGE AMOUNTS OF RIGID PHASE EMBEDDED IN A DUCTILE MATRIX

A calculation is presented, of the self-consistent genre, to predict t he effective isotropic stiffness of a two-phase mixture. The model is valid for high concentrations of rigid equiaxed grains embedded in a p ower law hardening matrix. A simple formula is derived for the stiffne ss of such composites as a function of the matrix strain hardening-exp onent and the concentration. This estimate for the stiffness complemen ts the dilute solution models that exist in the literature. (C) 1997 E lsevier Science Ltd.