The energy dissipation of particle-reinforced metal-matrix composite with ductile interphase

The finite element analysis together with cell modeling method has been emp loyed to simulate the behavior of energy dissipation for the particle-reinf orced metal-matrix composites (PMMCs) with a ductile interphase in this pap er. The influences of strain amplitude epsilon (0), ratio of elastic consta nt I, relative thickness R-i/R-p, of the interphase on the energy dissipati on psi of the whole composite at the room temperature have been investigate d under cyclic external loading. The results show that, when the elastic co nstant ratio r is less than 1, the energy dissipation of the composite is m uch higher than that when the elastic constant ratio r is more than 1. The results also show that, when the interphase is soft, the energy dissipation psi of the whole composite decreases with the increasing of the elastic co nstant ratio r, while, it increases when the interphase is hard. And with t he ratio of elastic constant r in a certain range (just around r = 1), the energy dissipation psi of the composite decreases with the increasing of th e relative thickness, but increases when the ratio of elastic constant is o ut of the certain range. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved .