TY - JOUR
T1 - Microstructure-based modeling of crack growth in particle reinforced composites
AU - Ayyar, A.
AU - Chawla, Nikhilesh
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful for financial support from the Office of Naval Research (Dr. A.K. Vasudevan, Program Manager, contract # N000140110694). The authors thank the creators of FRANC2D/L software, Dr. R.J. Fields (NIST) for providing the SiC particle reinforced Al matrix composite samples, and Dr. J.J. Williams for assistance with clustering analysis. We acknowledge useful discussions with Dr. P. Peralta, Arizona State University.
PY - 2006/10
Y1 - 2006/10
N2 - Crack growth in particle reinforced composites is significantly influenced by the size, orientation, morphology and distribution of the reinforcement particles. Hence, to accurately model crack growth in such a system it is important that the complex microstructure of the particles be taken into account and not approximated by circles or ellipses. In this paper, the effects of particle morphology and distribution (homogeneous and clustered) on crack growth have been studied using the finite element method. The degree of particle clustering in aluminum/silicon carbide composites was quantified by the coefficient of variance in the mean near-neighbor particle spacing, and cluster size distributions obtained by an image analysis technique. Two-dimensional linear elastic fracture mechanics principles were used to propagate the crack, to obtain the local stress intensity values, and to gain an understanding of the local stress state. Predictions from these analyses were in agreement with experimental observations of crack growth in Al-SiC systems.
AB - Crack growth in particle reinforced composites is significantly influenced by the size, orientation, morphology and distribution of the reinforcement particles. Hence, to accurately model crack growth in such a system it is important that the complex microstructure of the particles be taken into account and not approximated by circles or ellipses. In this paper, the effects of particle morphology and distribution (homogeneous and clustered) on crack growth have been studied using the finite element method. The degree of particle clustering in aluminum/silicon carbide composites was quantified by the coefficient of variance in the mean near-neighbor particle spacing, and cluster size distributions obtained by an image analysis technique. Two-dimensional linear elastic fracture mechanics principles were used to propagate the crack, to obtain the local stress intensity values, and to gain an understanding of the local stress state. Predictions from these analyses were in agreement with experimental observations of crack growth in Al-SiC systems.
KW - A. Metal-matrix composites (MMCs)
KW - A. Particle reinforced composites
KW - B. Microstructure
KW - C. Crack
KW - C. Finite element analysis (FEA)
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U2 - 10.1016/j.compscitech.2006.01.007
DO - 10.1016/j.compscitech.2006.01.007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33746054955
SN - 0266-3538
VL - 66
SP - 1980
EP - 1994
JO - Composites Science and Technology
JF - Composites Science and Technology
IS - 13
ER -