A general micromechanical framework of effective moduli for the design of nonspherical nano- and micro-particle reinforced composites with interface properties. (5th August 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xu, Wenxiang; Wu, Fan; Jiao, Yang; Liu, Mingjun
• Is Part Of: Materials & design. Volume 127(2017)
• Page Start: 162
• Page End: 172
• Publication Date: 2017-08-05
• Subjects: Particle-reinforced composites -- Interphase -- Elastic properties -- Anisotropy -- Design; Materials -- Periodicals; Engineering design -- Periodicals; Matériaux -- Périodiques; Conception technique -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matdes.2017.04.075
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0264-1275

Abstract

Abstract: The morphological and physical properties of interfaces can significantly affect the overall mechanical properties of nano- and micro-particle reinforced composites. In this work, we devise a general micromechanical framework to predict the effective elastic moduli of particle-reinforced composites containing ellipsoidal nano- or micro-particles with varying interface properties (e.g., both hard and soft). Specifically, the interface is treated as an interphase perfectly bonding the particle and matrix with a finite thickness and volume fraction. The morphological characteristics of the interface (e.g., volume fraction) are quantified using a statistical geometry approach and subsequently incorporated into the Mori-Tanaka average scheme with Eshelby's equivalent inclusion theory to derive the general micromechanical framework for the three-phase composites with non-spherical inclusions. We show that our new framework leads to predictions of the elastic moduli of a wide spectrum of nano- and micro-particle reinforced composites with both soft and hard interfaces to a reasonable accuracy by comparing with available experimental data and predictions from other theoretical frameworks. The general framework provides a robust and convenient predictive toolkit for composite design and evaluation. Graphical abstract: Highlights: A general model for elastic moduli of nano-/micro-particle composites (N/MPCs). N/MPCs contain nonspherical particles with varying hard/soft interface properties. The general micromechanical framework (GMF) has a reasonable accuracy. GMF incorporates hard and soft interfaces into the elastic properties of N/MPCs. The derived results provide a robust predictive toolkit for the design of N/MPCs.