Micromechanical study of influence of interface strength on mechanical properties of metal matrix composites under uniaxial and biaxial tensile loadings

The influence of particle arrangements and interface strengths on the mechanical behavior of the particle reinforced metal–matrix composite (MMC) is investigated under different loading conditions in this work. During the loading process, three different failure mechanisms are distinguished in MMC: ductile failure in metal matrix, brittle failure in SiC particles and interface debonding between matrix and particles. The damage models based on the stress triaxial indicator and maximum principal stress criterion are developed to simulate the failure process of metal matrix and SiC particles. Meanwhile, 2D cohesive element is utilized to describe the debonding behavior of interface. Series of numerical experiments are performed to study the macroscopic stress–strain relationships and microscale damage evolution in MMCs under different loading conditions. An agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data is obtained.