Interfacial debonding and damage progression in particle-reinforced composites

Abstract

Decohesion between the matrix and inclusions in advanced multi-component composite materials is an important failure mechanism. In particular, the overall bulk strength of the composite depends strongly on interfacial damage and debonding. A 3-D model of interfacial decohesion is developed for a spherical particulate-reinforced composite material. In this model, interfacial failure is initiated by the loss of ellipticity. Adiscrete constitutive equation is used to represent failure at the interface of the composite. Incremental displacement steps are applied to the model within the elastic range of the constituent materials and the interface is analyzed using the boundary element method to determine the progression of interfacial damage and debonding. The effective properties of the bulk composite are calculated at each incremental step.