A Review of Particulate Reinforcement Effects on Its MMCs Deformation Behaviour with Modelling Techniques

Abstract

In this paper, publications related to the influences of the various reinforcement factors, in particular, of particulate-reinforced metal matrix composites (PRMMCs), such as, its shape, size, volume fraction, distribution and orientation, on the deformation are reviewed. The importance of the reinforcement-matrix interface is also noted. Micromechanical finite element (FE) modelling techniques using unit cells employed for investigating these effects on the behaviour of such composites during deformation are surveyed.

It has been found that the addition of rigid reinforcing particles within monolithic metal alloys improves their strength and stiffness, but the ductility is reduced. The reinforcement also introduces in homogeneity to the metal alloy, thus causing highly localized stress and strain fields to be set up during mechanical loading, influenced its factors of reinforcement. For PRMMCs, the effect of reinforcement clustering does not play a significant role in influencing the predicted strength and ductility, especially at low reinforcement volume fractions.

For the viewpoint of numerical analyses, although full three-dimensional formulations can provide the most accurate method for the modelling of the unit cell, but the predictions obtained by use of two-dimensional analysis are in reasonable qualitative agreement with the experimental data.