A constitutive model of particulate-reinforced composites taking account of particle size effects and damage evolution

This paper deals with a constitutive model of particulate-reinforced composites which can describe the evolution of debonding damage, matrix plasticity and particle size effects on deformation and damage. An incremental damage model of particulate-rein forced composites based on the Mori-Tanaka's mean field concept has been extended to consider the particle size effects by using the Nan-Clarke's simple method. The particle size effect on deformation is realized by introducing dislocation plasticity for stress-strain relation of in situ matrix in composites, and the particle size effect on damage is described by a critical energy criterion for particle-matrix interfacial debonding. For composites containing particles of various sizes, the effects of particle size distribution is incorporated into the model. Influence of debonding damage, particle size and particle volume fraction on overall stress-strain response of composites is discussed based on numerical results. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.