• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.273-279
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• 2011

The yield strength of particle-reinforced composites increases as the size of the particle decreases. This kind of length scale has been mainly attributed to the geometrically necessary dislocation punched around the particle as a result of the mismatch of the thermal expansion coefficients of the particle and the matrix when the composites are cooled down after consolidation. In this study, two dislocation-punching theories that can be used in continuum structural modeling are assessed numerically. The two theories, presented by Shibata et al. and Dunand and Mortensen, calculate the size of the dislocationpunched zone. The composite yield strengths predicted by finite element analysis were qualitatively compared with experimental results. When the size of the particle is less than $2{\mu}m$, the patterns of the composite strength are quite different. The results obtained by Shibata et al. are in qualitatively better agreement with the experimental results.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.275-282
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• 2014

Particle-reinforced metal matrix composites exhibit a strengthening effect due to the particle size-dependent length scale that arises from the strain gradient, and thus from the geometrically necessary dislocations between the particles and matrix that result from their CTE(Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) and elastic-plastic mismatches. In this study, the influence of the size-dependent length scale on the particle-matrix interface failure and ductile failure in the matrix was examined using finite-element punch zone modeling whereby an augmented strength was assigned around the particle. The failure behavior was observed by a parametric study, while varying the interface failure properties such as the interface strength and debonding energy with different particle sizes and volume fractions. It is shown that the two failure modes (interface failure and ductile failure in the matrix) interact with each other and are closely related to the particle size-dependent length scale; in other words, the composite with the smaller particles, which is surrounded by a denser dislocation than that with the larger particles, retards the initiation and growth of the interface and matrix failures, and also leads to a smaller amount of decrease in the flow stress during failure.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.187-194
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• 2012

The strength of particle-reinforced metal matrix composites is, in general, known to be increased by the geometrically necessary dislocations punched around a particle that form during cooling after consolidation because of coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between the particle and the matrix. An additional strength increase may also be observed, since another type of geometrically necessary dislocation can be formed during extensive deformation as a result of the strain gradient plasticity due to the elastic-plastic mismatch between the particle and the matrix. In this paper, the magnitudes of these two types of dislocations are calculated based on the dislocation plasticity. The dislocations are then converted to the respective strengths and allocated hierarchically to the matrix around the particle in the axisymmetric finite-element unit cell model. The proposed method is shown to be very effective by performing finite-element strength analysis of $SiC_p$/Al2124-T4 composites that included ductile failure in the matrix and particlematrix decohesion. The predicted results for different particle sizes and volume fractions show that the length scale effect of the particle size obviously affects the strength and failure behavior of the particle-reinforced metal matrix composites.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.482-487
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• 2009

A finite element based microstructural modeling for the size dependent strengthening of particle reinforced aluminum composites is presented. The model accounts explicitly for the enhanced strength in a discretely defined "punched zone" around the particle in an aluminum matrix composite as a result of geometrically necessary dislocations developed through a CTE mismatch. The density of geometrically necessary dislocations is calculated considering volume fraction of the particle. Results show that predicted flow stresses with different particle size are in good agreement with experiments. It is also shown that 0.2% offset yield stresses increases with smaller particles and larger volume fractions and this length-scale effect on the enhanced strength can be observed by explicitly including GND region around the particle. The strengths predicted with the inclusion of volume fraction in the density equation are slightly lower than those without.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.322-325
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• 2009

An enhanced continuum model for the size dependent strengthening of particle reinforced composites is presented. The model accounts explicitly for the enhanced strength in a discretely defined "punched zone" around the particle in a metal matrix composite as a result of geometrically necessary dislocations developed through a CTE mismatch. The size of the punched zone presents an intrinsic length scale, and this results in the size dependence of the overall behavior of the composite. Results show that predicted 0.2% offset yield stresses are increasing with smaller inclusions and larger volume fractions and this length-scale effect on the enhanced strength can be observed by explicitly including GND region around the particle.