• 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.