DEFORMATION AND FRACTURE OF “ALUMINUM MATRIX - TITANIUM CARBIDE PARTICLES” COMPOSITE UNDER COMPRESSION

Abstract

Mechanisms underlying the stress concentration and plastic strain localization during compression of a metal-matrix composite are investigated. Experimental specimens of composites with the aluminum matrix containing titanium carbide particles are fabricated using solid-state sintering. A model structure of the composite are created based on the experimental data. The irregular shape of the interface between the matrix and particles is explicitly taken into account in the calculations. A fracture criterion that takes into account the type of local stress state is used to study the crack initiation and propagation in particles. Dynamic boundary-value problems are solved using the finite-element method implemented in the ABAQUS/Explicit software package. The nature of titanium carbide particle failure under compression is studied. Cracks in the particles are shown to initiate in regions of volumetric tension and propagate along the loading direction. The modeling results are in agreement with the experiment.